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Asking the right question: teaching reading to bilingual learners - E L Gazette

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Phonics has, and continues to be, be a point of contention for many in the field of ELT. Professors Ester de Jong and Socorro Herrera discuss how to contextualise phonics instruction for bilingual learners. In an early response to the science of reading movement in the United States, the National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL)

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What is Progress Monitoring and How to Use it Effectively - TeachHUB

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In order to promote student growth and achievement, you must have the right data to guide you. Learn about progress monitoring and how to use it effectively

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4 Benefits of Monitoring Student Progress in the Classroom

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Find out the benefits of monitoring student progress, plus resources that will assist you in your own classroom.

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National Center on Intensive Intervention

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National Center on Intensive Intervention

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Progress monitoring, a key component of a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), occurs throughout the data-based individualization (DBI) process to assess responsiveness to the validated intervention platform, as well as adaptations to the intervention.

Prior to delivering the validated intervention platform, intervention teams should develop a progress monitoring plan that outlines the progress monitoring tool, student goal, and frequency of data collection and review.

During delivery of the validated and adapted intervention, educators should collect and graph frequent progress monitoring data.

After sufficient data are collected, they are graphed and evaluated against the student's instructional or behavioral goal to determine whether the student is making sufficient progress. If so, the teacher continues to implement the validated or adapted intervention. If the student's progress is insufficient, the teacher consults with a team to determine how to further intensify the intervention. This cycle repeats regularly throughout the DBI process, with adaptations to the intervention indicated using phase change lines on the progress monitoring graph.

Progress monitoring data also may be reviewed along with other diagnostic data to assist teams in developing a hypothesis about why the student may not be responding. As part of the diagnostic data review, the team may conduct an error analysis or look for other trends in the progress monitoring data.

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Progress monitoring is a key component of MTSS and DBI that allows educators to assess student responsiveness to the evidence-based or adapted intervention.

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Directions Progress Monitoring in iReady

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Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls

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Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls

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You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Transitioning from Word Walls to Sound Walls

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Sound walls support students with learning those tricky high-frequency words. They also support students in retaining and learning to read unfamiliar words on their own. A sound wall does the work of matching our articulation of speech sounds/phonemes to the letters/graphemes that represent those sounds.

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Anyone who's ever scratched their head over their car manual or struggled to parse a website's terms of service knows: It's hard to read about a topic you don't really understand.

It's a common-sense statement that's backed by research. Studies have shown that readers use their background knowledge-vocabulary, facts, and conceptual understanding-to comprehend the text they read.

In recent years, a growing number of parents, teachers, and reading researchers have called for changes to early literacy instruction, to bring it more in line with the evidence base around how children learn to read. Often, schools weren't taking research-based approaches to teaching students a crucial building block of reading-how to sound out words. If kids can't get the words off the page, they can't extract meaning from text.

Over the past three years, about two dozen states have passed laws mandating that students are taught these skills in an explicit, systematic way.

At the same time, though, some science of reading advocates have said that foundational skills instruction isn't the only piece of literacy learning that needs an overhaul. They argue that schools also don't do enough to support students' background knowledge-a key factor in their understanding of any text. That's the issue explored in The Knowledge Gap, a book that's made its way onto district leaders' reading lists and into teacher professional learning groups.

Over the past few decades, reading comprehension instruction has become "content agnostic," focused on skill practice, to the detriment of learning about science, history, and other disciplines, said Sonia Cabell, an associate professor at Florida State University's College of Education.

"In the No Child Left Behind era, and the Reading First era, reading became the main focus. Reading blocks were lengthened. This pushed out the science and social studies instruction," Cabell said, referring to the 2002 federal law and a $1 billion-a-year reading program it created.

Cabell and other researchers who study the integration of content knowledge and literacy instruction say the focus on "knowledge building" holds promise. But they also say there are a lot of unanswered questions about how these approaches should be designed, and how much they can actually improve reading achievement.

Here's what experts and research say about what a greater focus on content knowledge could mean for reading instruction.

What role does background knowledge play in reading comprehension?

This may seem like an obvious finding: Of course, kids can understand a book or an article better if they already know a bit of what it's about. It's likely easier to read a text about paleontologists, for example, if you already know the words "fossil" and "extinction," and you know that animal species that used to exist have since died out.

This applies even for children who are otherwise poor readers. One example of this is what's often referred to as "the baseball study."

They found that the baseball lovers who scored low on a general reading test could understand and recall the text better than the higher-scoring kids who didn't know as much about the game.

So, background knowledge about a specific topic is helpful in understanding text on that topic. But what about in general? Does knowing more about the world lead to better reading comprehension overall?

A large body of research shows a correlation: Children who score higher on tests of general knowledge are better readers. These kids also tend to grow more than their peers in reading comprehension over time, said Gina Cervetti, an associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Education, who studies the connections between literacy and content-area learning.

But other factors could play a role, too.

"Those kinds of correlations are tricky, because there are a lot of other things that are going on," said Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor of education at the University of Illinois Chicago. People who score higher on tests of general knowledge also tend to have greater language ability, and tend to be from higher-income backgrounds.

If background knowledge is linked to reading ability, does teaching knowledge help kids become better readers?

It can. But there are some caveats.

There are a few different ways that teachers can connect content knowledge and literacy instruction in the elementary school day. One option is to merge the two-to embed literacy instruction into social studies and science, teaching students cognitive strategies to help them engage with the content.

These students also did better on standardized tests of reading comprehension. The integrated approach not only made them better readers of the content they were learning, it made them better readers overall.

This method has shown more mixed results.

Most studies of this approach find that it has a positive effect on students' knowledge of the subject in question-for example, teaching a 4th grader about the American Revolution will likely mean that they know more about the American Revolution. But only some of these approaches lead to higher scores on tests of general reading comprehension.

One that does is the Model of Reading Engagement, or MORE. It was developed by Harvard education professor James Kim and his colleagues.

The approach aims to build students' science content knowledge through literacy lessons. But it's not just focused on acquiring facts. The researchers designed the lessons with the goal of helping kids to build a schema-a mental model that they could then apply to understand new, related concepts.

Kim's study, and others that have shown general effects on reading comprehension, hold something in common, said Cervetti.

"These programs weren't teaching kids a bunch of knowledge at a superficial level. It wasn't knowledge as a set of facts to be learned," she said. "These kids were learning deeply about a set of concepts."

Still, in Kim's study, there was a limit to how far kids could transfer the knowledge that they learned. Generally, the new texts had to include explicit connections to the words and concepts they'd learned. If the familiar concepts were missing, students couldn't make the connections themselves.

If kids can't make connections between related topics, "it's a signal to teachers of what they need to go back and discuss," Kim said.

How should schools decide what kids should read and write about? What knowledge should be the focus?

This question has dogged the American education system for decades-if not centuries.

It's the debate at the heart of many decisions about teaching and learning. The conversation is particularly volatile now, as parents' groups and Republican legislators seek to limit what students can read and discuss in the classroom.

Studies' insight on this topic is limited. Evidence would suggest that students' curiosity should play a role, Cervetti said. There's a large body of work demonstrating that student interest and motivation have a strong impact on academic achievement.

But outside of that, things are more fuzzy. What's the right balance of depth versus breadth in topics? What knowledge will best prepare students for their lives outside of school? Researchers don't know.

Hirsch popularized the idea that students needed to learn about something in order to read well. I n his 1987 book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, Hirsch outlined a list of essential figures, events, and concepts. He tried to identify the background knowledge that would comprise a sort of cultural canon-the information that most writers and speakers would assume their audience shared.

Its contents provided the framework for Core Knowledge Language Arts, an ELA curriculum. But Hirsch's work also saw a swift and strong backlash from critics who said his list was Eurocentric and elitist.

Still, the question of whose knowledge matters-what's important for children to know and who gets to decide-is far from settled.

Some more recent efforts have used Hirsch as inspiration. The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy has created Knowledge Maps, tools it uses in work with districts looking to evaluate how and where their curricula build knowledge.

The Knowledge Maps are based on Hirsch's core knowledge guidelines with some additions and changes-such as added criteria around diversity, equity, and inclusion, said Ashley Berner, the director of the institute.

Other programs have taken different approaches. In the MORE intervention, Kim and his co-authors tried to choose content that was "timely and timeless." Timely, in that it aligned to current state standards in science. And timeless: It has shown up consistently in state standards over the past two decades, and science professors think that it's relevant and accurate.

Of course, these are still subjective decisions-an inevitability in choosing knowledge, said Shanahan. "When it comes to certain aspects of the arts, and science, and social studies, what content do we want kids to know? Those are value judgments," he said.

Is knowledge the only factor in reading comprehension ability?

Far from it. Children don't just need to learn information. They also need to know how to organize it in their minds, use it, and apply it in new contexts.

Teaching comprehension strategies can help students become skilled at these tasks. Decades of research have shown that explicitly teaching students how to use these strategies-like summarizing, visualizing, creating graphic organizers, and asking questions about their understanding-makes them better readers.

