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What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades (Published 2014)

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Even as the emphasis shifts to the keyboard, experts say that learning to write by hand improves motor skills, memory and creativity.

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Shared reading or Close reading planning:  Think of an upcoming lesson or unit.  Select text for shared or close reading and plan for which strands of the reading rope you will highlight, model, and have students practice/annotate around.

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Read aloud planning: Think of an upcoming lesson or unit.  Select a read aloud text and plan for which strands of the reading rope you will highlight and model.

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Incorporating Reading Rope Strands and Six Shifts: Review Scarborough's Reading Rope and/or the Six Shifts and think of what you are incorporating and which ones you could add more of in an upcoming lesson, unit and/or across the year.  Please see the literacy look fors and shifts one pagers in this column if you want to use them for reflection.

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Explore Research: Dig into articles, videos, etc. in this section. Resources curated to span K-12 teachers and other support staff.

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The Six Shifts Where Science of Reading Meets Balanced Literacy. We provide resources, professional development, and literacy audits for busy literacy educators like you.

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The Six Shifts Podcast: Insights and Innovations for Educators

Education Podcasts for Teachers

Welcome to The Six Shifts Podcasts, a collection of recordings for exploring the shifts we describe in both "Six Shifts" books-that's 12 shifts altogether!-These podcasts offer a high-level overview of some of the science and the classroom strategies shift-by-shift.

With the support of our publisher, we've made these short recordings and sent them out into the world. While we were busy doing other things, they found an audience. A really wide audience.

We never imagined that the podcasts we made during the pandemic, with Jan recording from a closet and Kari recording from the corner of a cluttered bedroom office, would speak to so many educators as they grappled with the same changes we'd grappled with ourselves. Over and over, we've been humbled to hear-both in person and via email-how helpful these recordings have been for getting started on a journey toward making learning to read easier for kids.

In fact, teachers like you seem to find these short conversations compelling enough to listen to them more than 60,000 times, which means they are among the top 5% of all podcasts. Crazy, right?! We had no idea until our publisher told us.

So, thank you for listening and letting us know (by voting with your ears) that these short and sweet overviews about how to make learning to read easier for your students are among the best education podcasts for making reading science simpler and the subsequent changes to instructional practice more doable.

Are you unfamiliar with the podcast?

Beginning Readers

Podcast Series
Part 1 - How to Get Readers Off to a Strong Start

Our K-2 Podcast Series is an invitation to anyone interested in teacher podcasts focusing on how to support beginning readers in getting up and running. This series describes all six shifts in the "K-2" book (really for teachers of any student, any age who has had difficulty with beginning to read). One by one, we address the misunderstandings, how they happened, and insights for shifting. We also preview the high-leverage routines that can make the science of the shift come to life in your classroom.

Beginning Readers - Episode 1: Intro

In this insightful episode of "The Six Shifts," join Jan Burkins and Kari Yates as they delve into the heart of modern literacy education. They explore the integration of scientific reading methods into balanced literacy classrooms, based on their book Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom . This conversation, filled with personal anecdotes and professional insights, is a must-listen for educators seeking to bridge traditional and contemporary teaching approaches. A journey through rethinking literacy practices awaits in this engaging and thought-provoking episode.

Beginning Readers - Episode 2: Shift 1

In Episode 2 of "The Six Shifts," authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, alongside Dan Tobin, focus on the first shift in literacy instruction: rethinking reading comprehension's beginnings. They challenge traditional views, emphasizing the role of language comprehension from birth in reading development. The episode unpacks common misconceptions, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of oral language's impact on reading. It's a must-listen for educators looking to align their teaching methods with scientific insights into how reading comprehension evolves.

Beginning Readers - Episode 3: Shift 2

Episode 3 of "The Six Shifts" podcast, hosted by Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, focuses on the second shift, recommitting to phonemic awareness in literacy instruction. The authors discuss common misconceptions about phonemic awareness, emphasizing its critical role in reading development and the need for intentional instruction in this area. The episode provides insights into effective phonemic awareness practices and offers practical applications for educators. This session is part of their ongoing discussion on integrating scientific reading methods into balanced literacy approaches.

Beginning Readers - Episode 4: Shift 3

Episode 4 of "The Six Shifts" podcast, featuring authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, focuses on the third shift: reimagining phonics teaching. They discuss the importance of intentional and systematic phonics instruction in early reading development, dispelling misconceptions like the unpredictability of English spellings and the notion that phonics must be boring. The episode highlights the need for educators to understand how the brain learns complex tasks and offers practical guidance for making phonics instruction both effective and enjoyable for young learners.

Beginning Readers - Episode 5: Shift 4

Episode 5 of "The Six Shifts" podcast features Jan Burkins and Kari Yates discussing the fourth shift in literacy education: revising high-frequency word instruction. They explore the misconceptions surrounding the memorization of sight words, emphasizing the importance of understanding the phonemic and orthographic aspects of these words. This episode challenges the traditional approach to teaching high-frequency words, offering insights into more effective strategies that align with how the brain learns and stores words.

Beginning Readers - Episode 6: Shift 5

In Episode 6 of "The Six Shifts" podcast, authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates discuss the fifth shift, reinventing MSV (Meaning, Syntax, Visual) use in literacy instruction. They address the challenges educators face in adapting their teaching practices to align with scientific research. The episode explores common misunderstandings around MSV, emphasizing the importance of phonology and orthographic learning in reading development. This episode provides valuable insights for educators looking to update their teaching methods based on recent scientific findings.

Beginning Readers - Episode 7: Shift 6

Episode 7 of "The Six Shifts" podcast, featuring Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, discusses the final shift: reconsidering texts for beginning readers. This episode addresses the significance of selecting appropriate texts for early literacy and examines common misconceptions about text choice. The conversation underscores the importance of aligning text selection with scientific insights into how the reading brain works and how orthographic knowledge accumulates. This shift is crucial for effective early literacy instruction, focusing on the impact of text types on young readers' development.

Developing Readers

Podcast Series
Part 2 - How to Keep Success Going for All Readers

The 3-5 Podcast Series, tailored for educators teaching grades three to five (or children of any age who are ready to move into more complex text), is a follow-up collection of teaching podcasts based on the second "Six Shifts" book, co-authored with Katie Egan Cunningham. This series delves into the complexities and nuances of supporting developing readers. Once again, we move through six shifts (really shifts 7-12), addressing misunderstandings and how these misconceptions developed. Finally, we preview the teaching moves that you can try out tomorrow as you begin to build momentum toward more brain-friendly reading instruction.

