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Top 12 Ways to Motivate Students by Teach Hub 

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Top 12 Ways to Motivate Students by Teach Hub 

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A simple list with instructional ideas to motivate students in a positive, yet constructive way. Although motivation in the classroom is a highly talked about topic, it is important to take those ideas and strategies and put them to use. This article explains and demonstrates twelve ways to motivate students and continue the motivation at home. Each motivational idea has a connected link within the page with more ideas and tips for motivation. Some of these ideas are so simple and can brighten a child’s school day. These ideas include sending home encouraging notes with students to show their parents, setting achievable, short term goals for difficult subjects and topics, and hosting open-formats to let students express their thoughts, concerns, and accomplishments.

Condron , A. (n.d.). How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students

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We all know the struggle. We teach and teach and reteach and work with individuals or small-groups and, despite our efforts, that one student just doesn't get it. Or we try one behavior management or modification technique after another and just can't get the desired behavior from that student. Learning difficulties or emotional trauma are unfortunately the cause of issues like these all too often. However, many times the root of the problem may simply be that we are not adequately motivating our students. Effectively motivating your students cannot erase every problem, but it can be a solution or preventative to many problems that students and teachers experience in the classroom.

Of course, what motivates one student might not motivate another. Some students are intrinsically motivated. These are students that are motivated from something within. Intrinsically motivated students might simply have a deep desire to succeed and are, therefore, motivated to do well in all that they do. In some cases, intrinsic motivation comes from utilizing a topic that a student is particularly interested in. If students are interested in the topic, then they are intrinsically motivated to listen and learn. Other students are extrinsically motivated. These students need some outside factor to boost motivation. Grades are extrinsic motivators for some students. Rewards and praise can also be effective extrinsic motivators. Regardless of the kind of motivator that students respond to, there are techniques that can be used to increase motivation for both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated students.

Establish Clear Goals and Expectations

First of all, we cannot expect high motivation if students do not fully understand the ultimate goal. Therefore, it is critically important that at the beginning of every lesson or unit teachers let students know exactly what they will be expected to do or know at the end. It also helps if there is a life application involved. For example, at the end of a money unit, you would expect students to be able to add various amounts of money. By providing a class store with small items to buy if they are able to accurately add the amounts of money, they are provided the opportunity to display that knowledge, and the goal/expectation provided motivation for their learning.

Focus on Growth

Another way to provide motivation for students is to establish and maintain a growth mindset. The ultimate level for the student's grade-level or age may be too overwhelming and seem unachievable. If you set small, achievable goals for the students and focus on whether or not the student has made strides toward that goal, students see more successes and are able to stay motivated throughout the process. Celebrate the growth along the way, no matter how small!

Rewards and Recognition

Some students are greatly motivated by rewards and/or recognition. One very commonly used method is to set up a reward system in your room. You can set rewards for the whole class, but students tend to stay more motivated if the rewards are based on individual growth and/or achievement. Types of rewards will vary based on the age of the students, but students can be rewarded for consistently good behavior, high achievement, or growth. A small chart can be placed on each student's desk to keep track of the positive behaviors you would like to reward. Again, this could be for all students or you can target the ones that are really struggling with motivation.

While tangible rewards can be effective, I find that recognition and praise may be even more so. Many students long for and respond to praise and recognition. By simply acknowledging accomplishments, some students are greatly motivated to keep up the good work.

Students' Interests

This is a method that will dip into that goldmine of intrinsic motivation. When learning is centered on students' interests, the motivation is already there. So maybe find out a favorite hobby of that student who struggles with motivation, and teach a unit incorporating that somehow. Of course, this may not always be possible, but you might be surprised at how far a little peak of interest can go. If you are teaching language arts, no problem. Find a book on the topic and spark that interest. Other areas may not be quite as easy, but where there is a will, there is a way. I had a student a few years ago that struggled terribly in math. He also completely lacked motivation to improve. This same student, at a very young age, could repair car motors and even take some of the machinery apart and put it back together. So, I incorporated cars as much as possible. Every word problem was about a car, tractor, or engine. When we used manipulatives, we used cars. He looked forward to math every day!

Develop Positive, Meaningful Relationships with Your Students

All of the above listed ideas are great and can go a long way to motivate students. However, there is no substitute, when it comes to motivation, for developing meaningful relationships with your students. To motivate your students you must know what makes them tick. How can you know that without really getting to know and understand them?

Students can also be motivated simply by the fact that they know you care for them and want them to succeed. When they know they are loved, they love you in return. When they love you, they love school. When they love school, they want to be there. When they want to be there, they are motivated to do their best! Talk to your students. Invest in them. Love them. This is the greatest motivator of all!

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How to Motivate Students in the Classroom - TeachHUB

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We all know the struggle. We teach and teach and reteach and work with individuals or small-groups and, despite our efforts, that one student just doesn't get it. Or we try one behavior management or modification technique after another and just can't get the desired behavior from that student.

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Informal Spelling in the Classroom: A More Effective Approach

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Informal Spelling in the Classroom: A More Effective Approach

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This article focuses on the outdated strategy of memorizing spelling words. This article suggests that classrooms should involve more technology like games to remember how to spell words as well as provide opportunities to use spelling in real life scenarios. According to this article it is the teacher's job to teach students the questioning strategy where when they do not recognize a word should ask themselves what they think the word means and try to find real examples of this word in context. Teachers should provide real-life publications like mail, letters, and classroom books so students become more familiar with every day words and their spelling. With this method, students are able to put a meaning to spelling rather than try to memorize a list of words.

Rudman, M. (1973). Informal Spelling in the Classroom: A More Effective Approach. The Reading Teacher, 26(6), 602-604.

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A Teacher’s Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom

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A Teacher’s Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom

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This book is a great resource for new and experienced teachers to enhance both students; and teachers’ motivation in the classroom. In this book teachers can find strategies that will engage their class and make learning exciting for not only their students, but for themselves as well. Main points that this book explores are how to prepare for multiple styles of learning, goal setting strategies, examples of physical activities that enhance the learning environment, and ways to help students understand who they are as a learner and active participant in the classroom.

Holleran, G., & Gilbert, I. (2015). A Teacher’s Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom: Resources and Activities to Inspire and Engage Your Students. Routledge.