Teaching students about how different types of text are structured has also been shown to improve reading comprehension.

"This is a clear case in our field of a 'both-and,' not an 'either or,' said Nell Duke, the executive director of the Center for Early Literacy Success at Stand for Children.

In fact, most of the knowledge-building interventions that show positive effects in the research literature have combined content-area instruction with these kinds of strategies for metacognition, said Cervetti.

Cervetti thinks it's likely that deep content area knowledge and students' ability to use comprehension strategies reinforce each other.

"Imagine being a kid who has read lots of texts, but every text you encounter is unfamiliar ideas and unfamiliar words," she said. "You get through the text and you walk away having understood something about that text. But probably not enough to be a better comprehender."

With these topically disconnected texts, the student doesn't have the chance to practice the strategies that good readers use, Cervetti said, like making connections or asking questions prompted by prior knowledge. But if the texts work together to build a bigger conceptual understanding, they do present those opportunities. Knowledge, she hypothesized, "builds momentum" for kids to practice the comprehension strategies that research shows are powerful tools.

What do all of these findings mean for classroom practice?

The main takeaway is that reading instruction should be engaging students in deep, substantive ideas, said Cervetti.

Yes, learning about something-having clearly defined topics-is important. But these topics need to help students build a broader, conceptual understanding.

That means that instead of learning about "oceans"-an umbrella that could encompass everything from reading news articles about microplastics to studying Moby Dick -a unit might be centered around a theme, such as, "we have one connected water system."

Some English/language arts curricula attempt to structure units this way, developing them around social studies and science ideas. But Duke cautioned that these ELA programs shouldn't be seen as a substitute for instruction in other subject areas.

Science and social studies don't just teach content; they also teach discipline-specific practices-like developing a hypothesis or analyzing a primary source. "That kind of information, in my perception, doesn't tend to make it into ELA curricula," she said.

"I think an increasing segment of the field is picking up on the idea that content-rich English/language arts instruction is better for kids," Duke added. "But it has not fully tackled the question of, when in our day is there space left for science and social studies? And [there's] little attention to, how do we coordinate that across the school day?"

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What Is Background Knowledge, and How Does It Fit Into the Science of Reading?

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What a greater focus on content could mean for reading instruction.

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Top 3 Strategies for EL Literacy Instruction

In today's diverse classrooms, teachers are tasked with ensuring that all students' needs are met, including those of English Learners. One powerful approach to supporting ELs is leveraging their first language, such as Spanish, to facilitate the acquisition of English literacy skills.

Teachers can create a supportive and inclusive learning environment by

Incorporating visuals alongside target vocabulary

Considering shared traits between the languages

Frontloading concepts

​Embracing differentiated instruction and offering instructional supports will empower English learner students to excel in their English language literacy journey.

Learn about our Spanish Support for English Instruction!

EL Spanish Resources

Use of Visuals

Visual aids are invaluable tools in literacy instruction, especially for ELs. They bridge the gap between languages and help students comprehend concepts more easily. One strategy teachers can implement immediately in their classrooms is to frontload vocabulary with visual supports.

When introducing new words and new concepts, consider incorporating a visual to provide context and meaning for the new words in the English language. Incorporate the same visual into your English lesson. This will help students make the connection as they develop in both their oral and academic language in English.

Considering Shared Traits

Understanding the similarities and differences between Spanish and English is crucial for effective instruction. This is because many times, the work has already been done when understanding a particular concept in the native language and can therefore be approached with confidence and ease when the student is learning that same concept in English.

Shared Traits | Celebrate shared elements between the languages. Acknowledge when/if a student points out or notices a similarity to what is being taught in the English language. When possible, emphasize these similarities to help students leverage their prior knowledge, so that they can confidently approach the same concepts in English being learned.

Frontloading

What is frontloading? Frontloading is simply highlighting and reviewing key learning points that will be taught in the lesson beforehand.

Before teaching each lesson you may use visuals and highlight key vocabulary words or terms that will be used or taught within the lesson. If possible you can also have key concepts explained in the native language before you teach your English lesson. How can this be done?

Frontloading content is highly impactful in the effect that is has, through its ability to create meaning and context for background knowledge, that may otherwise be nonexistent for your English learner.

Contextualize learning by presenting new vocabulary within meaningful contexts. Use real-life scenarios, pictures, or short sentences to illustrate word usage.

Really Great Reading for Els understands that "one size does not fit all" when it comes to the varying needs of our English learner students. Apart from our diverse and different languages spoken there are also varying English proficiency levels that must be considered within each of those languages. Purposeful and thoughtful differentiation are key to meeting each students' individual needs and Really Great Reading for Els considers this in our strategies and products.

Honoring existing skill sets and languages are crucial when incorporating best practices for foundational literacy instruction in the English language.

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Top 3 Strategies for EL Literacy Instruction

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row][oneThird][/oneThird][twoThird] Top 3 Strategies for EL Literacy InstructionIn today's diverse classrooms, teachers are tasked with ensuring that all students' needs are met, including those of English Learners.

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​What Are the Top Five Reasons to Teach Vocabulary | Really Great Reading

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[row][oneThird][/oneThird][twoThird]Top Five Reasons to Teach VocabularyYoung people are reading less and failing to build vocabulary amid a sea of text messaging and cyberchat says literacy and child development specialist Professor Tom Nicholson. It goes without saying that the best writers and sp…

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How a Classroom Sound Wall Boosts Early Literacy

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Sound walls show the articulatory gestures of each letter sound in the English language and the letter or letters representing them.

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Ponder for a moment and think back to when you were in grade school or high school. Was there a teacher that influenced you or made you feel that you could be successful in mathematics? Was there an adult that pushed you to be the “best version of you” in mathematics? I had strong role models early…

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Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution. They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if necessary. ... -CCSS

The problems we encounter in the "real world"-our work life, family life, and personal health-don't ask us what chapter we've just studied and don't tell us which parts of our prior knowledge to recall and use. In fact, they rarely even tell us exactly what question we need to answer, and they almost never tell us where to begin. They just happen. To survive and succeed, we must figure out the right question to be asking, what relevant experience we have, what additional information we might need, and where to start. And we must have enough stamina to continue even when progress is hard, but enough flexibility to try alternative approaches when progress seems too hard.

The standard in elementary school

The same applies to the real life problems of children, problems like learning to talk, ride a bike, play a sport, handle bumps in the road with friends, and so on. What makes a problem "real" is not the context. A good puzzle is not only more part of a child's "real world" than, say, figuring out how much paint is needed for a wall, but a better model of the nature of the thinking that goes with "real" problems: the first task in a crossword puzzle or Sudoku or KenKen® is to figure out where to start. A satisfying puzzle is one that you don't know how to solve at first, but can figure out. And state tests present problems that are deliberately designed to be different, to require students to "start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution."

Mathematical Practice #1 asks students to develop that "puzzler's disposition" in the context of mathematics. Teaching can certainly include focused instruction, but students must also get a chance to tackle problems that they have not been taught explicitly how to solve, as long as they have adequate background to figure out how to make progress. Young children need to build their own toolkit for solving problems, and need opportunities and encouragement to get a handle on hard problems by thinking about similar but simpler problems, perhaps using simpler numbers or a simpler situation.

One way to help students make sense of all of the mathematics they learn is to put experience before formality throughout, letting students explore problems and derive methods from the exploration. For example, students learn the logic of multiplication and division-the distributive property that makes possible the algorithms we use-before the algorithms. The algorithms for each operation become, in effect, capstones rather than foundations.

Another way is to provide, somewhat regularly, problems that ask only for the analysis and not for a numeric "answer." You can develop such problems by modifying standard word problems. For example, consider this standard problem:

Eva had 36 green pepper seedlings and 24 tomato seedlings. She planted 48 of them. How many more does she have to plant?

You might leave off some numbers and ask children how they'd solve the problem if the numbers were known. For example:

Eva started with 36 green pepper seedlings and some tomato seedlings. She planted 48 of them. If you knew how many tomato seedlings she started with, how could you figure out how many seedlings she still has to plant? (I'd add up all the seedlings and subtract 48.)

Or, you might keep the original numbers but drop off the question and ask what can be figured out from that information, or what questions can be answered.

Eva had 36 green pepper seedlings and 24 tomato seedlings. She planted 48 of them. (I could ask "how many seedlings did she start with?" and I could figure out that she started with 60. I could ask how many she didn't plant, and that would be 12. I could ask what is the smallest number of tomato seedlings she planted! She had to have planted at least 12 of them!)

These alternative word problems ask children for much deeper analysis than typical ones, and you can invent them yourself, just by modifying word problems you already have.

Mathematically proficient students can explain correspondences between equations, verbal descriptions, tables, and graphs or draw diagrams of important features and relationships, graph data, and search for regularity or trends. Younger students might rely on using concrete objects or pictures to help conceptualize and solve a problem. -CCSS

Certain mathematically powerful representations-in particular, the number line, arrays and the area model for multiplication/division, and tabular/spreadsheet forms-are valuable complements to the use of concrete objects in elementary school, and remain important and faithful images of the mathematics through high school.