Developing Readers - Episode 1: Intro

In this podcast, Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, and Kari Yates discuss the background and origin of their new book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This much-awaited sequel to the K-2 book introduces six more shifts for elementary teachers. In this conversation, Katie, Jan, and Kari talk about the vulnerability and riskiness involved with writing the book and the six commitments they made to the work and to each other. They also explore how the K-2 and the 3-5 books connect and how the shifts can help educators navigate the competing tensions of literacy instruction.

Developing Readers - Episode 2: Shift 1

In this podcast, Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, and Kari Yates, the authors of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom . This much-awaited sequel to the first Shifting the Balance book introduces six more shifts for elementary teachers. In this episode, the authors discuss the first new shift: building knowledge. They explore the role that knowledge plays in reading comprehension and why content area instruction is so important. They challenge educators to give knowledge building the instructional time it deserves as an essential component of reading comprehension.

Developing Readers - Episode 6: Shift 5

In this podcast episode, Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, and Kari Yates, the authors of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This much-awaited sequel to the first Shifting the Balance book introduces six more shifts for elementary teachers. In this episode, the authors discuss the fifth new shift, which invites teachers to revisit their fluency instruction. They talk about decoding skills, the relationship between silent reading and oral reading, and the important role of fluency in reading comprehension. They suggest that teaching fluency should involve carefully selected text and powerful instructional practice.

Stay Informed and Inspired: Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Join the open-minded and open-hearted community of The Six Shifts by subscribing to our newsletter. We'll send messages inviting you to feed your curiosity without getting overwhelmed. And we'll share easy-to-implement options for taking your next steps toward more brain-friendly practices. You'll also be the first to know about our upcoming events, newly developed resources, free-access tools, and anything else that seems helpful (a la inspiration, pretty pictures, humor . . . ).

And did we mention that we create special, exclusive resources that don't live on our website but are a "Thank you" to those of you who subscribe to our list? We want to let you know (and keep letting you know) just how much we appreciate you letting us take up a little space in your inbox each week. That's how much we love and appreciate you. And we know that YOU are the ones who pair these routines and tools with YOUR instructional gifts to make reading easier for students-a little life-changing magic for student after student.

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Welcome to The Six Shifts Podcasts, a collection of recordings for exploring the shifts we describe in both "Six Shifts" books-that's 12 shifts altogether!-These podcasts offer a high-level overview of some of the science and the classroom strategies shift-by-shift. With the support of our publisher, we've made these short recordings and sent them out into the world.

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Email:

apriljstout@gmail.com

EKC Strategist

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40 pg Presentation--user friendly!

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A Teacher Friendly Guide to Reading Research.pdf

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Eduardo Briceño: How to get better at the things you care about | TED

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Rethinking Instruction in Phonological Awareness: Focus on What Matters!

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The importance of phoneme awareness for acquiring the alphabetic principle and for learning to read has been documented since the 1970s, gaining broad recognition when the National Reading Panel Report was published in 2000. Since then, instruction to foster phonological awareness has become routinely recommended for the early grades.

However, the widespread practice in schools is to target awareness of larger phonological structures such as words, syllables, and onset-rimes before focusing on phonemes, with attention to the phoneme not occurring until well into kindergarten or first grade.

During this hour-long webinar, Dr. Susan Brady will examine studies that raise questions regarding whether following this "continuum" is necessary and/or beneficial for students. She also discusses:
- The developmental sequence of phoneme awareness
- The importance of conducting phoneme awareness activities with letter knowledge and handwriting
- The benefits of this approach for all students

Watch this webinar to deepen your understanding of how and when to teach phonemic awareness to set students up for reading success.

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Cortex in the Classroom: Advancing the Science of Reading in the Early Years

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Cortex in the Classroom: Advancing the Science of Reading in the Early Years

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Advancing Science of Reading in the Early Years - K–5 Literacy Program & Curriculum | Amplify CKLA

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Well, hello! If you are watching with me on Facebook, you are seeing the video recording of Episode 34 of the Triple R Teaching podcast, where we help educators reflect, refine, and recharge so they're excited for the next day in the classroom. My name is Anna Geiger and I am your host. You may know me from my website, The Measured Mom, as well as my online courses, and my membership site.

Today, I want to start the podcast by telling you a little bit of a story. A few months ago, I had joined a Facebook group to learn more about teaching reading. It was actually a science of reading Facebook group. After spending a half an hour in the group, reading through comments, reading discussions, checking out resources, I was starting to feel not so good. I was getting sort of a tightness in my chest. I was starting to feel scared, my stomach hurt, and I had to get out of that group because it was starting to bring up a whole bunch of feelings in me that just didn't feel good. I actually opened Slack, which is a communication tool I use for my team, and this is what I wrote, "I just need to talk to someone. I am so scared. I've been doing a lot of research about the science of reading and it's completely overwhelming. It feels like everything I believed in is wrong, but it worked for so many kids and it worked for my own kids. Can't be 100% wrong, right? Now I feel like I have to completely rethink everything. I'm so confused. Please. I'm really worried and upset inside. I know this sounds over the top, but I feel so much responsibility to get this right!"

The fact is that what I had read in the group was concerning to me. There was a lot of heated discussion back and forth. There was a lot of judgment. There were a lot of big discussions, a lot of black and white thinking, it HAS to be THIS way! It scared me, and so I had to be careful about how often I was in the group so that it wasn't causing this visceral reaction inside of me. I needed to slowly get used to the group.

Now it's a couple of months later and I actually go there multiple times a day and love the things that I'm learning. But when we first hear something that feels different than what we've thought in the past, it can feel scary! It's true that a lot of what I was reading in there did not align with the things I learned in undergrad, graduate school, and the things that I've taught teachers to do.

Here's the good news though! What I've learned over the last few months- everything I believed and taught is NOT wrong! Even if you're in a shift in your teaching, the same is true for you. It's not completely black and white, but there are so many exciting things that we have to learn these days about how kids learn to read. Making shifts in the way that we teach can reach even more students, which at the end of the day is what we're all excited to do.

It has kind of felt like Christmas around here lately because I have been getting new professional books about teaching reading every day. So, if you can see, here's just one stack of books that I've gotten in the past few weeks. Then I'll move my chair, and now you can see behind me a whole stack of books and all that paper. The first couple inches of that are papers that I've printed from online journals so I can study more about how our brains learn to read and what implications that has for how we teach reading in the classroom. I'm looking particularly at kindergarten, first, and second grade.

