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Comprehension, Orthographic Awareness, and Oral Language Skills
Listen Part Four of our Four-Part Series: Helping Students Improve Their Reading at Any Age Comprehension Comprehension is really what reading is about - understanding, relating to, and having the ability to share the information learned. Comprehension is the point of reading. There are many ways to build comprehension. In...
How Building Community Can Create Safer Schools
Listen Everytown Research reports that information contributed by “the New York Police Department’s review of active shooter incidents found that in 75% of these incidents, the shooter or shooters were school-aged and were current or former students of the school.” This means that active shooters in schools are very often...
Building Vocabulary and Fluency
Listen Part Three of our Four-Part Series: Helping Students Improve Their Reading at Any Age Vocabulary Building vocabulary is one of the most commonly understood and utilized strategies in teaching, so we won’t spend an excessive amount of time one it. Everyone knows it’s important and many teachers have...
Using Informal Checklists to Monitor Student Progress
Listen Early Childhood educators are probably most likely to already be employing this strategy. They are responsible for teaching every standard in every subject to every child. They are then responsible for assessing whether that child shows progress, masters the concept, or does not show enough progress to move on...
Silent Children -How to Teach Students with Selective Mutism
Listen What is Selective Mutism? Selective Mutism is an anxiety-related disorder, according to the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition). Students with this disorder are only able to speak in “select” situations and environments where they are extremely comfortable and to “select” individuals. Selective...
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness
Listen Part Two of our Four-Part Series: Helping Students Improve Their Reading at Any Age *A Note on Numbers We say there are “44ish” phonemes. The number varies due to differences in dialect or the way we speak. Some people count the harder, whispered /th/ sound in “thorn” and...
3 Tips for Working with an Assistant
Listen In November, we said in this blog post that support staff (which also go by the titles paraprofessionals, para-educators, or teaching assistants, to name a few - and we’ll use them interchangeably) comprise one of the most underutilized resources in education. One of the main reasons we’ve found this...
Helping Students Improve Their Reading at Any Age
Listen Read Part 1 of a 4-Part Series Reading is a fundamental skill for any age. If you read well, you can access and understand information on any subject, which can expand your opportunities for learning. Nevertheless, fewer of our students are reading well. In fact, 65% of our students...
Helping Parents Navigate the World of Education
Listen Read Finish this statement: “The kids aren’t the problem. It’s the ______.” Did you say either adults or parents? Then you are not alone! Many teachers say the same. After years in the public school setting, one of our writers transitioned from teaching to being a stay-at-home parent, though,...
7 Tips For Helping Families in Crisis
Listen Read Everyone experiences a crisis at some point. No one is immune. Whether the person involved in crisis is a student, a staff member, or an administrator, the community is affected and may need to respond swiftly to provide meaningful intervention. Here are a few crises that may affect...
Using the Strengths of Students With ADD and ADHD
Listen Read We talk a lot about the problems associated with things like ADD and ADHD, but there are advantages that accompany any difference our students may face. Sometimes it’s hard to look beyond the challenges, but finding a way to focus on a student’s strengths will help them to...
Handwriting Hacks for Any Age
Listen Read Have you ever tried to grade an assignment and been unable to understand anything on the paper? Does it seem to be getting worse? Handwriting instruction was written out of state standards in many places in 2010. Some held onto teaching it until around 2013. Once something is...