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Teachers around the world have found Ian Gilbert's classic text Essential Motivation in the Classroom an inspiring and provocative read. This ground-breaking companion to the book is a definitive one-stop guide for teachers who are looking for inspiration into how his ideas can be put into practice in every-day classrooms. A truly lively and engaging resource, it scrutinises each aspect of Gilbert's now famous 'seven keys' of motivation and provides a wide range of practical ideas, activities and launch-pads for discussion which can be blended seamlessly into your own lessons.
Taking as its starting point the right of every child to an inspirational education that develops their values, attitudes and skills, this book provides you with the means to unlock even your most challenging of pupils and will act as a spring board for visionary learning in the classroom and beyond,

Key ideas explored include:
* Goal setting strategies
* Students' own intrinsic motivation
* Preparing effective challenges
* Developing multiple approaches to learning
* Using physical activities to anchor learning
* Helping students to understand themselves better and be better prepared for the world today

For teachers of pupils at all ages and stages, this book is easy to follow, easy to 'dip in and out of', is conversational in tone, and has the potential to be a game-changer for any teacher wishing reinvigorate their pupils, colleagues and classrooms.

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A Teacher's Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom

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Teachers around the world have found Ian Gilbert's classic text Essential Motivation in the Classroom an inspiring and provocative read.

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Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers

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Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers

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This is a wonderful article focusing on students’ strength to motivate in the classroom. This article focuses on helping students find what they like/dislike, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to work together as a whole unit (teacher, student, and peers) to achieve a common goal. It also focuses on how to make a classroom a safe and encouraging work environment. This is a key point in motivation, according to the author, because if a student does not feel safe in his/hers’ working space, then motivating cannot take place.

Stephens, T. L. (2016). Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers. Retrieved March, 4, 2016.

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Motivating students is one of the major challenges teachers face on a daily basis. Conceptualized as students' energy and drive to engage, learn, work effectively, and achieve their potential at school, motivation and engagement play a large role in students' interest and enjoyment of school (Martin, 2006). Understandably, both also play huge roles in academic achievement (Martin, 2001; Martin & Marsh, 2003). Consequently, those students who are motivated by and engaged in learning tend to perform considerably higher academically and are better behaved than unmotivated and un-engaged peers (Fredricks, Bulumenfeld, & Paris, 2004).

While much motivation is intrinsic to the student, teachers also play a vital role in the motivation and engagement of their students. A significant portion of student engagement and achievement has been explained by teacher- and classroom-level variables (Hill & Rowe, 1996). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to briefly discuss the importance of motivation and engagement on student learning and behavior, the role teachers play in motivating and engaging students, and suggestions for doing so.

Student Engagement and Motivation: Impact on Learning and Behavior

Student engagement, described as the tendency to be behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively involved in academic activities, is a key construct in motivation research (Thijs & Verkuyten, 2009). Consequently, compared to less engaged peers, engaged students demonstrate more effort, experience more positive emotions and pay more attention in the classroom (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). Further, engagement has also been associated with positive student outcomes, including higher grades and decreased dropouts (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994).

Teachers' Impact on Student Engagement and Motivation

Teachers play a vital role in their students' engagement and motivation (Hill & Rowe, 1996). Although much is intrinsic to the student, research has found that teacher's play a vital role on their students' motivation and engagement. Specifically, Martin (2006) found that a teacher's enjoyment and confidence in teaching, pedagogical efficacy, and affective orientations in the classroom have a positive impact on student engagement and motivation.

According to Bandura (1997), confidence is akin to self-efficacy. Those teachers who are confident, or self-efficient have demonstrated: a) the ability to generate and test alternative courses of action when initial success is not met; b) enhanced functioning through elevated levels of effort and persistence; and c) enhanced ability to deal with a problem situation by influencing cognitive and emotional processes related to the situation (Martin, 2006). Conversely, according to Bandura (1997) teachers with low confidence tend to dwell on their deficiencies and view situations as more difficult than they really are. Inadvertently, teachers high in confidence (self-efficacy) are more likely to engage in pedagogy that is characterized by positive, proactive, and solution-focused orientations, resulting in increased student motivation and engagement.

Teachers' enjoyment of and confidence in teaching have been shown to positively impact their affective orientation towards their students (e.g., positive student-teacher relationships); resulting in increased student motivation and engagement. Teven and McCroskey (1997) found that students who believe their teacher is caring also believe they learn more. Further, positive relationships with teachers predict enhanced social, cognitive, and language development in younger children (Kontos & Wilcox-Herzog, 1997). According to Flink, Boggiano, and Barrett (1990) those teachers who support a student's autonomy tend to facilitate greater motivation, curiosity, and desire to be challenged. Finally, positive relationships with teachers are associated with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement in the class (Connell & Wellborn, 1991).

Tips for Enhancing Student Engagement and Motivation

The following tips are provided in an effort to provide teachers with suggestions on how they might proactively begin the school year in an effort to improve and cultivate student motivation and engagement.

Recognize and enhance one's mental and physical stability. Teaching is a stressful job, and it is imperative that teachers take care of their mental and physical selves. Teachers should engage in activities that are relaxing and physically challenging. Having an outlet to alleviate stress will radiate within the classroom and positively enhance student-teacher relationships. When teachers feel good about themselves, they have more patience for and better interaction with students. Possible outlets for stress include: yoga, running, work-outs with weights, healthy eating, dance, biking, or meditation.

Ensure the classroom environment is welcoming to students from all cultures. To be engaged, students need to feel that they are in an environment where they are accepted and affirmed. Ensure the classroom is warm and inviting to all.

Enhance students' self-belief. Research shows that students engage when they act as their own learning agents working to achieve goals important to them. They must believe they can learn and know how to deal with failures and learn from those experiences. Incorporate problem-solving activities and provide discussions when failures occur. Allow students control over learning. This helps them develop confidence and commitment to learning.

Survey students to obtain information about their likes and dislikes. Understanding what students like and dislike will provide suggested areas in which teachers can connect with the student (e.g., favorite books, movies, video games). Information collected from the survey can be utilized as a motivator for academic and behavioral engagement or as a means of building rapport with the student (e.g., a topic for conversing).

Allow students to work autonomously, enjoy learning relationships with peers, and feel they are competent to reach their goals. Allowing students to work autonomously and with others, developing their sense of competence, results in increased student motivation. This focuses on the cultivation of intrinsic motivation, which fosters self-determination that leads to engagement.

Create learning opportunities that are active, collaborative, and promote learning relationships.Â Active learning in groups, peer relationships, and social skills are key components to engagement and motivation.