So yes, I was really scared at first and really doubting myself. But the more I studied, the more I realized that there are so many wonderful things we were doing and so many more wonderful things we can do as we make shifts in our thinking and our practice!

This episode is actually launching a series on the podcast all about the science of reading, in particular, how it relates to how we teach reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade. I am so excited to be doing this series with you!

I recently sent an email out to my newsletter list and I told my people that in college I had an all nighter once. I stayed up all night so I could study for a really hard test, and I had two papers the next day. It was a failure. I did not get a happy grade in the test, even though I thought I was well prepared, because I needed a lot more sleep. Ever since then, I don't do all nighters, but I still love studying and researching.

This is just such a great time to be learning about teaching reading because lots and lots of stuff is becoming available to us. Just in the last couple of years a lot of new books have been written about the science of reading and the implications that it has for our classrooms. I cannot wait to start sharing that information with you.

Here's a little bit of a glimpse of what's coming. We're going to be starting next week, talking about The Reading Wars in America, how those started in the 1800s and where we're at today and what that means for us. We're going to talk about some of the basics when it comes to the science of reading. If you've done any study in that at all, you've probably heard of things like the simple view of reading, orthographic mapping, and Scarborough's Reading Rope. We're going to talk about all those things, but in a really simple, easy to access way. We're going to talk about phonics and the primary role, the BIG role this has, and why it's always the front seat of all of these discussions. It's certainly not all that the science of reading is about, but it's a big deal! We're going to talk about how to teach phonics, ideas for making it interesting in your classroom, and what kind of books our students should be using as we teach them to read. We'll review phonological and phonemic awareness a little bit, but as you know, we've already been doing that on the podcast for the last few weeks. We're going to talk also about comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and we're going to get really practical about what all of this means for how you teach every day.

So not only have I been reading a lot of books and papers, but I've also had a lot of conversations. In the evenings after my kids went to bed, I've talked to a reading psychologist, a school principal, a few reading specialists, some classroom teachers, and I have more conversations scheduled. This has been a really exciting time for me to learn more about how we can improve how we teach to reach even more kids, and I hope that you're going to join me for the ride!

Starting next week, we'll be here again with the first episode in our series, "All About the Science of Reading".

I want to let you know one more thing before I go. And that is, I've got a survey that I would love to invite you to take. Particularly if you teach any kids in kindergarten, first, or second grade. You can find the survey at themeasuredmom.com/readingsurvey. You can tell me what questions you have about the science of reading, or what challenges you're facing right now as you teach reading so we can address some of those things in this series. Thanks again for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next week here on Triple R Teaching.

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Introduction to the science of reading podcast series

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TRT Podcast#34: Introducing our science of reading podcast series I've been pouring over the science of reading research, and I'm making shifts in how I approach teaching reading. You're invited to join me on this exciting

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Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software – Canva

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Here’s what you can do.Check our status page. It’ll tell you about any outages.Please visit our Help Center for more information.Error code: [99299b868f529820-EWR]If you can’t access Canva at all, our status page will keep you updated.

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Stanislas Dehaene Summit 2024 Virtual Keynote

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Writing and Science of Learning Books (session 2)

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Writing and Science of Learning Books (session 2)

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In 2022, a group of teachers and school leaders from 17 different primary schools across Australia participated in The Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA).

Teachers were accepted into the project if they had experience with an explicit-instruction model and could demonstrate an understanding/experience with syntax level instruction.

All Lesson objectives were allocated to individuals based on experience/expertise and the grade they were currently teaching.

All lessons submitted went through a review process by one of our project moderators:

All lessons were created in teachers' own time. They are being shared freely to encourage professional collaboration amongst teachers and schools.

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The Syntax Project - The Grammar Project

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In 2022, a group of teachers and school leaders from 17 different primary schools across Australia participated in The Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA). Teachers were accepted into the project if they had experience with an explicit-instruction model and could demonstrate an understanding/experience with syntax level instruction.

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Text sets are intentionally grouped collections of texts and media resources focused on a specific topic, and are a research-based way to grow vocabulary and knowledge for all students. This collection of text sets intentionally elevates culturally relevant content and pedagogy. You might use a culturally relevant text set to fill a gap in relevance, perspectives or representation in your instructional materials, center student interests, or enhance an existing unit.

Each culturally relevant text set:

Centers on a single topic (e.g., women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott; the sun, moon, and stars)

Is designed to elevate connections to counternarratives, current events, student identities/languages, multiple perspectives and/or social justice

Contain a variety of open source resources (i.e., articles, videos, websites, art, music) at a variety of complexity levels

Purposely orders resources to support students in building vocabulary and knowledge through a volume of reading

In this resource, we wanted to amplify ways to focus on building knowledge and vocabulary through text sets that center culturally relevant pedagogy and students, particularly students who are often marginalized by schools. We focused on the question: How might we design text sets that elevate connections to counternarratives, current events, student identities/languages, multiple perspectives and/or social justice?

Our deepest appreciation to our educator co-designers for their collaboration, guidance, and brilliance: Ifetayo Abdus-Salam, Crystal Graham, Tanya Hill, Tawana Jordan, Tempest NeuCollins and Islah Tauheed.

We hope to expand on this set of prototypes and welcome your feedback on any of these resources by using the "Send Feedback" button at the bottom left hand side of the page.
Explore more:

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Creating Text Sets to Support Culturally Relevant Instruction

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Text sets are intentionally grouped collections of texts and media resources focused on a specific topic, and are a research-based way to grow vocabulary and knowledge for all students. This collection of text sets intentionally elevates culturally relevant content and pedagogy.

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A must-watch!

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Dr. Shanahan: Doing Away with the Instructional Level

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Planning Through the Lens of the Reading Rope

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Planning Through the Lens of the Reading Rope

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differentiated, high-quality language and literacy instruction with varying levels of intensity;

a focus on social (BICS) and academic language development (CALP)

educator knowledge of the second-language acquisition process and the role of native and English language proficiency in reading achievement

data-informed, appropriate instructional adjustments

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Current Assessment & MLL Intervention Evaluation Tool

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Current Assessment & MLL Intervention Evaluation Tool

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Here are some favorite websites for finding grade level texts connected to classroom learning:

ReadWorks

Dirigible balloon (poetry)

Wonderopolis

Commonlit

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Molly Ness Interview: Read Alouds to the Rescue

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Molly Ness Interview: Read Alouds to the Rescue

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Read Alouds to the Rescue: Give Students a Lifeline to Language and Literacy - S3 EP10

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Strategic Six Thinking Moves - Shifting the Balance 3-5  Shift 2 .pdf

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How Knowledge Drives Reading Comprehension: Insights from 12 Years of Research

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Our reading brain is a little miracle. No computer can replicate it yet. Our language and expertise are extremely versatile and rich.

