Teachers, paraprofessionals, and parents recognize the importance of providing deaf and hard of hearing children with full access to the languages around them. Without full access, reading and academic achievement remain far below intellectual capabilities. This article describes the Continuum of Reading Activities, which provides strategies that…

While reading digital texts requires many of the same foundational literacy skills as reading printed texts, it also requires skills that go beyond print-based reading. In this article, we argue that the skills children need to read, understand, and communicate about digital texts is a Core Disciplinary Practice that should be addressed in the…

Interactive read-alouds, where adults read text to children and facilitate discussion of the text, are an incredibly effective method for supporting children's literacy learning. In this article, Tanya Wright, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, describes some of the knowledge and skills that…

The purpose of morphology instruction is to: (1) support accurate and fluent polysyllabic (poly = more than one) reading; (2) improve spelling of polysyllabic words; and (3) aid vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Thus, instruction needs to move from part (morphemes) to whole (polysyllabic words). This guide includes information…

Imagine a thriving English classroom. One that's active, experiential, collaborative, and rigorous. "Authentic Literacy Instruction" will help you not just imagine this classroom, but also create it. Through a hands-on approach to student-centered literacy, the authors share how to reinvigorate your love for what you do and refine your…

Digital literacies abound in playing a foundational role in the rhythm and pattern of our lives, yet debates continue about how to harness them to teach and learn literacy. In an effort to humanize digital literacies, this department column offers a vast array of topics, from participatory work that pushes educators and researchers to communicate…

In today's differentiated classroom, each individual student receives from their teacher student-centered instruction and customized assignments to reflect their skills and knowledge. Teachers differentiate their assignments so each of their students may access the Common Core State Standards, interact with complex nonfiction texts, integrate…

This article shares a literacy strategy to support students' analysis of the theme of text and provide evidence to support their assertion. The strategy is called Visual to Print Transfer (VPT). The VPT strategy leverages students' out-of-school literacy practices involving media images of Hollywood icons as a way to support their understanding of…

It is estimated that up to sixty-five percent of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that have yet to be created. This is a result, in part, of the rapid advances in technology that have occurred since Apple introduced the iPhone just ten years ago. This technology is not only impacting the way that we learn or…

New teachers who entered the profession through alternative pathways often teach in high-need urban environments, which means there may be a significant number of English Language Learner (ELL) students in their classrooms. In order to best support these students, techniques can be employed to best facilitate learning for students who do not have…

The ability to ask questions is essential to learning, reasoning, and understanding. This column introduces a sequence of activities that incorporate the use of digital images and online texts into intentional opportunities for even the youngest learners to work with their teachers and classmates as they wonder, anticipate, explore, and think…

Research shows that cognitively demanding text-based writing assignments increase students' reading comprehension skills and analytic writing competencies. In this article, we describe the steps that upper-elementary grade teachers can take to develop cognitively demanding assignments that build these higher-level literacy skills and put students…

Making decisions about English reading instruction is as core a component to teaching as providing the instruction itself. When providing support to learners at risk for poor reading outcomes, for which currently there is a large percentage in South Africa, it is especially important to ensure that the decisions that are made have the highest…

The Internet is full of tools for vocabulary development, but the quality and usefulness for teachers and students vary greatly. With a traditionalist's respect for word knowledge and an adventurer's spirit for discovering new routes to learning, Lee Ann Tysseling shares an exciting array of technology-assisted resources that can boost students'…

Meet your students' literacy needs with this book from Pamela Craig and Rebecca Sarlo. Literacy experts Craig and Sarlo explain how the implementation of a Problem Solving/Response to Intervention framework in grades 4-12 will help all students greatly improve their reading skills. Written for secondary teachers and administrators, the book shows…