Create educational experiences for students that are challenging and enriching and that extend their academic abilities. Easy learning activities and assignments are not as effective at engaging students as activities and assignments that challenge them. When students are reflecting, questioning, conjecturing, evaluating, and making connections between ideas, they are engaged. Teachers must create rich educational experiences that challenge students' ideas and stretch them as far as they can go (Zepke & Leach, 2010).

Recognize that teaching and teachers are central to student engagement. Keeping up with the educational research through involvement in professional development activities (reading journals, attending workshops or webinars, etc) is key for teachers to remain current in the field using effective, research-based strategies, and techniques.

Motivating students and encouraging engagement is not an easy feat for teachers. While much of the motivation is intrinsic to the student, teachers play a vital role and can be proactive in cultivating student engagement. Increased student engagement and motivation is key to academic and behavioral success.

About the Author

Tammy L. Stephens, Ph.D., is a former assessment consultant for Pearson. Prior to working at Pearson, Dr. Stephens worked as a special education teacher (working with students with emotional/behavioral disorders), an educational diagnostician, and an assistant professor at Texas Woman's University. Dr. Stephens has presented on issues related to assessment and intervention at the local, state, national, and international levels. She is also published in several books and educational journals.

References

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman & Co.

Connell, J., Spencer, M., & Aber, J. (1994). Educational risk and resilience in African-American youth: Context, self, action, and outcomes in school. Child Development, 65, 493-506.

Connell, J., & Wellborn, J. (1991). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness: A motivational analysis of self-system processes. In M. R. Gunnar, & L. A. Sroufe (Eds.), Self process in development: Minnesota Symposium of Child Psychology (Vol 29. pp. 244-254). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Fredericks, J., Blumenfeld, P., & Paris, A. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concepts, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74, 59-109.

Hill, P., & Rowe, K. (1996). Multilevel modeling in school effectiveness research. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 7, 1-34.

Kontos, S., & Wilcox-Herzog, A. (1997). Influences on children's competence in early childhood classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 247-262.

Martin, A. (2006). The relationship between teachers' perceptions of student motivation and engagement and teachers' enjoyment of and confidence in teaching. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 34(1), 73-93.

Martin, A. (2001). The student motivation scale: A tool for measuring and enhancing motivation. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 11, 1-20.

Martin, A., & Marsh, H. (2003). Fear of failure: Friend or foe? Australian Psychologist, 38, 31-38.

Teven, J., & McCroskey, J. (1997). The relationship of perceived teacher caring with student learning and teacher evaluation. Communication Education, 46, 1-9.

Thijs, J., & Verkuyten, M. (2009). Students' anticipated situational engagement: The roles of teacher behavior, personal engagement, and gender. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 170(3), 268-286.

Zepke, N., & Leach, L. (2010). Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(3), 167-177.

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Tammy L. Stephens, Ph.D., Guest Author, Review360 Pearson

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Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers | Pearson Blog

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Motivating students is one of the major challenges teachers face on a daily basis. Conceptualized as students' energy and drive to engage, learn, work effectively, and achieve their potential at school, motivation and engagement play a large role in students' interest and enjoyment of school (Martin, 2006).

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Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves

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Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves

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This article is a great resource to help teachers not only motivate their students, but to teach students how to motivate themselves. This article focuses on the instructional strategy, project-based learning where students think of their own ideas on how to learn a topic. These ideas can be discussed with the teacher and the class and together can develop better ways of teaching, learning, and comprehending. This article really focuses on teachers and students working together as a team to tackle and achieve a common goal.

Ferlazzo, L. (2015, March 25). Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-helping-students-motivate-themselves-larry-ferlazzo

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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The Vocabulary Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth 

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The Vocabulary Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth 

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This research article focuses on specific researchers’ approach to teaching vocabulary in the classroom, by modeling sophisticated and mature words versus common, every day words. The idea of this study was to prove that children (in this case kindergartners) are not only able to use simple descriptive words like zookeeper and cloudy, but with direct modeling from the teacher, will be able to learn more advanced vocabulary throughout the school year. This particular kindergarten classroom was not only able to learn grade-appropriate vocabulary, but owned words like animal nutritionist specialist after listening and seeing their teacher use it in appropriate context.

Lane, H. (2014, October 16). The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/vocabulary-rich-classroom-modeling-sophisticated-word-use-promote-word-consciousness-and

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The weather watcher

In Ms. Barker's (all names are pseudonyms) kindergarten classroom, just like in so many other kindergarten classrooms, the day began with "circle time." During circle time, Ms. Barker led her students through a series of routines designed to teach basic skills and help students acquire fundamental knowledge. They sang songs that helped them remember the letters of the alphabet and their numbers in sequence. The students spent time on calendar activities that helped them learn the months of the year and the days of the week.

Ms. Barker assigned classroom jobs during circle time, too, and guided the students in carrying out their duties. The "zookeeper" was in charge of feeding and watering the classroom pets (a pair of hamsters). The "cleanup helper" made certain that all scraps of paper were picked up off the floor throughout the day. The "line leader" got to be first in line to lunch and anywhere else the class went, and the "caboose" was in charge of bringing up the rear of the line. Finally, the "weather watcher" reported the day's weather to the group, so they could discuss how to prepare for such weather - what to wear, whether to carry an umbrella, and so forth.

The weather watcher activity also illustrated how Ms. Barker carefully guided her students' vocabulary development. One early September day, Ms. Barker announced, "Sarah, you're our weather watcher today. Go outside and watch the weather and come back and tell us what it's going to be like outside today." Sarah dutifully jumped up and walked to the classroom door that opens to the outside. She opened the door and, standing in the doorway, looked up and around her and said quietly to herself, "Sunny." As she made her way back to the circle, she repeated to herself in a whisper, "Sunny. Sunny. Sunny." It was all Sarah could do to keep this important word in her head for the 30 seconds she needed it there. When Ms. Barker asked Sarah for her weather report, Sarah blurted out, "Sunny!" Sarah was obviously relieved. Ms. Barker smiled at Sarah and continued with the discussion, "That's right, it's sunny outside today. Does that mean it will be warm or cool?"

Given the time of year, only three weeks into the school year, Sarah's response was exactly what could be expected. The choices of words to describe the weather at that time were sunny, cloudy, and rainy. The children were learning the difference between these basic terms and what they meant to them. Should they wear shorts or long pants? Should they wear a raincoat? Will they be able to play outside? They were getting what they needed at that point in their development.