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Teaching young students how to write by hand before moving on to keyboarding can help improve their reading fluency as well.

Technology is an undeniable fact of everyday life and can support students' learning. But there are limits to that: Completely replacing handwriting instruction with keyboarding instruction in elementary school can be detrimental to students' literacy acquisition. Why are handwriting and letter formation so important?

Research has demonstrated a correlation between letter-naming and letter-writing fluency, and a relationship between letter-naming fluency and successful reading development. There's a strong connection between the hand and the neural circuitry of the brain-as students learn to better write the critical features of letters, they also learn to recognize them more fluently. This recognition of letters leads to greater letter-writing fluency, which leads to greater overall reading development.

In an article summarizing several studies on handwriting and learning, the writer Maria Konnikova notes, "Not only do we learn letters better when we commit them to memory through writing, memory and learning ability in general may benefit." When students write letters manually, they learn them more effectively. Switching to keyboarding before students have developed handwriting skills may reduce their ability to recognize letters. Konnikova also cites a study that found that students who wrote by hand-as opposed to on a keyboard-were able to generate more ideas. Students with better handwriting demonstrated "increased overall activation in the reading and writing networks" of the brain.

How to Teach Handwriting

Learning how to print is a developmentally appropriate first step of handwriting instruction for students in grades pre-K to 2, in terms of their fine motor skills. Handwriting instruction does not require a big time investment: Brief lessons and frequent feedback for students can be incorporated in all areas of the curriculum throughout the school day.

There are four main aspects of handwriting instruction: pencil grasp, formation, legibility, and pacing.

Pencil grasp: When it comes to how a child holds a pencil, there are correct and incorrect grasps. The correct grasps-in which the index finger and thumb hold the pencil against the middle finger-result in comfortable and efficient handwriting, while incorrect grasps can cause poor letter formation and fatigue.

A student with a poor pencil grasp may benefit from using tools such as a pencil grip or from wrapping a rubber band around the ring finger and pinkie-not too tightly!-to fold them against the hand. You can also teach the "pinch and flip" trick: The student places the pencil with the writing end facing her, pinches the pencil between the thumb and index finger, and flips the pencil into the correct position.

Formation: This refers to how a student goes about forming letters. Straight lines are easier for students to write than curved ones, so it's developmentally appropriate to teach students to write capital letters before moving on to lowercase ones.

It's critical that handwriting instruction be integrated with phonics instruction: As students learn how to write the letters, they should also be learning and practicing the sounds that the letters make. Handwriting and dictation activities are the cornerstone of any multisensory phonics instruction program, as requiring students to consistently practice forming the letters while connecting them to sounds will serve to better embed phonics concepts in the brain.

For students who struggle with letter formation, explicit instruction is particularly important. Students should be taught to start their letters at the top (or middle, as is the case with some lowercase letters), and use continuous strokes as much as possible. Some letters will require them to lift up their pencils, and they should be taught when to do this. Using lined paper is helpful, as is giving students a variety of visual aids: arrow cues for stroke direction, dots for starting points, dotted letters for tracing, etc. Students also benefit from "skywriting" letters-tracing letters in the air with an index finger while holding their arm straight out.

The letters b, d, p, and q are often confused by younger students. Teaching the correct formation of these letters can help diminish the confusion, as they have different starting points- b, for instance, starts from the top, whereas d starts in the middle. Internalizing the motor patterns for these letters can help make recognition more automatic.

Legibility: An important factor impacting legibility is spacing between words. It's helpful to encourage students to use a "finger space" between words-right-handed students can put an index finger on the line after one word before writing the next one. This technique doesn't work for left-handed students, who will benefit from using a narrow tongue depressor as a spacing tool.

Pacing: If students are using an appropriate pencil grasp and forming letters correctly, that will often solve any pacing challenges. Another factor to consider when looking at pacing is the press: Students should not be pressing the pencil down on the paper too hard as they write because doing so can lead to writing fatigue and a greatly reduced rate of letter production. But if they press too lightly, it can be a sign of weak muscles or inappropriate pencil grasp. Encourage students to write with a variety of materials (markers, short pencils, crayons, erasable markers on whiteboards) to help them adjust how hard they press.

School days are packed with instructional priorities, and it can be easy to let handwriting fall by the wayside. However, with just a few minutes a day, students' letter formation skills can improve, leading to positive outcomes for overall literacy development.

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How to Teach Handwriting-and Why It Matters

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Teaching young students how to write by hand before moving on to keyboarding can help improve their reading fluency as well.

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How the Science of Reading Links to Handwriting Skills

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Discover how the Science of Reading connects to handwriting instruction, helping students build stronger reading and writing skills through motor memory.

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from Educational Leadership

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What Exactly Is The Science of Learning Anyway?

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What Exactly Is The Science of Learning Anyway?

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A blog post on the Learning Scientists website introduces the science of learning from a cognitive psychology perspective. Written by researchers whose work centers on how people learn, it offers a concise overview of key ideas in this field.

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What Exactly Is The Science of Learning Anyway? — The Learning Scientists

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It’s very clear that the average person does not have a great understanding of the broad field of psychology nor the interdisciplinary nature of the Science of Learning. What is the science of learning? How are we, four cognitive psychologists, involved in it? And when and how do you know if you can

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The Edu-Renaissance: Harnessing the Science of Learning in Schools

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The Edu-Renaissance: Harnessing the Science of Learning in Schools

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Drawing on insights from his upcoming book, Dr Nathaniel Swain shared key takeaways from the successful implementation of science of learning aligned practice, and how you can empower your team to transform their work and their students’ outcomes.

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The Edu-Renaissance: Harnessing the Science of Learning in Schools

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Weinstein, Y., Smith, M., & Caviglioli, O. (2025). Six Strategies for Effective Learning. The Learning Scientists. Retrieved 21 September from https://www.learningscientists.org/downloadable-materials

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Downloadable Materials - The Learning Scientists

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Please use our materials and pass them along to others for educational purposes! We ask that you attribute us when you use the materials, and that you do not use portions of the materials or remove information from the materials. The materials may not be used commercially.

