Students in middle school social studies classes are expected to learn content through text. Unfortunately, many students, particularly those with disabilities, struggle to comprehend grade-level texts (NCES, 2017). Implementing high-quality, text-based discussions is no easy task, yet it provides a way to support students with disabilities in the…

English Language Learners, such as my Hutterian students, struggle to overcome a variety of learning barriers. I examined a variety of instructional methods to determine what would help them. The first aspect I explored was how English Language Learners acquire literacy skills. I also investigated how to expand my students' background knowledge.…

Broadly conceived, mental health in schools focuses on (1) promoting social-emotional development, (2) preventing mental health and psychosocial problems, (3) enhancing resiliency and protective buffers, (4) intervening as early after the onset of behavior, learning, and emotional problems as is feasible, and (5) addressing the needs of students…

Teachers are required to support students with disabilities in middle school social studies classrooms so that they can learn content from reading and comprehending complex text. One way to enhance comprehension of text is to facilitate text-based discussion; however, teachers often face difficulties when trying to engage students in this type of…

Vocabulary knowledge is an important foundation skill for reading across all subject areas. Because students with disabilities lag behind their peers in reading skills, there is a need for efficient and effective vocabulary interventions. Focusing on morpheme knowledge is one efficient approach to building vocabulary. This article describes an…

Most second-language learners lack exposure to academic language and have few opportunities to use it; thus, the onus is on educators to create appropriate learning environments for these students. Oral language proficiency is critical for advancing second-language learners' academic success; vocabulary is a particularly critical aspect of oral…

It is estimated that ten percent of learners have some sort of learning disability; on average, this is two or three students per classroom (Butterworth and Kovas 2013). This means that, inevitably, all English language instructors will encounter students with learning disabilities in their classrooms and could encounter students with learning…

Before there were children with disabilities in typical schools in North America, there was only hope and need. Before the creation of highly specialized plans of education, individualized instruction techniques, methods of differentiating group instruction or regulations mandating the adherence to government regulations, there were only families,…

The current challenges for languages in higher education may be summarised as: global and local socio-political changes; diversity of learners with different life-long and life-wide needs and wants; demands for effectiveness, accountability, and employability of our language provision; different modes of delivery at different times and forms; and…

Classroom instruction in China and in the United States have sharp differences. Typically, constructivist learning theory shapes American classroom instruction whereas Confucian educational culture shapes Chinese classroom instruction. Furthermore, typically, Chinese classrooms adopt a direct instructional approach whereas American classrooms…

This teaching note describes one example of a shift from content to competence in a graduate MSW course teaching advanced mindfulness complex practice behaviors and skills for use in direct practice. The development of advanced mindfulness competencies and skills provides a conceptual base o shift teaching from lengthy lectures to experiential…

Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools reviews the best available research to offer school leaders six practical recommendations to support good SEL for all children. It stresses this is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and other vulnerable groups, who, on average, have weaker SEL skills at all…

There has been concern about student literacy expressed in the community in recent years, following the results of national and international assessment. In spelling, there are insufficient hard data, but the perception is that our students are not receiving the exemplary spelling education they require. A number of possible reasons have been…

The Anchorage (Alaska) School District has been committed to social and emotional learning (SEL) for the last 30 years. The district achieves SEL in three ways: (1) Climate: Creating a safe andrespectful learning environment; (2) Direct instruction: Using a variety of programs to deliberately teach the SEL skills students need to be successful…

With the increasing attention and surge of empirical research in providing academic instruction for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comes the need to provide teachers with research-supported strategies. Using one evidence-based strategy for teaching mathematics to students with high incidence disabilities, and another for teaching…