Fast forward to February in Ms. Barker's class. Circle time looked much like it did in September, but there were subtle differences. Instead of simply reciting the days of the week, the students were able to tell Ms. Barker what day it was yesterday and what day it will be three days from then. Instead of simply reciting the months of the year, the children identified the holidays that occur in February, how many days there are in the month, and in what season it falls.

Perhaps the biggest difference became evident when Ms. Barker was going over the duties of the class jobs. The zookeeper had become the "animal nutrition specialist." The cleanup helper had become the "custodian." The line leader was the "class movement coordinator," whereas the caboose was still the caboose. The weather watcher had become the "meteorologist."

Ms. Barker explained, "Jared, you're our meteorologist for today. Go outside and observe the weather conditions, then bring us back your weather forecast." Jared did as directed and returned to the circle. When Ms. Barker asked for his forecast, he announced, "It's going to be rather brisk today." Ms. Barker smiled and went on with the discussion about how to prepare for brisk weather.

The observer in this classroom, a bit startled at a 5-year-old's use of the words rather brisk, approached Jared later to ask him about his choice of words. Jared explained, "Well, it's colder than cool, but it's a long way from frigid." Even more surprised that Jared not only used the word appropriately but also seemed to have a strong command of its meaning, the observer asked Ms. Barker how Jared came to know such sophisticated ways to describe the weather.

Ms. Barker explained that it was all part of the design of her circle time. At the beginning of the year, children learned the basic concepts through repetition and practice. Her challenges at that point were to keep the concepts understandable and engaging. As the children mastered the basics, her efforts turned to building on this solid foundation of knowledge. She used the classroom jobs to expand her students' vocabulary. Although at the beginning of the year the zookeeper "feeds the hamsters," by midyear the animal nutrition specialist "provides nutritional sustenance to our rodent friends."

The kindergartners in Ms. Barker's class were all comfortable using words that we do not typically expect to hear 5-year-olds using. Their comfort came from their teacher's careful approach to developing their vocabularies through modeling and meaningful practice. Their well-developed vocabularies will undoubtedly serve them well as they learn to read.

Affable Annie

In Ms. Rivas's fourth-grade class, everyone looked forward to "morning meeting" (Kriete & Bechtel, 2002). The routine was a critical piece of her classroom management plan, but more importantly, it served as a catalyst for building her classroom community and for learning in engaging ways. The first segment of the morning meeting routine was the "greeting." The greeting ensured that each student was recognized daily and made to feel like a part of the group. The greeting activity changed from day to day, but one of the favorites was generating positive words to describe classmates as they were greeted. Each student was directed to say hello to the person sitting to his or her left and to say something to described this person in a positive way. Each greeting was said aloud for the whole class to hear.

When the school year started, this type of greeting was limited to simple descriptive words: "Hi, Annie! You are always nice"; "Hello to the very happy Fernando"; "Good morning, Tyran, you are so talented." As the year progressed, Ms. Rivas encouraged students to think of more original ways to describe their classmates. At first, students were reluctant to stretch their vocabularies too far, and nice, happy, and talented became friendly, jolly, and creative - an improvement, albeit a small one.

To push her students a bit further, Ms. Rivas took over the greeting one day, replacing words she had used to describe children before with substantially more sophisticated synonyms. The words she chose were mostly words the children had never heard before, but they were words that related to the ideas already expressed about each student. Annie was affable, Fernando was jovial, and Tyran was virtuous.

These new words sent the children scrambling to their dictionaries to find out what exactly Ms. Rivas was saying about them. The students each learned at least their own descriptive word, and most remembered a few more. This simple step nudged the students to work harder to generate better, more sophisticated descriptors the next time this greeting routine was used. Each time, the student who used the new word and the student the word described were virtually assured to learn and remember the word. Everyone in the class heard each word, however, and associated the word with a classmate, helping them understand its meaning. The students soon became comfortable with a large collection of descriptive words.

Before long, Ms. Rivas started to notice these descriptive words being used during class discussions and even during casual conversations among students. She was thrilled to see the words turning up in writing assignments, as her students described characters in stories or the historical figures they were learning about in social studies. The students owned these words.

The role of vocabulary learning

Vocabulary is a critical factor in the development of reading skills. Vocabulary knowledge has long been identified as one of the best predictors of reading comprehension (Davis, 1972; Thorndike, 1917), reading performance in general, and school achievement (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002, 2008). Receptive vocabulary is also a predictor of decoding skills (Ouellette, 2006). The more words the reader knows, the easier it will be to read and understand what is read (Blachowicz, Fisher, Ogle, & Watts-Taffe, 2006; Kamil, 2004; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000).

Unfortunately, not every student comes to school with an adequate level of vocabulary knowledge to support reading success, and the diversity of vocabulary knowledge among children entering school is great (Blachowicz et al., 2006). Among students from different socioeconomic groups or with different learning abilities, there is a marked difference in vocabulary knowledge (Beck et al., 2002; Hart & Risley, 1995). Furthermore, these differences can be observed throughout the school grades (Beck et al., 2002; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990). Unless vocabulary becomes an integral part of everyday literacy instruction, the gap among groups will continue to widen, making it harder for low-performing groups to catch up to their peers. Vocabulary instruction is particularly critical for students with reading difficulties, as their improvements in comprehension as a result of vocabulary instruction are even greater than for students without reading difficulties (Elleman, Lindo, Morphy, & Compton, 2009).

Thus, vocabulary instruction should be &quot;robust - vigorous, strong, and powerful in effect&quot; (Beck et al., 2002, p. 2). To have an effect on reading comprehension, vocabulary instruction should include multiple exposures to a word, teach both definitions and contexts, and engage students in deep processing (Beck et al., 2008).

What does it mean to know a word?

Vocabulary refers to the &quot;knowledge of words and word meanings&quot; (Honig, Diamond, Cole, & Gutlohn, 2008, p. 407). Different types of vocabulary are used in different circumstances. According to Kamil and Hiebert (2005), there are four types of vocabulary: oral, print, receptive, and productive. Oral vocabulary refers to those words we understand when we communicate orally or when someone reads aloud to us. Print vocabulary refers to words we know when we read or write. Receptive vocabulary includes words we understand when we listen or read. Productive vocabulary encompasses words that are used during speaking and writing. According to Kamil and Hiebert (2005), words in the receptive vocabulary are "less well known" and "less frequent in use" (p. 3) when compared with productive vocabulary. Words used in speaking and writing tend to be "well known, familiar, and used frequently" (p. 3). Overall, receptive vocabulary is larger than productive vocabulary and plays a key role in the early years when children learn to read. As they encounter text and decode words, they use their knowledge of words to understand what they read. If the words they encounter are not part of their vocabulary, the readers will not comprehend their meaning (Kamil, 2004). Therefore, developing children's vocabulary is extremely important.