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"About 70% of the variation in reading and writing abilities are shared."

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"About 70% of the variation in reading and writing abilities are shared."

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Blast from the Past: This entry first posted on February 23, 2017 and was reposted on September 16, 2023. Currently our children are suffering the aftereffects of the COVID tragedy. School leaders are looking for ways to regain learning loss caused by a lack of teaching. One of the strategies often considered in times like these is to simplify the curriculum - strip away what may not be essential to allow a greater focus on what needs to be accomplished. In that context, I would not be surprised to see some schools jettisoning writing in favor of the much-tested reading. The tendency to go that way may even be worsened by the current heavy emphasis on a "science of reading." What is important to recognize - this blog entry originally included reference to a great deal of research on the topic, research supporting the value of teaching reading and writing together -- is that combining reading and writitng is part of the science of reading. Now, several years later, I can say that the research evidence has continued to accumulate - providing more and more reason for the combined teaching of reading and writing. If you want better reading scores, the science of reading says do not neglect writing, nor dispatch it to someplace else in the curriculum. When you feel especially pressured to improve reading achievement, that is the time to embrace more tightly the combination of reading and writing. So today I was conducting a workshop. I was told the teachers wanted information about reading/writing connections. Easy, right? Then I was told that they departmentalize K-6! At every grade they have a reading teacher and a different writing teacher. Any thoughts, comments, best practices, or research that would go against or support this practice? I know what I believe to be correct but would love to have your opinions in this conversation. Shanahan response:
For the past several years I've been complaining about how schools are organizing themselves regarding reading and writing. These days, the most common elementary school organization seems to be the 90-minute reading block, with writing taught some other time of the day (if at all). And, in middle schools and high schools many schools have readers' and writers' workshops-managed by different teachers.

I think both of those schemes are dopey and counterproductive.

But you've found a structure that is even worse!

These folks sound like the type of people that would separate Romeo and Juliet... Yin and Yang....Lennon and McCartney... love and marriage... Bert and Ernie...spaghetti and meatballs... You get the idea.

Reading and writing are related in many ways. And, though teachers can take advantage of these relationships in ways that can improve achievement, doing that would be very difficult and inefficient when taught separately as in your example.

The combination of reading and writing doesn't just change instruction-it can affect the curriculum itself. For instance, the Common Core State Standards require teachers to teach kids how to combine reading and writing for various purposes.

I wondered if this is a CCSS state? (your letter didn't specify). If so, that would be one of my big questions-how are they teaching kids to write about reading? Perhaps those goals can be accomplished within this odd organizational plan, but that would require a great deal of cross-classroom planning (the kind of planning that tends to impinge on teachers' personal time-and that rarely happens, no matter what the theory).

Admittedly, I'm aware of no studies that directly measure the impact of such organization, and the organizational studies that do exist suggest that organizational plans usually don't matter much in terms of learning. I guess I could praise this district at least for teaching writing-there are still too many places that haven't figured out the need for that yet.

However, a major purpose for teaching writing is its strong impact on reading achievement. Recently, some administrators who had been discouraging writing in their districts contacted me. Their concern was that writing took up a lot of time and their state was heavily stressing reading achievement. Time devoted to writing would "obviously" interfere with reaching their reading goals. They wanted to know why I was telling their teachers that writing was a must.

I explained to them that there were several reasons behind my urgings.

First, research shows that reading and writing are closely aligned. That is, reading and writing depend upon many of the same skills, strategies, and knowledge-though those are deployed in different ways in reading and writing. In fact, about 70% of the variation in reading and writing abilities are shared.

For example, to read one must decode words. That means being able to look at the word, recognize its elements (letters and letter combinations), retrieve associated pronunciations for those letters, and to blend those into a word pronunciation. For that to work, of course, you have to do that very quickly-and eventually with little conscious attention.

In contrast, to write one must spell words. That means being able to listen to the pronunciation of a word, to recognize its elements (phonemes-that is language sounds), to retrieve letters that match those sounds, and to recognize whether they are combining properly to make a well-formed word. And, again, fluency is essential.

Decoding is arguably easier than spelling, but learning to both pronounce and spell words simultaneously helps to increase decoding fluency. It provides a kind of overlearning that enhances one's ability. The same argument can be made concerning phonological awareness, and the use of vocabulary, grammar, text structure, tone, and other text elements-and the same kinds of connections exist between the routines one uses to pull up background knowledge, to set purposes, to predict, and so on.

Given the extensive overlaps, it should be evident that combined instruction would be a lot more efficient. When a school is trying to accomplish higher achievement that kind of efficiency and teaching power is indispensable.

Second, reading and writing are communicative processes, and there are cross-modal benefits to be derived from having students engage in each. Readers, who are writers, can end up with insights about what authors are up to and how they exert their effects, something of great value in text interpretation. Likewise, writers by being readers, can gain insights into the needs of other readers. Imagine how that can help one to write better.

This kind of insight sharing is unlikely without some teacher guidance-and making those kinds of connections across reading and writing experiences depends on sharing those experiences with the students. It would be hard for a teacher to know what came up in the various shared reading experiences that took place in the other class.

Third, reading and writing can be used in combination to accomplish goals. The Common Core emphasizes two goals for such combining: using writing to improve learning from text and using the reading of multiple texts to improve the writing of syntheses or reports.

Steve Graham and Michael Hebert (201) carried out a meta-analysis of more than 100 studies in which students wrote about text. They found that writing in various ways about what one had read improved comprehension and learning, and it did so better than reading alone, reading and rereading, or reading and discussing.

Students should not just be writing about text, they should be learning how to write about text effectively: how to write to text models, how to write summaries, how to write extended critiques and analyses, and how to write syntheses.

So, my reading of the research says: Teach kids to write and use this instruction to improve reading achievement. Do it separately and you are leaving achievement points on the table. No question this could be accomplished by two different teachers, but what a complicated mess that makes of it. Simplify.

(Pass the popcorn and butter, I'm going to watch some Laurel and Hardy. Some things just go together).
References
Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence of how writing can improve reading. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Shanahan, T. (2004). Overcoming the dominance of communication: Writing to think and learn. In T. L. Jetton and J. A. Dole (Eds.), Adolescent literacy research and practice. New York: Guilford Press.

