It can be thrilling when parents receive a letter notifying them their child is eligible for the school's gifted program. However the academic and talent development that a child receives at school should also be complemented by social and emotional support at home. There are many books that can help provide the information a parent needs to…

This article considers whether reading on screen is the same as reading on paper, and specifically whether reading comprehension is the same in both media. After reviewing relevant research, the article describes and reports the results of an NZCER research project that compared data records from online and paper-based versions of PAT: Reading…

A key instructional goal of English language arts instruction is teaching students to read and interpret complex literary texts. This report reviews the literature on the development and pedagogy of literary analysis skills. It analyzes literary analysis skills as a "key practice," a bundle of disciplinary skills and strategies that form…

Four scientifically validated approaches to fluency instruction (Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction, Wide Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction, Fluency-Oriented Oral Reading, and Wide Fluency-Oriented Oral Reading) are reviewed. Two for the whole class and two for small groups. Key components of fluency, automaticity, and prosody are defined,…

With the significant enrollment increase of English Language Learners (ELLs) nationwide, social studies teachers face challenges to educate these students. As a response to the literature of preparing all content teachers to work with ELLs, this article introduces three teacher-friendly language-focused strategies. These strategies help social…

This View from the Chalkboard article reflects my view of how today's classroom teacher and specialist have joined together to create "One Team" that benefits the student. This was not always the case but the trend, in my view, is clear and the benefits compelling. I highlight the "reading workshop model" as an approach with…

Student motivation is a critical element of engagement, learning, and achievement. With this in mind, teachers are particularly interested in motivating their students to read. However, getting students to do so can be a difficult task, especially if they lack confidence in choosing personally interesting books. We advocate for carefully nurturing…

In a recent classroom-based action research study, the author's adolescent students deepened their informational text comprehension skills over the course of several interactive, strategic shared text studies. As suggested by research and theory, her students appeared to observe and appropriate cognitive, executive, and discourse strategies as…

Students with learning disabilities (LD) often face significant difficulties in reading. Research has found a variety of different evidence-based practices to support the reading development of students with LD in areas such as word work, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. However, these practices are most often intended for use in traditional…

The growing popularity of graphic novels for younger readers is hard to miss. This article provides specific ways to think about, recognize, and teach with multimodal texts that leverage student interest. In this English language arts unit, we taught a sixth-grade class how to read and comprehend the complex design elements common to the graphic…

Learning to read consists of developing skills in two critical areas: (1) Reading each word in texts accurately and fluently and (2) Comprehending the meaning of texts being read. This is known as the Simple View of Reading. To read words accurately and fluently, students need strategies to read words they have never seen before in print as well…

This short-form article introduces the Pre-Texts protocol (Harvard Cultural Agents Initiative) as a way to introduce new texts in class by using creation as a catalyst for reflection and dialogue. This current article briefly describes the benefits of this technique for the present generation of learners and teachers, as well as outlines clearly…

Sharing reading techniques with families is an important responsibility of teachers. Dialogic reading is one way to improve young students' expressive vocabulary skills, which are important for later reading success. Dialogic reading also supports students' understanding of story structure and content. This well researched technique has not been…

Have you ever felt like there are days where you are not sure if anything you taught went into any of your student's heads? With the amount of research that is being done across the world on reading, it is time to analyze what strategies would benefit my students the most and help them grow as readers. Reading is a key foundational skill not only…

This study set out to design and implement an approach to Tanakh education that would help students become expert decoders of the Biblical Hebrew text as they became expert interpreters of it. The goal, following existing, research-based best instructional practices from literacy, was to create a curriculum in which language skills and meaning…