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MP1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them – Elementary Math

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Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather…

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Berninger, V., & Graham, S. (1998). Language by hand: A synthesis of a decade of research on handwriting. Handwriting Review, 12, 11-25.

Connelly, V., Dockrell, J., & Barnett, J. (2005). The slow handwriting of undergraduate students constrains overall performance in exam essays. Educational Psychology, 25, 99-107.

Edwards, L. (2003). Writing instruction in kindergarten: Examining an emerging area of research for children with writing and reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36, 136.

Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Fink, B. (2000). Is handwriting causally related to learning to write? Treatment of handwriting problems in beginning writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 620-633.

Graham, S., Struck, M., Richardson, J.,& Berninger, V. (2006). Dimensions of good and poor handwriting legibility in first and second graders. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29, 43-60.

Graham, S., Weinstein, N., & Berninger, V. (2001). Which manuscript letters do primary grade children write legibly? Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 488-497.

Other helpful sources

Berninger, V. (2004). Understanding the graphia in dysgraphia. In D. Dewey & D. Tupper (Eds.), Developmental motor disorders: A neuropsychological perspective (pp. 328-350). New York: Guilford.

Berninger, V. W., & Amtmann, D. (2003). Preventing written expression disabilities through early and continuing assessment and intervention for handwriting and/or spelling problems: Research into practice. In H. L. Swanson, K. R. Harris, & S. Graham (Eds.), Handbook of Learning Disabilities (pp. 345-363). New York: Guilford.

Troia, G.A. (2006). Writing instruction for students with learning disabilities. In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research. New York: Guilford.

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Berninger, V., & Graham, S. (1998). Language by hand: A synthesis of a decade of research on handwriting. Handwriting Review, 12, 11-25. Connelly, V., Dockrell, J., & Barnett, J. (2005). The slow handwriting of undergraduate students constrains overall performance in exam essays. Educational Psychology, 25, 99-107. Edwards, L. (2003).

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TEACH HANDWRITING

It is the year 2019 and the debate on whether or not we should teach cursive handwriting is still going strong. It is a little controversial in the education realm because there are two strong sides to this.

Do we need to be teaching it?

Is it an important skill when teaching handwriting for kids? Do we really need it in the day and age of computers and technology where so many tests are even being done on computers? It is no longer found in Common Core as emphasis and priority was given to technology.

What is cursive writing? It is known as the loops and whirls in writing, the joined up handwriting that flows better and gives better speed and fluency with writing. Well, let's say that it is meant to give better speed and fluency in writing. So, should we spend time teaching it at school?

Teaching Cursive Handwriting

BENEFITS OF CURSIVE WRITING

Let's look at some of the cursive handwriting benefits as presented by "experts" or people who just have strong opinions on it. And let's look at some counter-arguments or explanations of the ideas.

Idea one: Cursive connects you to the past.

If you can't write cursive you can't read cursive and therefore can't read such older documents like the Declaration of Independence.

Counter-argument: People have copied the text of these older documents so they can be read in a variety of print and fonts. You could also argue that many older documents were written in Latin, so should we learn Latin so we can read these older documents? I don't think there are many people out there that would push for Latin as they would push for cursive.

Legal Cursive Handwritten Document

Idea two: Cursive is faster to write.

Counter-argument: I have heard a number of children recently say that it is harder for them to write in cursive than it is to print, so it takes them longer. Even teachers are starting to recognize this. I understand that not having to stop and start with taking your pen off the paper when printing is quicker, but all children develop their own handwriting style and in that build their speed. For me personally, I have a mix of print and loops and write very fast. I developed what worked best for me.

Idea three: Teach cursive handwriting to get a neater signature.

Signing in cursive will improve the attractiveness, legibility, and fluidity of one's signature.

Counter-argument: Honestly, how many signatures are a neat form of cursive? Do I need to be able to write my name in cursive? I am not sure I could say any of my friend's signatures are beautiful cursive penmanship.

Again, we all develop our own signature.

To me, my father's signature looks nothing like his name. You can sign three x's and, as long as you do this each time, it will be accepted. I have never heard a bank or other legal entity say "your signature isn't a beautiful spelling of your name, please try again."

Idea four: Teach Cursive handwriting builds improved neural connections.

Explanation: The physical act of cursive writing stimulates the brain in ways that typing cannot. The movement of the hand in the physical act of writing shows brain activity in regions of the brain that are involved in thinking, memory, and language. It also helps with comprehension and engagement. Taking notes in cursive showed that students were actually learning and understanding more than the students who typed notes as they listened to a lecture. I know that another great way to build neural connections is by reading, I've got a post on the importance of reading.

Idea five: Increased self-respect.

When you can write in cursive the clarity and fluidity improves student's confidence and aids in their ability to communicate with the written word. Handwriting is a vital life skill.

Counter-argument: Yes, I would agree that handwriting is a vital life skill. But I would say that being able to write at all is a great skill - whether in print, cursive or a form of it. I learned modified cursive - have I missed out on a life skill? I do not know all the loops and whirls. Sure, I know how to join up some letters, but others are disconnected. Have I therefore been denied access to different parts of my brain? I honestly don't think so. I feel that in learning to print, and then even in a modified cursive, I have triggered learning and working memory, and it has assisted with my ability to spell and write fluently.

Idea six: Cursive is of particular value to children with learning challenges such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and difficulties with attention.

Explanation and counter-argument: There is the belief that cursive helps students with dyslexia because cursive helps with decoding through hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Supposedly cursive is better for preventing reversals (like reading d as b). It also reduces word-spacing problems. But students who have dyslexia are still more likely to reverse letters in cursive as they are in print. For some having the spacing between the letters in print allows clearer images of the letters because they are not all running together. A simplified or modified version of cursive can be better for students with dyslexia and dysgraphia, but honestly, teaching them typing (keyboarding) shows the best assistance in reading and writing for these students.

Idea seven: Cursive is neater and more legible.

Counter-argumen t: I have seen printed handwriting that is both extremely neat and legible and completely illegible. I have seen cursive that is both legible and illegible. It is honestly up to the student the time they take to develop their own handwriting. Some students write in really large letters, some so small you almost need a magnifying glass. I have seen students write completely in capital letters.

This is honestly the age of computers, tablets, phone and the such

We need to help our children use these tools for success. So many forms are now filled out online and students need to be able to complete these with success. For the proponents of cursive who say that cursive assists with forms, I would ask what forms? If filling it out by hand they ask for printing or block letters - never in cursive.

Handwritten vs Printed Letters

TEACH HANDWRITING AS A SKILL

I do believe that we need to teach handwriting (printing etc) as a skill and work on fluency but do we need to be teaching cursive handwriting? Being able to write by hand enables you to get ideas down on paper quickly. I am still very much a pen and paper girl when it comes to writing lists, ideas, outlines, etc. I will then transfer them to computer or phone etc. Yes, I might be doubling up on my work, but I find I function so much better that way. I am grateful that I have neat writing (though I have scrawl with the best of them) and can write quickly. Older generations learned cursive so they tend to argue for learning it. I hear how not teaching cursive means it will become a lost art form.

We no longer write in hieroglyphics but can appreciate it as an art form.

People are not daily writing in beautiful calligraphy, but we can appreciate it as an art form. Younger generations are looking at computers and typing, realizing that they are skills they need to have to stay relevant and accessible. My children are not at an age where we are needing to think about learning cursive. I do debate with myself if it is a skill they need. Right now I am leaning towards teaching it as an art form, giving them the opportunity to learn it, but we will focus on fluency and legibility of their everyday handwriting.

CURSIVE HANDWRITING PRACTICE

Does your child learn cursive? Do they need to do cursive handwriting practice at home? It is a learned skill after all. How much time do you spend on it?

Maybe you are homeschooling and you are debating, like me, whether or not you want to teach cursive. If you are leaning towards teaching it, or need some practice, here are some links to some good cursive handwriting practice sheets:
https://www.k5learning.com/cursive-writing-worksheets
https://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/cursive/index.htm
https://www.kidzone.ws/cursive/
CURSIVE TRANSLATOR

I have been having some fun with cursive translators online. These are fun. They help you go from print to cursive. They can be as easy as converting between print and cursive in one step, or they are cursive text generators in that they show you the different cursive text or cursive fonts. I have even shown my girls to see if they can recognize the letters in cursive form rather than print; if they can tell which are cursive small letters or print small letters. For the most part they can. I was impressed. (After all, they are only 4 years old) This is a way of how I like to teach my girls - by using everyday situations to learn. If you would like to know more about that, check out my post on activity based learning.

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Looking at Cursive Handwriting.

What are your thoughts on cursive? I would love to hear them. Do you think we should still be teaching it as a form of handwriting or do you think it is taking time away from other educational instruction? I know I lean towards not teaching it, but that is more because I never learned it except in a modified form. That doesn't mean my mind can't be changed. Please comment below to share your thoughts.

