Category · 204 articles
Literacy Centers
Common Core Vocabulary
The Common Core State Standards emphasize a balanced approach to vocabulary development. Unlike some of the other ELA Standards, the vocabulary Standards are quite specific. Although much of…
Grammar | Teaching in the Social Context
Literacy centers provide an ideal social context for cooperative learning about grammar: parts of speech, syntax and sentence structure, standard and non-standard usage, word choice, dialect,…
How to Teach Writing Skills
Two time-proven solutions to these problems take little time, but do necessitate some instruction and practice: sentence revisions and literary response.
Close Reading
The close reading strategy is beneficial for building comprehension of both narrative and expository text. However, we do need a mid-course correction. As with many instructional…
Close Reading Casualties
With the “Great Shift” from fiction to non-fiction reading since the advent of the Common Core State Standards, many teachers are finding that the academic rigor…
Don’t Teach Reading Comprehension
The article offers proof that, despite contrary claims, there is no clear consensus as to what is reading comprehension and how to teach it.
Close Reading: Don’t Read Too Closely
A few things I want to mention from the outset: I think close reading has its place in both elementary and secondary classrooms, but As U.C.…
Grammar Program Choices
Broadly speaking, teachers agree that standard English grammar and usage needs to be learned, but they disagree on how it should be taught. The Pennington Publishing…