Shanahan, T. (2008). Relations among oral language, reading, and writing development. In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, and J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 171-186). New York: Guilford Press.

Shanahan, T. (2015). Relationships between reading and writing development. In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, and J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (2nd ed., pp. 194-210). New York: The Guilford Press.

Tierney, R. J., and Shanahan, T. (1991). Research on the reading-writing relationship: Interactions, transactions, and outcomes. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, and P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 246-280). New York: Longman.

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How Should We Combine Reading and Writing?

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For the past several years I've been complaining about how schools are organizing themselves with regard to reading and writing.

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Working Memory and the Science of Learning

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Working Memory and the Science of Learning

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Researchers say understanding the concept of working memory is crucial. But to make a difference in schools, better training, screening, assessments and curricular design are needed, finds Holly Korbey

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Online Resources - The Writing Revolution

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Additional resources to support the implementation of The Hochman Method Ⓡ Book Resources Free access to The Writing Revolution (Hochman & Wexler, 2017) Book Resources for all educators. Which includes: Customizable Templates Activities for Students Tips with TWR Webinars And more! Resource Library Access is only for TWR-trained educators. Includes everything in our free Book Resources and

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See Scope & Sequence here

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In 2022, a group of teachers and school leaders from 17 different primary schools across Australia participated in The Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA).

Teachers were accepted into the project if they had experience with an explicit-instruction model and could demonstrate an understanding/experience with syntax level instruction.

All Lesson objectives were allocated to individuals based on experience/expertise and the grade they were currently teaching.

All lessons submitted went through a review process by one of our project moderators:

All lessons were created in teachers' own time. They are being shared freely to encourage professional collaboration amongst teachers and schools.

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The Syntax Project - The Grammar Project

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In 2022, a group of teachers and school leaders from 17 different primary schools across Australia participated in The Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA). Teachers were accepted into the project if they had experience with an explicit-instruction model and could demonstrate an understanding/experience with syntax level instruction.

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When you think of the words "writing process," chances are you immediately think of the classic linear model that we are typically taught in school. The one where you start with brainstorming, then a draft, then a revised draft, and are finished once you've finished editing. It feels almost like a template at this point. While it gets the job done, it can feel like you're just hitting arbitrary goal posts and just reiterating on your first ideas until you're tired of writing and are waiting for it to be over with already. This is why when I recently came across the idea of recursive writing, it made me rethink my entire writing process.

The idea of recursive writing is simple: Instead of going by a rigid linear outline, you should continuously venture and go through different stages of your writing process continually. After writing your draft, try thinking of any new ideas that may have sprung to mind while writing. Now try refining those ideas and write your next draft, then revise again. Rewrite, revise, and rewrite again. The point of this is to push you to continually try new ideas in your writing, as well as giving you more opportunities to edit your work until it reaches its full potential.

"Recursive" simply means that each step you take in your writing process will feed into other steps: after you've drafted an essay, for instance, you'll go do a bit of verification of some of your facts - and if you discover that you've gotten something wrong, you'll go back to the draft and fix it. But doing that may well require you to loop back to a different section of your essay to rewrite or to take it out altogether-and that revision, in turn, might mean that you need to rethink your organization. At some point, you know that the work is done. - Steton University

By having a much more fluid approach to your writing, you may find yourself taking more risks and trying out things you previously would not have thought to try. It tests your ability to objectively look at your work and analyze how you can change it for the better, as well as what could be done differently.

Since implementing this technique I have found myself putting more care into my work, but simultaneously less afraid of "ruining it" or wasting time with an idea I may end up not liking as much as I had thought. Instead, if something isn't working, I simply go back to one of the previous stages and try it again, leading to me ultimately getting more writing done than I would have if I had just continued lamenting over this idea.

Overall, though I do still use the linear model as a template of sorts at times, I've found this model to be incredibly beneficial for me and my writing. I've especially been more mindful of continuously going back and brainstorming, as I've always had a bit of fear over changing too much after I've already started or "gotten too far in the process." This flexibility has been freeing in a way, and I hope that this process continues to push me out of my writing comfort zone.

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Rethink Your Writing Process: On Recursion

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When you think of the words "writing process," chances are you immediately think of the classic linear model that we are typically taught in school. The one where you start with brainstorming, then a...

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Deepening the Classroom Writing Community Through Collaborative Writing

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Collaborative writing is a practice that supports both student engagement and growth in writing skills. In this post we will highlight how we built collaboration when teaching a specific writing strategy, sentence combining.

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Sharing the pen: Interactive writing in the early years

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The EEF is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.

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Introduction

When it comes to collaborative writing, people often have diametrically opposed ideas. Academics in the sciences often write multi-authored articles that depend on sharing their expertise. Many thrive on the social interaction that collaborative writing enables. Composition scholars Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford enjoyed co-authoring so much that they devoted their career to studying it. For others, however, collaborative writing evokes the memories of group projects gone wrong and inequitable work distribution.

Whatever your prior opinions about collaborative writing, we're here to tell you that this style of composition may benefit your writing process and may help you produce writing that is cogent and compelling. At its best, collaborative writing can help to slow down the writing process, since it necessitates conversation, planning with group members, and more deliberate revising. A study described in Helen Dale's "The Influence of Coauthoring on the Writing Process" shows that less experienced writers behave more like experts when they engage in collaborative writing. Students working on collaborative writing projects have said that their collaborative writing process involved more brainstorming, discussion, and diverse opinions from group members. Some even said that collaborative writing entailed less of an individual time commitment than solo papers.

Although collaborative writing implies that every part of a collaborative writing project involves working cooperatively with co-author(s), in practice collaborative writing often includes individual work. In what follows, we'll walk you through the collaborative writing process, which we've divided into three parts: planning, drafting, and revising. As you consider how you'll structure the writing process for your particular project, think about the expertise and disposition of your co-author(s), your project's due date, the amount of time that you can devote to the project, and any other relevant factors. For more information about the various types of co-authorship systems you might employ, see "Strategies for Effective Collaborative Manuscript Development in Interdisciplinary Science Teams," which outlines five different "author-management systems."

The Collaborative Writing Process

1. Planning

Planning includes everything that is done before writing. In collaborative writing, this is a particularly important step since it's crucial that all members of a team agree about the basic elements of the project and the logistics that will govern the project's completion.Collaborative writing-by its very definition-requires more communication than individual work since almost all co-authored projects oblige participants to come to an agreement about what should be written and how to do this writing. And careful communication at the planning stage is usually critical to the creation of a strong collaborative paper. We would recommend assigning team members roles. Ensure that you know who will be initially drafting each section, who will be revising and editing these sections, who will be responsible for confirming that all team members complete their jobs, and who will be submitting the finished project.