Handwritten Letter

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Teach Handwriting, is it important or uneccesery? - Learning Life

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It is the year 2019 and the debate on whether or not we should teach cursive handwriting is still going strong. t is a little controversial in the education

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Summary: Children learn more and remember better when writing by hand, a new study reports. The brains of children are more active when handwriting than typing on a computer keyboard. Professor Audrey van der Meer at NTNU believes that national guidelines should be put into place to ensure that children receive at least a minimum of handwriting training.
Results from several studies have shown that both children and adults learn more and remember better when writing by hand.

Now another study confirms the same: choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory.

Van der Meer and her colleagues have investigated this several times, first in 2017 and now in 2020.

In 2017, she examined the brain activity of 20 students. She has now published a study in which she examined brain activity in twelve young adults and twelve children.

This is the first time that children have participated in such a study.

Both studies were conducted using an EEG to track and record brain wave activity. The participants wore a hood with over 250 electrodes attached.

The brain produces electrical impulses when it is active. The sensors in the electrodes are very sensitive and pick up the electrical activity that takes place in the brain.

Handwriting gives the brain more hooks to hang memories on

Each examination took 45 minutes per person, and the researchers received 500 data points per second.

The results showed that the brain in both young adults and children is much more active when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard.

"The use of pen and paper gives the brain more 'hooks' to hang your memories on. Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain. A lot of senses are activated by pressing the pen on paper, seeing the letters you write and hearing the sound you make while writing. These sense experiences create contact between different parts of the brain and open the brain up for learning. We both learn better and remember better," says Van der Meer.

She believes that her own and others' studies emphasize the importance of children being challenged to draw and write at an early age, especially at school.

Today's digital reality is that typing, tapping and screen time are a big part of children's and adolescents' everyday lives.

A survey of 19 countries in the EU shows that Norwegian children and teens spend the most time online. The smartphone is a constant companion, followed closely by the PC and tablet.

The survey shows that Norwegian children ages 9 to16 spend almost four hours online every day, double the amount since 2010.

Kids' leisure time spent in front of a screen is now amplified by schools' increasing emphasis on digital learning.

Van der Meer thinks digital learning has many positive aspects, but urges handwriting training.

"Given the development of the last several years, we risk having one or more generations lose the ability to write by hand. Our research and that of others show that this would be a very unfortunate consequence" of increased digital activity, says Meer.

Typing, clicking and watching occupy an increasing number of hours in the average child's day. But brain research shows that writing by hand helps people remember better and learn more. The photo shows a EEG Geodesic Sensor Net with 256 evenly distributed sensors that was used to record EEG activity from the participant's scalp during the research. Image is credited to NTNU/Microsoft.

She believes that national guidelines should be put in place that ensure children receive at least a minimum of handwriting training.

"Some schools in Norway have become completely digital and skip handwriting training altogether. Finnish schools are even more digitized than in Norway. Very few schools offer any handwriting training at all," says Van der Meer.

In the debate about handwriting or keyboard use in school, some teachers believe that keyboards create less frustration for children. They point out that children can write longer texts earlier, and are more motivated to write because they experience greater mastery with a keyboard.

"Learning to write by hand is a bit slower process, but it's important for children to go through the tiring phase of learning to write by hand. The intricate hand movements and the shaping of letters are beneficial in several ways. If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand requires control of your fine motor skills and senses. It's important to put the brain in a learning state as often as possible. I would use a keyboard to write an essay, but I'd take notes by hand during a lecture," says Van der Meer.

"The brain has evolved over thousands of years. It has evolved to be able to take action and navigate appropriate behaviour. In order for the brain to develop in the best possible way, we need to use it for what it's best at. We need to live an authentic life. We have to use all our senses, be outside, experience all kinds of weather and meet other people. If we don't challenge our brain, it can't reach its full potential. And that can impact school performance," says Van der Meer.
About this neurodevelopment research article
Source:
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Contacts:
Audrey van der Meer - NTNU
Image Source:
The image is credited to NTNU/Microsoft.

Original Research: Open access
"The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults" by Eva Ose Askvik, F. R. (Ruud) van der Weel and Audrey L. H. van der Meer. Frontiers in Psychology.
Abstract The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults
To write by hand, to type, or to draw - which of these strategies is the most efficient for optimal learning in the classroom? As digital devices are increasingly replacing traditional writing by hand, it is crucial to examine the long-term implications of this practice. High-density electroencephalogram (HD EEG) was used in 12 young adults and 12, 12-year-old children to study brain electrical activity as they were writing in cursive by hand, typewriting, or drawing visually presented words that were varying in difficulty. Analyses of temporal spectral evolution (TSE, i.e., time-dependent amplitude changes) were performed on EEG data recorded with a 256-channel sensor array. For young adults, we found that when writing by hand using a digital pen on a touchscreen, brain areas in the parietal and central regions showed event-related synchronized activity in the theta range. Existing literature suggests that such oscillatory neuronal activity in these particular brain areas is important for memory and for the encoding of new information and, therefore, provides the brain with optimal conditions for learning. When drawing, we found similar activation patterns in the parietal areas, in addition to event-related desynchronization in the alpha/beta range, suggesting both similarities but also slight differences in activation patterns when drawing and writing by hand. When typewriting on a keyboard, we found event-related desynchronized activity in the theta range and, to a lesser extent, in the alpha range in parietal and central brain regions. However, as this activity was desynchronized and differed from when writing by hand and drawing, its relation to learning remains unclear. For 12-year-old children, the same activation patterns were found, but to a lesser extent. We suggest that children, from an early age, must be exposed to handwriting and drawing activities in school to establish the neuronal oscillation patterns that are beneficial for learning. We conclude that because of the benefits of sensory-motor integration due to the larger involvement of the senses as well as fine and precisely controlled hand movements when writing by hand and when drawing, it is vital to maintain both activities in a learning environment to facilitate and optimize learning.

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Why Writing by Hand Makes Kids Smarter - Neuroscience News

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Children learn more and remember better when writing by hand, a new study reports. The brains of children are more active when handwriting than typing on a computer keyboard.

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Wiley Blevins, Ed.M. – The value of accountable text

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What are the best ways to activate and build students' background knowledge, and why is it important?
Our students have a great deal of background knowledge that teachers need to activate so that they can learn new content. And students need to be provided with additional background knowledge so that they can access even more content!

This two-part series will look at what we mean by the term "background knowledge," why it's important, and how we teachers can best identify and develop it both in the physical classroom and during remote teaching.

Today, Adam Fachler, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Rachel Bear, Cheryl Abla, Elizabeth Villanueva, Jenny Vo, and Sarah Said share their commentaries. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Jeffrey, Rachel, Cheryl, and Elizabeth on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
"Priming" students for success
Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Adam Fachler, and Rachel Bear are the authors of the book Planning Powerful Instruction: 7 Must-Make Moves to Transform How We Teach--and How Students Learn":

In our book, Planning Powerful Instruction (Corwin), we argue that a central move of teaching is priming to prepare students for success. (This is much more efficient and fun than remediating learners once they have begun to struggle.) The only resources that learners have for approaching a new challenge is what they already know and are already interested in. The only way to build new interests and capacities is by activating and building on students' prior interests and background knowledge before instruction. This process honors what students bring to the classroom and provides them with necessary context and connection to the purpose and payoff of what is to be learned. It is essential to culturally relevant pedagogy.

But the biggest reason we begin new learning experiences with activities that "prime" students for the learning ahead is this:

There is no alternative! All new learning builds on prior learning.

When we activate and build students' background knowledge:

Students see the connection between previous and current learning.

We establish a set of conceptual "hooks" on which students can "hang" new learning.

Students get on the same page with us.

We receive formative-assessment data we can use throughout the learning experience.

Not only does this practice provide myriad benefits and accord with how the brain functions, it also describes how experts in every field develop expertise. Everyone from engineers to entrepreneurs ask themselves, " What is already known and how do we know it-and how might we extend and build on it?" before undertaking a new project.

If the best instruction mirrors or approximates how individuals in the real world learn, then it stands to reason that we should do what they do.

So, what are the best ways to get it done? Here is a short list of our favorite techniques:

Solving a "junior," mini, or scaled-back version of the problem you will teach students to solve.

Unpacking images or art related to the targeted learning (e.g., see-think-wonder protocols that mirror the process of inquiry: establishing the facts, interpreting facts and inference chains, asking questions to drive further learning).

Providing autobiographical prompts related to the learning ahead (e.g., make students face a moral dilemma the character will face, putting them in the thematic driver's seat).

Asking questions that address problematic or controversial aspects of the content.

Facilitating a simulation.

Ranking products or concepts (which requires making value judgments and applying reasoning).

Conducting surveys or opinionaires.

Remember: The best priming activities are accessible, focused, relevant, and revealing of students' knowledge and abilities. If your priming activity leaves a good taste in your students' mouths and creates energy and interest in future learning, then that positive spillover can affect the vibe of the whole unit. So, while we know time is of the essence in every classroom, it's a necessary investment to make priming student learning a mainstay of yours.