When we talk about developing children's vocabulary, we are not only talking about knowing a high number of words but also about how well they know those words. According to Beck et al. (2002), "knowing a word is not an all-or-nothing proposition: it is not the case that one either knows or does not know a word" (p. 9). That is, an individual may know a little bit or a lot about a word. Dale (1965) was one of the first to explain the importance of differences in levels of word knowledge and to classify these levels: (a) never saw or heard the word before; (b) heard the word, but does not know its meaning; (c) recognizes the word in context as having something to do with _______; and (d) knows the word well. Beck, McKeown, and Omanson (1987) also identified the quantity of word knowledge along a continuum of levels: (a) no knowledge; (b) general sense of the word; (c) narrow, context-bound knowledge; (d) some knowledge of a word, but not being able to recall it readily enough to use it in appropriate situations; and (e) rich, decontextualized knowledge of a word's meaning.

So what should our goal for instruction be? Some researchers (e.g., Beck et al., 2002; Coyne, 2009) suggested that knowing fewer words well is more important than knowing many words superficially. According to Beck et al., teachers should strive to help students use the words they have learned not only during reading but also during writing and speaking. This means that they need a "deep kind of knowledge" (p. 11). Other researchers (e.g., Biemiller & Boote, 2006) promoted breadth of vocabulary knowledge acquisition. Those who emphasize vocabulary breadth assert that knowing many words is critical to understanding a variety of text. No matter which they emphasize, most researchers would agree that both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are important.

Selecting words to teach

Although recent research tells us more about how to teach words, determining which words to teach remains a challenge (Coyne, Simmons, Kame'enui, & Stoolmiller, 2004). Nagy and Anderson (1984) found that a typical third grader knows about 8,000 words, and a high school student knows between 25,000 and 50,000 words, or even more. A student typically will learn between 3,000 and 4,000 new words each year (Graves & Watts-Taffe, 2002). Knowing this, Beck and colleagues (2002, 2008) argued that not all unfamiliar words in a text should be the focus of classroom instruction. They developed a three-tier model for selecting words to teach, based on each word's level of utility. The first tier includes basic words that most children already know and that seldom require direct instruction in school. Words like house, mom, car, and toy are examples of tier 1 words. Tier 2 includes words that are key to comprehension and are frequently used by "mature language users" (p. 16). Examples of tier 2 words include curious, gazing, mysterious, stingy, scrumptious, and drowsy. Tier 3 encompasses low-frequency words that are associated with specific domains or content areas. This tier includes words like morpheme, peninsula, similes, nucleus, and protons. Tier 3 words should be taught as they are encountered, usually during content-area instruction. However, the focus of most vocabulary instruction should be on tier 2 words - those words that adults use with ease in everyday conversation, reading, and writing.

Beck and McKeown (2007) maintained that sophisticated words are particularly appropriate for instruction, because these words are not likely to be encountered or learned through typical interaction with academic materials or everyday conversation. Selecting for instruction words that are more sophisticated labels for familiar concepts expands both vocabulary breadth and depth. Vocabulary breadth is expanded, because these sophisticated words add to the number of words a child knows. Vocabulary depth is increased, because each of the new words can be linked to familiar words, which enhances understanding of both the new and familiar words.

Promoting word consciousness

Considering the number of new words a child encounters each year, vocabulary instruction becomes a titanic task. Based on this knowledge, Graves (2000) identified four key components of vocabulary instruction: wide reading, instruction of individual words, word learning strategies, and development of word consciousness. Word consciousness involves being aware and interested in words and word meanings (Anderson & Nagy, 1992; Graves & Watts-Taffe, 2002) and noticing when and how new words are used (Manzo & Manzo, 2008). Individuals who are word conscious are motivated to learn new words and able to use them skillfully. Helping students become word conscious is a crucial endeavor for teachers across grade levels, especially teachers working with students whose prior vocabulary exposure may be limited.

By mid-kindergarten, Ms. Barker's students were eager to learn new words for familiar concepts. Their enthusiasm stemmed from the success they had learning new words all year, with Ms. Barker's support, in a word-rich environment. They noticed unfamiliar words when others used them and asked what the words meant. They also recognized new words they had learned as they heard them used in different contexts, allowing them to deepen their understanding of the words and make more connections between the new words and other words. By mid-kindergarten, these children had already developed sharp word consciousness. Similarly, the fourth-grade students Ms. Rivas taught moved beyond finding sophisticated words to describing their classmates and applying their word consciousness to classroom assignments and even to their conversations with their peers.

Both teachers worked in high-poverty schools with large populations of English-language learners. Ms. Barker's school is a rural school, where many of the students are children of migrant farm workers. Ms. Rivas teaches in an urban school, where nearly 100% of the students participate in the free and reduced-price lunch program. These teachers recognized the need for their students to learn as many words as they can during the school day, because their home environments provided little opportunity for word learning. Despite these challenges, their students became word conscious and were anxious to add words to their lexicons.

According to Graves and Watts-Taffe (2002), this positive disposition for words greatly facilitated the challenging task of learning thousands of words each year, especially since most of the learning happens incidentally in the context of reading and listening (NICHD, 2000). Incidental learning from context has been identified as a main cause of vocabulary growth among children. Children are remarkably skilled at learning new words from unstructured contexts (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985; Rice, Buhr, & Oetting, 1992). This effortless acquisition of word knowledge happens through oral communication and casual reading without direct instruction (Nagy et al., 1985; Oetting, Rice, & Swank, 1995).

Because incidental learning is an authentic medium for expanding children's vocabulary, and word consciousness is key for this learning to happen, teachers can take advantage of adult-children interactions in the classroom to model the use of sophisticated language (Beck et al., 2002; Graves & Watts-Taffe, 2002). Incorporating these words into daily routines and classroom conversations creates a learning atmosphere where children become motivated and competent in word usage. Graves and Watts-Taffe (2002) suggested that teachers should promote "adept diction" (p. 145) as a way of developing word consciousness. Teachers who model and encourage adept diction foster curiosity and interest about words in their students.