After your group has decided on the basic parameters of your project, you may find yourself doing a bit of individual planning too-especially if you're planning on writing without your co-author(s) in the room. Before put pen to paper, you'll probably want to have an idea of what you'll be writing about. Try free-writing or outlining before you begin your draft. See our page about generating ideas for more information about planning to write.

2. Drafting

Drafting refers to the process of actually writing the paper. We've called this part of the process drafting instead of writing to highlight the recursive nature of crafting a compelling paper since strong writing projects are often the product of several rounds of drafts. At this point in the writing process, you'll need to make a choice: will you write together, individually, or in some combination of these two modes?

Together

Drafting as a team involves crafting each sentence of your paper together-by either sitting in the same room or collaborating synchronously online. This may sound painstaking but may generate interesting conversations since you'll essentially need to agree about every word of the draft. It also may be comforting to have a partner's buy-in about the draft's minutia-especially if you're writing about something controversial or especially complicated. Drafting together is probably a good option if there are only a few co-authors since this can get unwieldy if the writing committee is too large.

Individually

Many collaborative projects are actually drafted individually. In this scenario, co-authors agree about the topics or sections in a writing project and then will draft these topics or sections individually. This is probably a good option for larger teams or those with members who have complicated schedules or dispositions unsuited for writing each word in collaboration with others.

3. Revising

Revising is the final stage in the writing process. It will occur after a draft (either of a particular section or the entire paper) has been written. Revising, for most writing projects, will need to go beyond making line-edits that revise at the sentence-level. Instead, you'll want to thoroughly consider all aspects of the draft in order to create a version of it that satisfies each member of the team. For more information about revision, check out our Writer's Handbook page about revising longer papers.Even if your team has drafted the paper individually, we would recommend coming together to discuss revisions. Revising together and making choices about how to improve the draft-either online or in-person- is a good way to build consensus among group members since you'll all need to agree on the changes you make.After you've discussed the revisions as a group, you'll need to how you want to complete these revisions. Just like in the drafting stage above, you can choose to write together or individually.

Together

Revising together (in the same room or by editing the same online document) can be a good option because this will allow each member of your team to give suggestions about how the draft should be changed. Since you'll all need to agree about these changes, revising together can spark debates and conversation that may strengthen the final paper.

Individually

Revising individually can involve making suggestions about changes that should be made to a draft and/or actually altering the draft to take these suggestions into consideration. There are many permutations of individual revision within the context of collaborative writing. For example:

Person A writes a section
Person B gives suggestions for revision on this section
Person A edits the section based on these suggestions

or

Person A writes a section
The entire team meets and gives suggestions for revision on this section
Person B edits the section based on these suggestions

Think through the strengths of your co-authoring team and choose a system that will work for your needs.

Suggestions for Efficient and Harmonious Collaborative Writing

Establish ground rules

Although it can be tempting to jump right into your project-especially when you have limited time-establishing ground rules right from the beginning will help your group navigate the writing process. Conflicts and issues will inevitably arise in during the course of many long-term project. Knowing how you'll navigate issues before they appear will help to smooth out these wrinkles. For example, you may also want to establish who will be responsible for checking in with authors if they don't seem to be completing tasks assigned to them by their due dates. You may also want to decide how you will adjudicate disagreements. Will the majority rule? Do you want to hold out for full consensus? Establishing some ground rules will ensure that expectations are clear and that all members of the team are involved in the decision-making process.

Respect your co-author(s)

Everyone has their strengths. If you can recognize this, you'll be able to harness your co-author(s) assets to write the best paper possible. It can be easy to write someone off if they're not initially pulling their weight, but this type of attitude can be cancerous to a positive group mindset. Instead, check in with your co-author(s) and figure out how each one can best contribute to the group's effort.

Be willing to argue

Arguing (respectfully!) with the other members of your writing group is a good thing because it means that you are expressing your deeply held beliefs with your co-author(s). While you don't need to fight your team members about every feeling you have (after all, group work has to involve compromise!), if there are ideas that you feel strongly about-communicate them and encourage other members of your group to do the same even if they conflict with others' viewpoints.

Schedule synchronous meetings

While you may be tempted to figure out group work purely by email, there's really no substitute for talking through ideas with your co-author(s) face-to-face-even if you're looking at your teammates face through the computer. At the beginning of your project, get a few synchronous meetings on the books in advance of your deadlines so that you can make sure that you're able to have clear lines of communication throughout the writing process.

Use word processing software that enables collaboration

Sending lots of Word document drafts back-and-forth over email can get tiring and chaotic. Instead, we would recommend using word processing software that allows online collaboration. Right now, we like Google Docs for this since it's free, easy to use, allows many authors to edit the same document, and has robust collaboration tools like chat and commenting.

References

Dale, Helen. "The Influence of Coauthoring on the Writing Process." Journal of Teaching Writing, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 65-79.

Lunsford, Andrea A., and Lisa Ede. Writing Together: Collaboration in Theory and Practice. Bedford St. Martin, 2011.

Oliver, Samantha K., et al. "Strategies for Effective Collaborative Manuscript Development in Interdisciplinary Science Teams." Ecosphere, vol. 9, no. 4, Apr. 2018, pp. 1-13., doi:10.1002/ecs2.2206.

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Introduction When it comes to collaborative writing, people often have diametrically opposed ideas. Academics in the sciences often write multi-authored articles that depend on sharing their expertise. Many thrive on the social interaction that collaborative writing enables. Composition scholars Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford enjoyed co-authoring so much that they devoted their career to studying...

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Ep. 212: Beyond the Science of Reading with Natalie Wexler

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Teachers know that encouraging young children to talk and listen improves their ability to communicate. This book gives them a power tool aligned with the science of reading: the "Strive-for-Five" framework. These responsive conversations start with what children say and continue as the teacher listens and responds over five turns-with the goal of stretching their talking and thinking, knowledge, vocabulary, reasoning, and other skills that underpin reading success.

In an accessible format that contains video clips, along with classroom anecdotes and model conversations, Zucker and Cabell show why Strive-for-Five conversations are important and how teachers can use them to engage children and develop their language comprehension. As teachers use the framework to build students' knowledge, vocabulary, reasoning, and other skills that underpin reading success, they'll also see students' confidence grow as they share their individual stories, ideas, and question s.