Background knowledge and curiosity
Cheryl Abla is a former teacher who now, with McREL International, leads professional learning and coaching for K-12 educators on research-based strategies for effective instruction, use of classroom technology, English-language acquisition, and classroom culture and climate. She's a co-author of Tools for Classroom Instruction That Works, which provides easy-to-use tools and learning activities to help teachers get CITW strategies into the classroom on a daily basis:

At McREL, we're huge believers in the power of curiosity to propel lifelong learning, but we're not naïve about its limitations. Without background knowledge, what would students have to be curious about? You've got to start somewhere. Learning is about filling in the gaps between what is known and what isn't yet known.

The best way to leverage background knowledge is to give students cues, questions, and advance organizers about what they're about to learn. Sound familiar? Together, these tools form one of the nine classic research-based strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works. What cues, questions, and advance organizers have in common is that they're about beginnings. They all precede the delivery of new content and they all rely on the understanding that knowledge doesn't exist in a vacuum but builds upon prior knowledge and in turn gets built upon.

Vocabulary Knowledge Rating, which we adapted from Camille Blachowicz, introduces students to critical vocabulary terms before instruction begins. Students rate their understanding of each term before and after the lesson, to see if their knowledge has grown.

Anticipation Guide reverses the traditional model of learning enough about a subject to then be able to form an opinion about it. First, students are asked their opinion of a subject. Then the lesson is delivered. Was their background knowledge adequate to support their original position, or do they need to re-evaluate? Now they're not only learning new content, they're learning how additional evidence can influence their understanding.

Power Previewing teaches students to skim a text strategically. The teacher guides the previewing process by pointing out useful things to look for, such as recurring themes. There are many questions a teacher can include in an advance organizer, and one of them is, "Does anything look familiar or relate to something you've seen, read, learned about, or experienced?" Students become more proficient readers when memory is activated as part of the process of acquiring new knowledge.

While none of us wants schools to be curiosity-free drill-and-kill zones ever again, we have to acknowledge the importance of background knowledge and develop skill in helping students acquire it. Background knowledge plus curiosity is the most powerful formula of all.

"Funds of knowledge" Elizabeth Villanueva is a Spanish teacher and world-language department chair at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. She has been recognized as the 2018 National Education Association Social Justice Activist Award Finalist; 2018 California Teachers Association, César Chávez "Sí Se Puede Human Rights Award"; and Sacramento City Unified school district, Teacher of the Year 2015-16. Elizabeth is an Ed.D. candidate at the University of San Francisco in the Learning and Instruction Doctoral Program with an emphasis in heritage-language maintenance:
Academic learning success must be founded at the personal level of each learner and teacher. Its relevance brings meaningfulness and connectedness to each individual creating a learning atmosphere of interconnectedness that stimulates curiosity for the known and unknown. That bridges to a deeper level of understanding to explore and discover the purpose for academic access and success. Therefore, the power of disseminating the funds of knowledge of each learner to develop self-determination for personal growth and academic success is correlated with the teacher's willingness to share their own personal funds of knowledge that may trigger students' interest and motivation to thrive.

I come from a family that can be labeled as "dysfunctional," since there was domestic violence, lack of love, low economic status, and then at an early age, my parents separated. It was then my mother left my father and migrated illegally to Salinas, Callif., looking for better life opportunities. It was she who, after crossing the border, began telling me and my siblings to get an education to have more and better life opportunities because being uneducated, she was only able to work in the fields and then at a packing company. So five years after her arrival to Salinas, I came to Salinas knowing her expectations. Those were to finish high school, learn English, get some educational degree, and find a better job than she had. It was her insistence to apply myself to study that made me realize how important it is to go to school and most importantly the role that teachers play in a child's education.

As a language teacher and an English-language learner, I believe there is no language more powerful than the language of empathy, sensitivity, and kindness for one another. I know that if I take care of my students' educational well-being by valuing and integrating their funds of knowledge, it is transformed into meaningful and relevant instructional material that becomes students' academic success. Building that relatedness can enhance students' competence to develop their autonomy to continue thriving. Thus, learning from the funds of knowledge of my students is my motivation to strive and enhance meaningful relationships that empower a bigger community.

ELLs & prior knowledge Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 23 years in education and is currently an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas:
Our English-learners come to us from many countries and bring with them different backgrounds and experiences. In order to successfully support their learning in the content areas, we need to make sure we find out what they already know and what gaps need to be filled. We can do this by activating the students' prior knowledge and then building their background knowledge.

What is prior knowledge and why do we need to activate it? Prior knowledge is what the students bring with them that they have gained from previous schooling and their life experiences. It is important for teachers to activate their students' prior knowledge so they know what students already know about a certain topic and what gaps in learning they will need to fill in order for students to be successful. It helps them to understand the reason why the students are struggling. Is the poor comprehension or struggle with assignments due to lack of language, lack of experience, or lack of skills? Having a firm grasp on the reason or reasons will enable the teacher to know how to support the students.

I like using anticipation guides at the beginning of a unit to see what students know. Anticipation guides have statements that students answer at the beginning of a unit and then at the end. The responses can be in an Agree/Disagree or True/False format. KWL (Know-Want to Know-Learn) charts are also great for activating prior knowledge. Charts can be filled out as a class or by individual students. Another great strategy is the observation chart. This GLAD strategy has students walking around the room looking at pictures and writing observations, comments, and questions on them. I either give each student a different colored pen or have them write their name after their observation so I can track which student wrote what.

Once you have a grasp of your students' prior knowledge, your next step is to build their background knowledge to fill in the gaps. Building background knowledge allows you as the teacher to link the students' past learning and experiences to new learning. There are many ways to build background knowledge. Videos are great for this. Choose ones that are not too technical and easy to understand. Stop periodically to check for understanding. Virtual field trips are a great alternative to live field trips when you are unable to schedule them. I like virtual field trips because you can keep going back to them if needed. The most important way teachers can build background knowledge is to explicitly teach key academic vocabulary. Give students multiple opportunities to use and practice the vocabulary so that the words are internalized and permanently connected to the topic of study.

As you can see, it is essential for you to plan activities to activate your students' prior knowledge and to build background knowledge so that your students, especially your English-learners, can make that critical connection between their past learning and their new learning. With the info gained from the activities, you can better plan how to support your students so they are successful in their learning.

"Language dives" Sarah Said is the director of language and equity programs at an EL (Expeditionary Learning) Education School in the Chicago suburbs. In her role, she oversees support programs for multilingual learners, works with others to create a community that fosters success for students from the diverse communities her school serves, and helps strengthen school to community outreach. In the past, she has been a director of ELL, dean, and curriculum coordinator. In addition to her role in her building, she is a contributor for ELL Confianza and has written a variety of blog posts online. She is a member of the #ELLChat and #ELLchat_bkClub where she helps advocate for multilingual learners. Follow her on Twitter at @MrsSaid:
As I always say, "We don't eat something in a restaurant when we don't understand what it is on the menu"-at least I don't. Our minds are "picky eaters" when it comes to what we engage in and connect with. Be able to front-load information and support students with connecting to past knowledge is something we need to do to support them as educators. How do we do this? We engage students in activities that help us learn about them. This helps support us in being culturally responsive teachers in the classroom.

One strategy that I like to use at the beginning of the year is a project that I call the "cultural bag." I explain to students that their cultural bag is something that they always carry around with them that holds their values, norms, and experiences. What I like about this activity is that it can be done with any age level from K-12 and be effective. Simply, you give students a paper bag, explain what a "cultural bag " is with an age-appropriate explanation, then they can collage or draw the bag with effective images to emulate the "cultural bag." Depending on the age level of the students, you can have them then either write or explain what the images on the bag mean.

As you continue to get to know your students during the year, you can use ideas from what you know about them to scaffold conversations about new content. This helps students learn, and it makes the classroom more engaging for all.

When you are considering multilingual learners, you need to think about other ways to build background knowledge. You may need to utilize cognates in the native language to support students' understanding vocabulary in English. This can be supported in an interactive word wall. These word walls are not just word walls that sit on a wall; students actually create the word wall and utilize the word wall to actively support it.

Building background for students helps support them in really engaging with and grasping content and language. This is an essential part of teaching and learning. It is critical in supporting a culturally responsive classroom.

Thanks to Adam, Jeffrey, Rachel, Cheryl, Elizabeth, Jenny, and Sarah for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar.

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The Whys & Hows of Activating Students' Background Knowledge (Opinion)

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Seven educators explain the importance of tapping students' background knowledge in order to learn new content, and they describe ways to do just that, including through the use of surveys and anticipation guides.

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Tips for introducing a speech sound using a key word.