In addition to a general atmosphere of promoting adept diction, we need to consider other conditions that are necessary to ensure learning. One of the main findings of the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) regarding vocabulary instruction was that repetitious and diverse exposures to vocabulary are vital. The more children hear, see, and engage with words, the better they will learn them (Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn, & Adler, 2001). According to Beck et al., (2008), frequent encounters help students not only remember the meaning of words but also access word meanings more efficiently. This has a significant implication for reading, because when readers access word meanings quickly, more cognitive resources are available to be allocated to the comprehension of connected text (Beck et al., 2008; Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982).

Modeling sophisticated vocabulary use

Multiple encounters are important in word learning, but they are not enough. For children to actually learn and use the new words, teachers need to make sure that those encounters allow children to make connections with their prior knowledge and experiences (Armbruster et al., 2001). There are many different strategies we can use to foster the acquisition of new and more sophisticated words, but one of the simplest and most powerful approaches is Ms. Barker's method of frequently modeling sophisticated labels for familiar concepts. Several aspects of her method likely contributed to its effectiveness.

First, she planned carefully which words she would introduce. She spent a good deal of time thinking about the words she used throughout the school day. She made lists of words that were related to classroom routines and to different areas of the curriculum. For each word on each list, she searched for more sophisticated substitutes and culled these lists of synonyms to a list of words she believed to be manageable for her students. She selected words that related to the most familiar concepts first and began introducing more sophisticated terms for those words. For example, the children already knew what it meant to feel happy, so Ms. Barker began using synonyms such as glad, cheerful, and delighted. They already knew what nice meant, so she began to use kind, pleasant, and thoughtful. Most importantly, she helped the children understand when one of those words might be a more appropriate choice than another. For other words, she taught the concept and the simpler word first, then only after allowing the children to become comfortable with the simple word, she introduced the more sophisticated synonym. Her circle time routine was replete with this type of introduction.

Although her students' learning of the words may have been incidental, Ms. Barker's teaching was not. The introduction of new words was deliberate but natural. With some words, the instruction was somewhat implicit. For example, she asked for a volunteer to pass out paper for an art activity to each table. When they were finished, as she started directions for the activity, she said, &quot;Thank you, Angelo, for distributing the paper.&quot; She continued casually linking pass out with distribute in this way for a few more days until one day when she asked for a volunteer to help "distribute our snacks,"; and all the children knew what this meant.

With other words, instruction would be more explicit. For example, Ms. Barker explained to her students, "Everybody knows now what the weather watcher does, right? Today, we're going to learn a new word for weather watcher. From now on, we'll call the weather watcher our meteorologist. A meteorologist watches the weather. Can everyone say that word with me? Meteorologist." All the children practiced saying the word with help from Ms. Barker. By saying the word themselves, the children created a phonological representation of the word in their heads that will make it easier to recall the word later (Beck, 2004). Ms. Barker followed up at the end of the lesson by asking again, "What is our new name for the weather watcher?" and the children said the new word again, further strengthening the associations they were forming.

With older children, Ms. Rivas was able to delegate more of the responsibility for learning new words to her students. She first made them comfortable with the greeting routine during the morning meeting. She then provided a clear and compelling example for them to follow. Finally, she encouraged their attempts to follow her example as the students used sophisticated words on their own.

Ms. Barker and Ms. Rivas both made decisions about how direct their teaching needed to be to ensure students learned the words they intended. Their decisions to use either implicit or explicit means to introduce new words were based on (a) their familiarity with their students'; word knowledge and (b) careful thought about the complexity of the words (Mercer, Lane, Jordan, Allsopp, & Eisele, 1996). Any teacher at any grade level can follow these procedures for generating a list of words to teach through modeling. Familiarity with a particular group of students and what they know is the best gauge to use when selecting words. Table 1 contains sophisticated words that might be used to substitute for the more mundane words we typically use during classroom routines. When a teacher shifts from asking the class to line up next to the wall to suggesting they line up adjacent to the wall, she is expanding her students' vocabularies. Table 2 contains words to use when describing students' behavior or academic performance.

Table 1. Sophisticated words to use during classroom routines

Table 2. Sophisticated Words to Use When Discussing Classroom Behavior or Performance

Sophisticated words can also be used during content instruction. For example, beyond the content vocabulary in a unit on plants (e.g., stamen, pistol, germinate), the teacher can find mature words to describe plant growth in general (e.g., flourish, thrive) or a particular plant (e.g., a meandering vine). Table 3 contains examples of words that might be connected to specific content areas.

Table 3. Sophisticated words that are related to specific content areas

Avoiding the temptation to "dumb down" our language for children

One of the biggest barriers to vocabulary growth in school is the simplistic way many teachers talk to children. We have all been guilty at one time or another of using words beneath our students'; level of understanding. Simplistic vocabulary may be appropriate for initial instruction, as a support for students'; understanding of a new concept. But once students develop a basic understanding, it is time to elevate our instructional language to enhance our students' vocabularies.

For example, at the beginning of first grade, teaching students to put a list of words in "ABC order" may help them better understand the concept of alphabetizing. However, even first graders can understand that alphabetical order is the same thing as ABC order, and using the more sophisticated term as soon as students understand the concept is appropriate. Continuing to use the simplistic term limits our students' vocabulary growth. Likewise, using phrases such as take away in place of subtract or same as in place of equal beyond initial instruction is limiting. If we listen carefully to our own words during instruction, most teachers can find many examples of unnecessarily simplistic language use. Avoiding oversimplification and exposing students to more mature terminology helps them be more confident as they progress to more complex content.

Be a word-conscious teacher

Incidental learning is the method by which we acquire knowledge of most new words throughout our lives. It is important to note, however, that incidental learning is necessary but not sufficient for the vocabulary learning that must occur during the school years. We know that children learn words best through extended instruction over time (Coyne, 2009), and explicit instruction is the best way to ensure that children learn word meanings and, especially, subtle differences between words (Scott & Nagy, 2004). That said, promoting incidental learning and word consciousness through frequent and deliberate modeling of sophisticated vocabulary can add substantial breadth to children's vocabularies.

Being a word-conscious teacher is the best way to promote word consciousness among students. Ms. Barker's kindergarten class is a prime example of well-developed word consciousness. By linking new words with familiar concepts, introducing the words clearly and matter-of-factly during classroom routines, having the children say the word repeatedly, and then continuing to use the word in place of the familiar word, Ms. Barker optimized conditions for word learning - and it showed. Likewise, by beginning with words that described her students, Ms. Rivas hooked her students immediately, because they all wanted to know what she was saying about them.