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Strive-for-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy (The Science of Reading in Practice)

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Amazon.com: Strive-for-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy (The Science of Reading in Practice): 9781546113881: Zucker, Tricia, Cabell, Sonia: Books

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Connecting the Ropes: Integrating Reading & Writing Instruction - Keys to Literacy

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In general, there is a strong case to be made for integrating writing and reading instruction. The goal of this post is to highlight the numerous ways that the components of reading and writing overlap and make the case for integrating reading and writing instruction and practice within the same lesson whenever possible. This overlap will be explained by pointing out the similarities between two frameworks: Hollis Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001) and the Writing Rope framework that I developed in 2018.

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Cognitive Science Informed Teaching - Writing and Comprehension with Natalie Wexler

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Cognitive Science Informed Teaching - Writing and Comprehension with Natalie Wexler

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S9 E8: Cognitive science-informed teaching, with Natalie Wexler

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Podcast-Folge · Science of Reading: The Podcast · 15.01.2025 · 39 Min.

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This teacher-created scaffolding tool can elevate classroom dialogue, empowering students to express themselves while learning from the ideas of others.

Ever been in the midst of a classroom discussion where students are bubbling over with ideas, eager to share? It can look and sound like lots of voices calling out and talking over each other while quieter students try to find a place to enter the fray. You don't want to squash anyone's enthusiasm, but how do you ensure that every student has the opportunity to truly express themselves and hear the ideas of their classmates?

Students' ability to clearly communicate with others in conversation is a critical literacy skill. While goals for speaking are a part of elementary school standards, beginning in kindergarten, teaching talk can feel tricky; it's often hard for students to know where to begin or the next best place to go when responding to someone. A "Progression of Talk" chart can be very helpful in this work-defining starting and ending points for students, as well as all the points in between, when engaging in conversation.

The "Progression of Talk," by Cynthia Satterlee, begins with a student saying anything at all and grows to a student saying something relevant, adding on to what was previously said or disagreeing, clarifying, improving, revising their thinking, provoking more thought, or extending and elaborating-all necessary skills for any form of discourse.

When Cynthia shared this progression during a workshop, I nodded and thought, "Yes, just what I've been looking for!" She helped me see how talk could grow across a range of grade levels and subject areas. As I studied the progression, I thought it could become an even more powerful tool for students and teachers by adding a series of sample talk prompts at each level.
Gwen Blumberg
Observation

The first step of teaching kids how to lift the level of their talk begins with observation: simply paying attention to what students are saying to each other. Is it connected to the original speaker's sentiments or wildly off-topic? Are they putting thoughts into words and able to keep a conversation going or inadvertently shutting it down? Match your observations to steps on the progression and then lean into instruction.

What this looks like inside the classroom:

Providing students with talking prompts like "I agree..." or "I feel differently..." can help them make a connection between what the speaker is saying and what they are adding to grow the conversation.

Similarly, empowering kids to use the phrase "I'd like to add..." helps build a bridge from someone else's idea to their own.

Many elementary-aged children love to share their opinions when they disagree with others. I have heard children do this with short phrases-"That's not right!"-or by sharing how they see things differently without acknowledging the original speaker's ideas.

Introducing Talk Prompts

Displaying talk prompts once you have introduced them to your class can be a powerful scaffold. It's best to write them with students while explicitly explaining the thought process behind the prompts:

"One way we are adding on to what other kids in class have to share is to start by saying, 'Something you just said...' Let's write that on a big sticky note and place it here on the board where we can all see it. We can work on growing our talk by using this language whenever we want to share something connected to the conversation."

This note can then be referred to prior to conversations, with a reminder: "Remember, we are trying to grow our talking skills by saying something that connects to what the person before you said."

Next, point to and provide the talk prompts to help scaffold this work. Slowly building a progression tool with students is much more powerful than displaying it in its entirety at the onset of digging into these skills.

The Evolution of Talk

This process takes time. Support conversations with the talk prompts until students make them their own. If a child begins speaking without them, you can gently say the prompt and encourage them to try again, scooping up this language as their running start. When I am doing this, it reminds me of helping someone learn how to float. At first, my hands are firmly under the person, but soon my words become gentle fingertips just beneath the surface-providing reassurance, stability, and support.

I take my figurative hands completely away when I hear kids incorporating the language of this progression in natural back-and-forths. This might sound like a child adding on to something they've said to clarify a point-"Let me try to say that in a clearer way" or "I'd like to add on to what I said before." And another child sharing how their thinking has changed as a result of considering the thoughts and perspectives of others-"I used to think... but now I think..."

Not only does this exchange sound good, but it honors the thoughts of all speakers and helps kids see how their words are interconnected.

It's important to remember that this progression chart isn't a set of discrete steps or tied to particular grade levels; it can be more fluid depending on what students are saying, how they are interacting, or the focus of your curriculum. For example, with fifth graders in a debate unit, lean into talk prompts that allow students not only to press for more information but to respectfully express differing viewpoints.

As kids grow in this work and try on other successful ways to lift their talk, notice, name, and celebrate what they are saying, then add it to your shared chart. Empower students to use this cocreated visual to gauge their own progress, connect their language to the progression, and set goals to grow. Elevating talk skills in a dynamic way enables students to truly express themselves both in and out of the classroom, shifting responses like "What?!" to "I'd love to hear you say more..."

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Teaching Students How to Have an Academic Discussion

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This teacher-created scaffolding tool can elevate classroom dialogue, empowering students to express themselves while learning from the ideas of others. Ever been in the midst of a classroom discussion where students are bubbling over with ideas, eager to share?

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The Role of Executive Functions in Reading and Writing - Keys to Literacy

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Executive functions are the mental processes that students and adults use to manage tasks and achieve goals. These include goal setting, organization, cognitive flexibility, working memory, self-monitoring, attention, and inhibition. Executive functions play an important role in supporting proficient reading and writing across all grades. By grade 5, however, students’ success in reading and writing becomes increasing dependent on their ability to apply these executive function processes (Meltzer, 2010; Cartwright, 2015).

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Literacy Consultants & Consulting Services | Erin Kent Consulting

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About the Community | Erin Kent Consulting (EKC)

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A few special gifts for signing up now: a strategy call with Erin Kent or an EKC Senior Strategist to get started using the EKC Community to support your current literacy initiatives; and 5 free spots in our live, virtual winter courses ($1495 value!)