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The Math Practice standards come from the he math practice standards are habits for a math mind. They provide a framework for how we interact with math. They describe the behaviors and mindset we want to create in order to understand, reason and communicate while problem solving in math. Common Core State Standards Initiative, but they stem from the "processes and proficiencies" researched by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Research Council's report: Adding It Up. These eight math practice standards span across all grade levels in math content, from kindergarten to high school. Therefore, it is important to recognize that these standards are not simply something you teach and a student masters, but something that is demonstrated through continued modeling, discussion, and practice. Furthermore, t

The videos listed below provide student friendly language for understanding the use and importance of the Math Practice Standards. They can to spark discussion and bring awareness to what it means to develop a mathematical mindset. Feel free to use them with the Chasing Einstein Challenge framework or separately within your classroom, however you see fit. Let's create an environment of exploration and practice in order to foster students' mindset for problem solving inside and outside of the classroom

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The Math Practice standards come from the Common Core State Standards Initiative , but they stem from the "processes and proficiencies" researched by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics...

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You are likely to have many children in your class who not only can speak one language but are learning a second or even a third language. And that is a great thing. If English is an additional language, then it will be important that you understand
and value the child's expansion of both home and school language. You will want to adjust your teaching to make sure that English language learners (ELLs) have access to your teaching about sounds, letters, and words. Often, these adjustments are minor and easy to implement, but they are necessary to promote essential understandings on the part of these learners.

Here are some ways you can support ELLs in Phonics and Word Study:

1. Use many hands-on activities so that children have the chance to manipulate magnetic letters and tiles, move pictures around, and work with word cards and name cards.

2. Be sure that the print for all charts (ABC charts, name charts, shared writing, picture and word charts, etc.) is clear and consistent so that children who are working in another language do not have to deal with varying forms of letters.

3. Make sure that English language learners are not sitting in an area that is peripheral to the instruction (for example, in the back or to the side). It is especially important for these learners to be able to see and hear all instruction clearly.

4. Provide a "rehearsal" by working with your English language learners in a small group before you provide the lesson to the entire group.

5. Use real objects to represent pictures and build concepts in children's minds. When it is not possible to use real objects to build concepts, use clear pictures that will have meaning for children. Picture support should be included whenever possible.

6. Be sure to enunciate clearly yourself and accept children's approximations. If they are feeling their own mouths say (or approximate) the sounds, they will be able to make the connections.

7. Accept alternative pronunciations of words with the hard-to-say sounds and present the written form to help learners distinguish between them. Over time, you will notice movement toward more standard English pronunciation.

From Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons, Grade K by
Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2018 by Irene C. Fountas and
Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.

Tue, Jul 25, '17

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7 Ways to Effectively Teach Phonics to ELLs

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7 Ways to Effectively Teach Phonics to ELLs

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Teach Starter recently received a resource request to create some dictation passages. This stimulated some discussion in the Teach Starter office. We began to ask ourselves: How many teachers still use dictation as a teaching tool in their classrooms? How many teachers would consider dictation a waste of time, boring for the students, a 'teacher-centered' task? With today's over-crowded curriculum, it is little wonder that traditional teaching strategies such as dictation are being increasingly pushed aside. This blog post will outline what dictation is, why it is considered beneficial, and some ways that teachers can extend upon the traditional methods of delivering dictation.

What is Dictation?

Dictation refers to a person (usually the teacher) reading a small piece of text aloud so that the listeners (the students) can write down what is being said. Once completed, the students check their own text against the original passage and correct any errors made. While this strategy has its benefits, there are alternatives to this traditional method of delivery. It is possible to make dictation a more 'learner-driven' activity, consolidating a variety of skills in the process.

How to Dictate

1. Read the whole text once at a slightly reduced speed. Students listen.

2. Read the text again clearly, phrase by phrase. Students begin to write down what is being said. Provide students with a reasonable amount of time to finish one phrase before starting another.

3. Read the whole text again. Allow time for the students to review what they have written and to check for spelling, punctuation and grammar.

4. Display the text on the board so students can check and correct their writing.

Having the students compare their version of the text to the original can increase their ability to notice aspects of language with which they struggle. Some areas students may find challenging include applying common spelling rules, using correct sentence punctuation and identifying grammar conventions.

Extending on the Traditional Dictation Strategy

Introducing New Language - use dictation to introduce new language to students. After the students have checked their writing, allow them to circle any words they are unsure of. Encourage them to use their dictionaries to discover the meanings of these unfamiliar words.

Note Taking - ask students to take notes whilst listening to a text being dictated. The idea is that through the note-taking process, students will learn to identify the most important words and phrases in the passage. Extend this task by asking the students to use their notes to rewrite the text in their own words.

Students Dictate - allow students to dictate a text to each other in pairs. This assists in the development of speaking and pronunciation skills. It also allows the students to play a more active role in the task.

Intensive Dictation - when reading a text, ask students to write down examples of the particular language feature you wish to focus on. For example, students may be instructed to write down any verbs they hear in the passage.

Quick Dictations - vary the types of texts you choose as dictation tasks. Use shopping lists, appointment schedules, book and film reviews, product descriptions... the possibilities are endless!

Imaginary Podcast - pretend that the dictation text is being read out via a Podcast. As you read the text, the students call out instructions such as, 'stop', 'rewind', 'play', 'pause' - just as if they were listening to an iPod.

Dictogloss - dictogloss is a classroom dictation activity where students work together to reconstruct a short text.

1. Read the text to the students. Students only listen; they do not write anything down.

2. When you have finished, ask the students to write down as much of the passage as they remember.

3. Reread the text. When you have finished, allow the students to write down any additional information that they forgot the last time.

4. Place the students into pairs. Allow them to compare notes and try to recreate the passage in full.

5. Reread the text to the students one more time (again, students just listen). Give them some time to add to their final version.

Running Dictation - students work in pairs to recreate a passage of text.

1. Print out a copy of a text and display it at the front of the classroom.

2. Students work in pairs. One person is the writer, the other is the 'runner'.

3. The runner runs to the front of the classroom and tries to memorize the first sentence. They then return to their partner and report what they have read.

4. This continues until the text is complete. If a student forgets their train of thought, they can run back to the text.

5. At the end, display the passage on the board (large enough for everyone to read). Students then check their work.

Teach Starter Resources
We have created a fantastic dictation resource for each year level. Use these passages for your dictation activities in your classroom:

[resource:46815][resource:46842][resource:46828][resource:46817]

We would love to hear from our members about other ways you use dictation passages in your classrooms. Let us know by posting a comment on this blog.

Ideas and activities were generated with the help of the following informative blog articles:

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Is Dictation Just an Old-Fashioned Teaching Strategy?

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How many teachers still use dictation as a teaching tool in their classrooms? How many teachers would consider dictation a waste of time, boring for the...

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Dictation is the process of writing down what someone else has said. With young children, dictation offers a way for a parent or a teacher to record a child’s thoughts or ideas when the writing demands surpass writing skills. Dictation provides a chance for an adult to model many writing behaviors i…

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When I do classroom observations, I truly don't even need to watch the teacher to evaluate instruction; I watch the students. If the processes are consistent and the instruction is clear, it is reflected in the students' engagement, interaction, and efficiency in guided skill practice and application. Ensuring student success during explicit phonics instruction comes down to what I call the Four C's.

The Four C's of Effective Phonics Instruction

1. Clear instruction and processes

2. Consistent processes

3. Corrective (positive) feedback

4. Connections to reading and writing

1) Clear Instruction and Processes

This is accomplished in a couple of ways. First, teachers need to be familiar with the content before teaching to ensure their instruction and explanations are clear and concise. Teachers should not be reading the lesson for the first time as they are instructing the students. It can almost be more damaging for students to have confusing instruction than no instruction at all; the confusion becomes a challenge to undo. Second, the processes for instruction are simple and predictable for a reason. When instruction follows a predictable, familiar format, then students can focus on the content instead of trying to navigate the mode of instruction and what is expected of them. Teachers can greatly aid in efficient learning by explaining processes (e.g., modeling, dictation, marking, transfer) clearly and checking for understanding by having students explain the process and demonstrate what is expected within the framework of reading instruction.

2) Consistent Processes

The processes in Reading Horizons are what make the reading curriculum so effective-if they are done correctly and consistently. The process of dictation, in which all modalities are employed and vital connections are made, is the most important process. Teachers can ensure the power of the process by being consistent. Whenever giving a word as an example in instruction or during practice in dictation, teachers should say it twice and have the students repeat it twice. Then the teacher should use the word in a sentence as the students write and mark/prove the word. Every time. Teachers may also have the students turn to a partner and use the word in a sentence and/or have students explain their process of marking. Whatever processes a teacher puts in place that help the student move towards clarity are wonderful-just remember that the key is consistency with those processes.

3) Corrective (Positive) Feedback

Corrective feedback is vital to make sure a student understands what he/she missed or didn't understand and how to fix it to avoid the same error in the future. During dictation practice, students should not just erase and replace mistakes. Students should first talk through what the error was, logically reason out what they need to do differently, and then write the correct response to the right of the error on their board or paper. This is one of the reasons why we advise students not to erase during dictation. If we erase and replace, the student is unable to compare and see where the error occurred, and no real understanding is reached; thus, the likelihood of a similar error occurring in the future goes up. Making connections is particularly difficult for students with processing disorders, which is why it is so important that teachers help them draw logical connections rooted in understanding.