The students in both teachers'; classes used language far beyond what might otherwise be expected for their age and grade level, and they used this language effortlessly. They enjoyed learning and using new words. As the the kindergartners move into reading independently, their advanced vocabularies will support their reading comprehension. As the fourth graders face more challenging assignments and high-stakes assessments in reading and writing, their expanded vocabularies will become a support to them. Any teacher can accomplish what Ms. Barker and Ms.Rivas did by creating a word-rich classroom environment with more sophisticated models for students to follow.

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The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth

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In Ms. Barker's (all names are pseudonyms) kindergarten classroom, just like in so many other kindergarten classrooms, the day began with "circle time." During circle time, Ms. Barker led her students through a series of routines designed to teach basic skills and help students acquire fundamental knowledge.

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Improving the Vocabulary of Children with Hearing Loss 

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Improving the Vocabulary of Children with Hearing Loss 

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This analysis study and article tested the use and effectiveness of the Language Wizard computer program which is a computer-animated tutor focused on teaching children, specifically deaf children and children with a hearing loss vocabulary. The children in the study trained with this program 20-30 minutes a day, two days a week, for ten weeks. The focus was to see if this vocabulary computer program helped students to retain and comprehend grade-appropriate vocabulary terms even after being tested after the program ended. The results were outstanding, not only did students remember the terms, but they were able to use the terms in the proper context and did not degrade once training with program ended.

Smith, J. D. (2012). Single-case experimental designs: A systematic review of published research and current standards. Psychological methods, 17(4), 510.

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Instructional Strategies for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

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Instructional Strategies for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

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This web-based resource article lists and demonstrates instructional strategies for teaching deaf and hard of hearing children ways to learn, comprehend, and master vocabulary. What is truly helpful about this article is the way it is formatted and organized. It is simple to find strategies using this article because it clearly labels the kind of strategies that are used and ways to improve vocabulary. Examples of instructional strategies include environmental strategies, strategies for teaching using the bilingual/bi-cultural methods, and strategies depending on the individual’s learning style. At the end of this article additional resources are included for teachers to expand their research.

Easterbrooks, S. R., & Baker, S. (2002). Language Learning in Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Multiple Pathways.

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Instructional Strategies for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

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The mission of Virginia’s Training and Technical Assistance Centers (T/TAC) is to improve educational opportunities and contribute to the success of children and youth with disabilities (birth - 22 years). The Centers provide quality training and technical assistance in response to local, regional, and state needs. T/TAC services increase the capacity of schools, school personnel, service providers, and families to meet the needs of children and youth.

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Comparing Teacher-Provided and Computer-Assisted Simultaneous Prompting for Vocabulary Development With Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

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Comparing Teacher-Provided and Computer-Assisted Simultaneous Prompting for Vocabulary Development With Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

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This is an enlightening article researching whether computer-based simultaneous prompting or teacher prompting helps deaf or hard of hearing students learn and retain vocabulary better. Students studied were in second grade at a U.S. elementary school and were given both options to have vocabulary instruction and support through a computer tutor or a teacher. The results were mixed with the majority of students favoring the computer-based prompting over teacher prompting. The end conclusion however, was that simultaneous-prompting whether it was from a computer or a teacher benefited students’ vocabulary comprehension and thus proves that this strategy could be useful and effective when instructing vocabulary for deaf children.

Coleman, M. B., MacLauchlan, M. P., Cihak, D. F., Martin, M. S., & Wolbers, K. (2015). Comparing Teacher-Provided and Computer-Assisted Simultaneous Prompting for Vocabulary Development With Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Journal of Special Education Technology, 30(3), 145-156.

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This content-based article is a supporter of ASL writing and why deaf students and their teachers should embrace using it. This article goes into detail about the positive benefits from ASL writing and continuously mentions that the reason ASL writing is vital to deaf students overall writing skills is because they are writing in their native language. This article uses numerous examples of bilingualism and why it is always important for the student to communicate, write, and comprehend their native language to ensure success in their second language.

Why writing ASL (American Sign Language)? (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2017, from https://www.handspeak.com/write/index.php?id=4

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Exploring purposes and values of written ASL, common myths, misconceptions, and facts.

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How Can I Help Students become Better Writers in the Discipline When I am Not a Writing Teacher?

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How Can I Help Students become Better Writers in the Discipline When I am Not a Writing Teacher?

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This instructional article explains the best and most popular ways in teaching students to write. The article mentions that students need a good model to learn from so it is important for the teacher to practice writing strategies they want their students to learn from and experience. Examples of these strategies include providing examples of writing that are acceptable, model your process (as a teacher) for student’s learn from, and require drafts so the teacher can provide feedback and constructive critiques. There is many more examples list as well as links to further sources. All the examples mentioned allow students to feel comfortable enough to ask for advice as well as gives students the opportunity to make mistakes in writing and learn from them all with the guidance of the teacher.

University, C. M. (2015). How can I help students become better writers in the discipline when I am not a writing teacher? Retrieved June 22, 2017, from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/writing/helpstudentwriters.html

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There are a variety of things you can do that do not require expertise as a writing teacher, as well as ways of creating assignments and assessments that will aid students in this academic endeavor.

Share Useful Strategies with Students.

Many of the writing strategies we take for granted (e.g., how to write an introduction, how to research relevant sources) are not at all obvious to our students. And yet, these issues arise so frequently that there are resources available for us to share with our students. For example, the library offers workshops on various topics such as conducting literature searches and evaluating sources that can be scheduled during class time so students all get the chance to learn these basic skills before they need to be applied in writing assignments. In addition, there are several sources of information on the web that we can share with our students on basic writing tips and strategies:

Provide Examples.

Use examples of good student writing to discuss with your students what makes these pieces of writing effective. This helps students identify the elements of good work for particular assignments within particular disciplinary domains that, in turn, helps them become conscious of these elements in their own work. Diverse models of student work also illustrate that there are different ways to approach the same assignment, thus offering students some sense of creative scope.

Model Your Process.

It may also be helpful for you to share with students your process in approaching writing tasks. For example, you can tell students:

What questions you ask yourself before you begin (you might, for example, ask: Who is my audience? What am I trying to convince them of? What do I want to say, and what evidence can I use to back it up?).

How you go about writing (Do you sketch out ideas on scrap paper? write an outline? hold off on writing your introductory paragraph until you have written the body of the paper?).

How you go about diagnosing problems and making revisions in your writing (pdf). (Do you ask a friend to read and comment on your work? Do you step away from the paper for a day and return to it with fresh eyes?).