Another key point relating to feedback is that all feedback should be positive. Attaching negativity to this process through guilt and shame over errors is profoundly damaging to the student. Learning is in and of itself a process. It is not a destination. Expecting perfection and shaming students for errors or for lack of understanding is simply unacceptable. If guilt or shame gets attached to this instruction, then students will develop negative feelings towards the program not because it doesn't work but because of their experience associated with it.

4) Connections to Reading and Writing

The biggest concern I hear from teachers is that students are not easily or automatically transferring the decoding skills learned in Reading Horizons to their reading and writing. Again, it is not something most students will do automatically; the teacher is the integral connecting piece for skill transference to be accomplished. For example, if the students are taught Phonetic Skill One during instruction, then throughout the day students should be guided to look for words that follow that skill in anything they read, regardless of the content area. In their writing activities, students can be prompted to use a few words that follow the skill learned. The Transfer Cards, Reading Library, and other games and activities are all designed to help students transfer skills; however, teachers still need to guide students through the process and point out the connections for students until they see them for themselves.

The Four C's are a simple self-check for teachers to see if what we are doing is helping to create clarity for our students or causing confusion. We ask ourselves: Is my instruction clear? Are my processes consistent? Am I providing positive corrective feedback? Am I helping students connect these skills to their reading and writing? If we are doing these things, we can rest in the truth that we have the key pieces in place and that our students will be successful.

Authors: No content items.

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The 4 C's of Effective Phonics Instruction that Boost Student Engagement

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When I do classroom observations, I truly don't even need to watch the teacher to evaluate instruction; I watch the students. If the processes are consistent and the instruction is clear, it is reflected in the students' engagement, interaction, and efficiency in guided skill practice and application.

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Teaching Oral Reading Fluency to Older Students

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Oh goodness, everybody’s least favorite topic (except maybe Tim Rasinski’s). What I’m talking about is fluency instruction/practice for older students … grades 4 and up, let’s say.

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Timed repeated readings are an instructional practice for monitoring students’ fluency development. Repeated readings, under timed conditions, of familiar instructional level text can increase students’ reading speed which can improve comprehension.

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Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension

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Comprehension strategies are conscious plans — sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension. These seven strategies have research-based evidence for improving text comprehension.

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Timed repeated readings are an instructional practice for monitoring students' fluency development. Repeated readings, under timed conditions, of familiar instructional level text can increase students' reading speed which can improve comprehension.

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The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction

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The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction

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The Reading Teacher - 2021 - Duke - The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction

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Vol. 78

No. 3

Abstract

What Is That Word?

Did I Read That Word Right?

What Does That Word Mean?

What Does the Text Mean?

Powerful Prompts

Key Prompts for Comprehension

A Challenge Worth Accepting

There's an art-and science-to providing prompts for young readers when they struggle.

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Abstract

What Is That Word?

Did I Read That Word Right?

What Does That Word Mean?

What Does the Text Mean?

Powerful Prompts

Key Prompts for Comprehension

A Challenge Worth Accepting

What should teachers do when a young reader is stuck on a word? Should they tell the child what the word is? Or prompt her to look at the picture? To guess based on context? Sound it out? What should they do if a child reads the word but doesn't know what it means, or what the larger text means?

These are fundamental questions early-grade teachers face every day. Yet they are riddled with controversy and mixed messages. It's important that education leaders have research-informed answers to these questions and can support teachers' learning about them. As someone who's spent decades conducting and reviewing research about reading, I'd like to offer guidance on these questions, based on current research.

To begin, let's distinguish among five questions young readers in your school or district are likely to face regularly and the core processes that are involved in them. I've broken them down in Figure 1.

In my view, much of the confusion about what to tell a child who's stuck on a word is the result of the field being unclear about the distinctions among these five questions and processes. I will leave the rather complex question "Why does that meaning matter?" for another article, but let's consider each of the others in turn.

What Is That Word?

To identify words, good readers primarily use the letters in words. Good readers pay attention not just to the individual letters, but to where they are positioned in the word and which letters are around them (Grainger, 2018). For example, you recognize that when "y" appears at the beginning of a word, it's likely to represent the sound heard at the beginning of the word yes, but when it appears at the end of the word, it's likely to represent the sound i or e as in fly or happy. You process "h" differently if there is a "t" right before it. The letters and the spaces and letters around them (orthographic context) drive word identification.

To some degree, readers also use the broader context to identify words. For example, read the following sentences aloud:

She took an arrow from her quiver and drew back the bow. The king ordered all his subjects to bow down before him.

The way you pronounced bow in the first sentence very likely rhymes with know, whereas the way you pronounced it in the second sentence likely rhymes with now. Nash-Webber (1975) shares this different kind of example:

The underlined words are actually identical, but you probably read the first as event and the second as went. When you are identifying words, you're also thinking about the meaning of the words leading up to them.

Examples like these have led some to think that we should teach and prompt beginning readers to use meaning (often framed as what sounds right and makes sense) to identify words from the start. But that's not the case for several reasons.

First, most of the time, context does not lead to successful word identification. When some words in a passage were covered up, even graduate students were able to correctly guess the word only 36 percent of the time. Seeing even some of the letters in the words, however, really helped these students guess a word (72 percent correct) (Kucer, 2011). Children with little vocabulary or content knowledge related to a text may have considerably more difficulty.

Also, in the early stages of reading development, children already use information other than letters to identify words (Ehri, 2014). It doesn't make a lot of sense to prompt children to do what they are already developmentally inclined to do instead of prompting them to do what we want them to learn to do-attend closely to the letters in words and their associated sounds.

More important, if readers identify words through context, they don't go through the process of forming connections between letters and sounds, which is needed to store words in memory so that they can eventually be read automatically. Indeed, there is evidence that words identified through context aren't learned as well as those identified through analysis of the letters in words (Landi et al., 2006).

Finally, prompting children to identify words through context is a missed opportunity to reinforce the letter-sound instruction children are experiencing, which should, like the letter-sound associations in the texts children are reading, be increasing in complexity over time. (The Listening to Reading Protocol referenced at the end of this article describes a typical pattern of increasing complexity.)

To be clear, educators shouldn't discourage children from using context to identify words. If children are monitoring comprehension, they will have meaning in mind. However, we shouldn't prompt children to use context to identify words. We should prompt them to attend closely to the letters and sounds of words to maximize the chances that they will eventually become automatic in reading those words.

Did I Read That Word Right?

At the same time, we do want children to pay attention to whether the words they have just decoded or identified actually sound right and make sense. This is part of comprehension monitoring. Imagine the text says, "It was hot. I began to sweat." A child might, understandably, read sweat as sweet, as ea often represents the long e sound. We need the child to notice that sweet doesn't sound right or make sense, and to go back to reread. Doing so gives the child another chance to correctly identify the word and connect the word's spelling to the correct pronunciation in memory.

Even beginning readers are capable of monitoring their comprehension, but children differ in the extent that they adopt this as a habit during their reading. It's important to teach and prompt children to monitor their comprehension and to employ fix-up strategies if what they have read doesn't sound right or make sense. One goal is to get children to the point where they correct themselves, without prompting, when they have misread a word ( self-correcting).

What Does That Word Mean?

How does a child know whether what they've just read sounds right or makes sense? This depends in part on the individual words in their oral vocabulary. Consider the word hove. Is the "o" pronounced like love or cove or move? Unless hove is part of your oral vocabulary, you don't know. Vocabulary knowledge intersects with our ability to monitor comprehension and with word-reading development. Fortunately, from early on, children can use strategies to help figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Here, context is important. Contextual sources include graphics (such as a diagram that shows an animal's mane) and words around the target word ("The huge ship hove into sight"). Other strategies include using resources (like a dictionary or asking someone), using morphology of the word itself (such as un + like), considering polysemy (thinking, "maybe this word means something different in this context"), and, for multilingual children, considering cognates (for instance, knowing that luna means moon in Spanish helps with figuring out the meaning of lunar).

You might think young readers shouldn't be reading texts that include words whose meanings are unfamiliar and must be figured out, but this is difficult to avoid. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to explain to children reading decodable texts what a pal or a hog is, for example. Children differ enormously in the size of their vocabularies. There's no way to avoid dealing with vocabulary as part of supporting young readers.

What Does the Text Mean?

Children need to know not only what individual words mean, but also what those words mean collectively. Myriad factors influence children's reading comprehension development (Cartwright & Duke, 2019), such as their knowledge related to the content of the text they're reading and how accurately they are reading the words. Indeed, there's a cycle in which accuracy of word reading affects comprehension and comprehension affects children's ability to monitor whether they've read words accurately.

There's another reason to attend to comprehension-it's the purpose of reading in the first place. There is widespread agreement among researchers who study reading instruction that teachers in the early grades should implement practices to strengthen students' comprehension as well as word-reading ability; comprehension shouldn't wait until later.

Powerful Prompts

With this background in mind, let's return to the question of what to do when a reader is stuck on a word, along with other questions about prompting. It's important to prioritize prompts that children can eventually internalize and use independently. Children need to read a lot to become proficient readers, and most children will not have the luxury of having an adult with them for all of that reading. Children's developing ability to help themselves when stuck on a word will lead to more successful and satisfying reading. The three tables presented in this article describe key prompts teachers can offer readers who are stuck, based on the reading issues I've identified.

Key Prompts for Comprehension

In addition to the prompts provided in Table 2 for comprehension monitoring, there are other ways we can prompt children for comprehension. Discussion of the meaning of a particular text is itself a way to prompt comprehension (Wilkinson & Bourdage, in press). Also advisable, for comprehension and motivation, is prompting children to process the meaning of the text in relation to their purpose for reading (what I call compreaction, combining comprehension and action). Here are two examples of such prompts: For knowledge building, "Remember to look for new information about [a current topic of study]." For how-to text, "Stop reading at the end of each step to make sure you understand what to do next."

Prompting can also be used to remind children of comprehension strategies they have been taught. For example, to reinforce predicting, we could say, "Are you thinking about what might happen next?" Although some have questioned the value of comprehension strategy instruction, particularly for young children, the research base in support of it is extremely strong, even with young children (Shanahan et al., 2010). Similarly, teaching children to attend to the structure of the text and prompting them to do this are well-supported by research and have been shown to have value beyond knowledge building (Williams et al., 2014).

A Challenge Worth Accepting

Early-grade teachers need a lot of knowledge and strategies to help children become readers. Research-based understanding of the many processes in children's minds as they read can help teachers provide appropriate prompting and avoid pitfalls-like prompting children to use context to identify words. Admittedly, applying the typology offered here and prompting effectively in real time is challenging. To help teachers become more facile with these processes-and learn more about their individual students as readers-I've developed, with Alessandra Ward and Rachel Klingelhofer, a Listening to Reading Protocol . We hope adding this protocol to their repertoire will strengthen teachers' effectiveness as we all move from confusion to clarity in helping children become skilled readers.

Author's note: I thank the following scholars for their feedback on and support of this piece: Linnea Ehri, Barbara Foorman, Heidi Anne Mesmer, P. David Pearson, Timothy Rasinski, Timothy Shanahan, and Tanya Wright.

Check Your Texts!

The prompts shared here have implications for the texts young readers read. Texts need to reward attention to letters in words by being mostly decodable based on the letter-sound relationships the children know so far. But they also need to make sense so children can successfully monitor their comprehension-and they need to be worthy of comprehending, so that students want to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words and the text as a whole. For more information about texts for young readers, visit textproject.org.

Reflect & Discuss

➛ What do you generally do when a reader you're helping gets stuck on a word?

➛ Do you often feel unsure of the best way to help a reader stuck on a word? What have you learned from this article that will help you respond more effectively?

References

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., et al. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Gonzalez-Frey, S. M., & Ehri, L. C. (2020). Connected phonation is more effective than segmented phonation for teaching beginning readers to decode unfamiliar words. Scientific Studies of Reading.

Nash-Webber, B. (1975). The role of semantics in automatic speech understanding. In D. G. Bobrow and A. Collins (Eds.) Representation and Understanding (p. 351-382). New York: Academic Press.

Shanahan, T., Callison, K., Carriere, C., Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Schatschneider, C., et al. (2010). Improving reading comprehension in kindergarten through 3rd grade: A practice guide (NCEE 2010-4038). Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Wilkinson, I. A. G., & Bourdage, K. (in press). Quality talk about text: Discussion practices for talking and thinking about text. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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There's an art-and science-to providing prompts for young readers when they struggle.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.
Watch the video to learn how sharing works.

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Sharing in an app allows educators to pose problems and investigations for students by using an 8-character code or link. Students can share their thinking with their teachers and classmates. Share codes remain available for continued use for 18 months from the date they are last accessed.

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Article: Talking With Children in Ways That Support Comprehension

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Article: Talking With Children in Ways That Support Comprehension

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Babies come into this world naturally wired for language development. They are ready to soak up new words through exposure, modeling, and feedback. From our first breath to our last, we humans are wired to be language learners.

Quiet classrooms aren't conducive to this language learning, or to the connections and relationships that develop through talk. But, figuring out how to channel all that thirstiness for conversation takes intention.

So, what if we told you there was a really simple way to accelerate children's language development?

And what if this high-leverage routine could easily fit into the margins of your instructional day?

Better yet, what if it didn't require any materials or costly programs to implement?

What if it could double, triple, even quadruple children's rate of vocabulary growth in just a few weeks using an instructional move that you can begin implementing on the very first day of school?

You maybe wouldn't believe it. But, it's true!

Purposeful conversation builds vocabulary!

Dialogic Reading, an instructional strategy developed by Grover Whitehurst , offers all of this. In fact, in a meta-analysis of Dialogic Reading, children who engaged in Dialogic Reading during daily read aloud for thirty minutes increased their vocabulary by as much as eight months in just four weeks!

What's more, you don't have to limit the use of this strategy to read aloud or reading instruction, which is why we refer to this as Dialogic Conversation in Chapter 1 of Shifting the Balance. Its benefits can be leveraged across the whole learning day.

And while Whitehurst's original work was with preschool children, there is research to support its value with elementary school children, as well. In fact, Carroll, et al 2019) found evidence that can improve silent reading comprehension.

We introduce this high-leverage routine, referring to it as "Repeat and Expand" in the video linked below and also offer a with step-by-step instructions for utilizing the strategy.

Of course, as you may already know, vocabulary knowledge correlates with later reading comprehension. So, engaging in Dialogic Conversations is actually an investment in later reading comprehension. You can learn even more about this in Chapter 1 of Shifting the Balance.

Get kids talking from day one and every day thereafter, by repeating and expanding on their language.

Not only will you build their vocabulary and language structures, but you will also strengthen relationship in ways that benefit the entire learning community throughout the school year.

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Talking With Children In Ways that Support Comprehension - The Six Shifts

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Babies come into this world naturally wired for language development. They are ready to soak up new words through exposure, modeling, and feedback. From our first breath to our last, we humans are wired to be language learners. Quiet classrooms aren't conducive to this language learning, or to the connections and relationships that develop through talk.

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Blog Post: Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension

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Blog Post: Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension

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Whether learning about ancient Egypt in order to understand the latest Rick Riordon title or building knowledge about the spread of germs in a global pandemic, knowledge building is a critical aspect of reading comprehension.

In this video, we reflect on the power of background knowledge and vocabulary to boost future reading comprehension.

We've long known about the role of background knowledge in reading comprehension. Still, too often knowledge building has been asked to take a back seat in our elementary classrooms, where reading strategy instruction is often the primary focus.When strategy instruction may not be the answer.

More comprehension strategies may not be the answer.

It seems when kids struggle to comprehend content, our solution is often to offer more reading strategy instruction. Unfortunately, this often doesn't solve the problem. While it's true that a few critical reading strategies - like rereading - are needed by every reader. But children who don't have enough background knowledge about the content to comprehend well, likely don't need more strategies. Instead, it may be that what they need is to increase their stores of vocabulary and background knowledge.

In fact, in their classic study, Recht and Leslie (1988) assembled two groups of children. One group was proficient readers who knew pretty much nothing about baseball. The other group was a group of challenged readers who knew a lot about baseball. Then the researchers asked both groups of children to read a passage about baseball and answer some questions.

Guess what they found?

The less-skilled readers who knew all about baseball actually outperformed the more proficient readers who knew little about baseball. And not only did they score higher on comprehension measures, but they were also better at identifying the important ideas in the text and including those ideas in summaries. Basically, the children who knew a lot about baseball were able to leverage their baseball expertise to unlock the text, even though they were not super skilled readers.

Expertise is power.

Children need opportunities to become experts. They need chances to developing deep understandings of things in this world and how they work. Kids need space to fall in love with a topic and discover the power of creating deep knowledge about it. And whether related to their own interests or to grade level content, expertise is power.

The good news is that this knowledge building work can be super fun for kids (and teachers)! And there are many simple entry points.

You can build children's background knowledge through

read aloud with information texts,

embedding rich content area vocabulary in conversation

building text sets that focus on science and special studies topics,

creating opportunities for virtual and in-person field trips,

using of diverse media resources, and

staying attuned to the interests of the children around you.

Whether baseball, ancient Egypt, or learning about the spread of germs in a global pandemic, an investment in knowledge building today is an investment in reading comprehension tomorrow.

What are the children around you curious to become more expert about?

Do you want to learn more about the connection between background knowledge, vocabulary, and reading comprehension? That's the focus of Chapter 1 in our book, Shifting the Balance and Module 1 in Shifting the Balance: The Online Class.

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Background Knowledge: A Key to Reading Comprehension - The Six Shifts

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When children struggle with reading comprehension, we often teach more comprehension strategies. But building knowledge matters, too.