This is not always easy: it means we must become aware of and then make explicit the processes we engage in unconsciously and automatically. However, illuminating the complex steps involved in writing and revising to both you and your students is a useful exercise.

Design Assignments that Offer Appropriate Practice with Feedback.

Of course, one of the best ways for students to become better writers is through practice. However, as our learning principle on practice and feedback shows, not all practice is equally effective. An important way to help students develop as writers, even in a course not solely designed for this purpose, is to match the writing assignments to the students' skill level and offer practice (with feedback) on the aspects of writing where they can benefit. See more information on designing effective writing assignments and on responding to student writing.

Embed Milestones.

It is also helpful to include milestones into an assignment so that students submit either preliminary drafts (so they can incorporate feedback in their subsequent revisions) or components of a larger paper (so they avoid leaving the entire assignment to the last minute). For example, you could require your students to read and comment on at least two other classmates' early drafts by a specific deadline (for information on peer review, see the University of Wisconsin's Writing Center).

Require Drafts.

Few people are able to turn out high-quality writing in first drafts. For most people, good writing requires rereading, rethinking, and sometimes fairly extensive revising. Many students, however, misconstrue or underestimate what good writing involves, believing that it's a simple linear process when, in fact, it is complex and iterative. Many students leave writing assignments to the last minute, expecting to be able to sit down and rapidly turn out a good paper. Thus, they may not give themselves enough time to re-examine premises, adjust the organizational scheme, refine their arguments, etc. Requiring drafts forces students to build in appropriate time frames for their work.

Create Rubrics.

A detailed scoring guide or performance rubric helps students to recognize the component parts of a writing task and understand how their competence will be assessed in each of these areas. A good rubric helps students to see what comprises high quality writing and to identify the skills they will need to perform well. You might want to provide your rubric to students along with the assignment so they know what the criteria are in advance and can plan appropriately.

Recognize Cultural Differences.

Besides the differences between skilled and unskilled writers, there are cultural differences that often manifest themselves in the written work of non-native speakers of English. For example, Arabic speakers may develop their arguments by restating their position rather than stating rationales. Japanese speakers are inclined to argue both for and against an issue, and to be more tentative in their conclusions. Some non-native speakers generally provide lengthier treatments of historical context, minimizing their own arguments. For more information about this area, contact the Intercultural Communications Center's Writing Clinic for non-native English speakers.

Be explicit with students about the behaviors of skilled writers.

Understanding the behavioral differences between skilled and unskilled writers can help us work more effectively with students, even to "warn" them in advance of potential pitfalls to be avoided.

Have little concept of audience.

Are committed to the writing.

Care little about the writing.

Sharing this information with students in advance of writing assignments can aid them in the writing process.

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Help students become better writers - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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There are a variety of things you can do that do not require expertise as a writing teacher, as well as ways of creating assignments and assessments that will aid students in this academic endeavor. Many of the writing strategies we take for granted (e.g., how to write an introduction, how to research relevant sources) are not at all obvious to our students.

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Improving Instructional Practice to Teaching Spelling and overcoming Written Language Deficits:Successful and Meaningful Spelling

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Improving Instructional Practice to Teaching Spelling and overcoming Written Language Deficits:Successful and Meaningful Spelling

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This is an instructional article that I found very useful for teaching deaf and hard of hearing students spelling. The author argues that hearing teachers who have deaf students tend to accommodate the students using existing programs and believes that this is not enough. Her suggestion to solve this problem in the deaf classroom is to provide spelling lists that not only consist of core words, but include review, challenge, and previous words as well. Instead of students copying these words for homework, classroom activities that make spelling fun and engaging should be used instead with the goal that after review is done in the classroom, students can then do spelling homework at home without parental guidance.

Tanner, M. (2015). Improving Instructional Practice to Teaching Spelling and overcoming Written Language Deficits: Successful and Meaningful Spelling. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from deafen.net/publisheddocs/tannerprobsol.doc

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This instructional article discusses and reviews the different stages of spelling that children go through to own a word and then spell it. It argues that spelling should not be treated as its own subject but rather an integral part of the language and literacy system. Teachers should set up their classroom with books and spaces for reading and writing. The teacher should always make available examples of spelling and should set up a routine each day where students can peer test each other, test themselves, and set up spelling periods once or twice a week for practice. This is a great resource and goes into heavy detail of how to physically set up the classroom and a step by step of what a teacher should do each day and week to ensure the success of spellers.

S. (2012). Spelling in the Classroom . Retrieved June 19 , 2017, from http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/documents/english/spellinghandbook/spell_in_class.pdf

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The Importance of Fingerspelling for Reading 

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The Importance of Fingerspelling for Reading 

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This is a popular article published by Gallaudet University focusing on the importance of fingerspelling for deaf and hard of hearing students. Fingerspelling is not only related to reading and writing, but studies, including this article show that deaf students who have deaf parents are taught to finger spell at an early age do better in reading because fingerspelling coincides with English vocabulary growth. In addition, students who are strong at finger spelling have stronger vocabulary and reading skills. Fingerspelling should be used to teach students who are deaf to read and is an underestimated way of learning how to spell.

G. (2010, July). VISUAL LANGUAGE & VISUAL LEARNING RESEARCH BRIEF: THE IMPORTANCE OF FINGERSPELLING FOR READING. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://vl2.gallaudet.edu/files/7813/9216/6278/research-brief-1-the-importance-of-fingerspelling-for-reading.pdf

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This research article presents the information researchers and educators have on deaf children and their writing skills. This analysis aimed to study   deaf children’s writing skills in the classroom over an extended period of time, focusing on methodical practices, theoretical frames, and overall findings. The conclusion of this study was that although there have been writing assessments to determine how successful deaf students are at writing in English, the primary focus of these studies are the two main strategies that go into teaching deaf children writing are pedagogy and writing practice. The article aims to argue that these may not be the best methods in teaching deaf children to write and that other options should be explored according to the child’s use of grammar and syntax.

Williams, C., & Mayer, C. (2015). Writing in Young Deaf Children. Review of Educational Research, 85(4), 630-666.

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Evidence-based Practices for Teaching Writing

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Evidence-based Practices for Teaching Writing

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This article is great for teachers struggling to teach writing to students and gives clear examples of successful methods to make the writing process in the classroom engaging and effective. Researchers and educators suggest to make the writing process clear, attainable, and ensuring students the time to revise and edit with teacher support. According to this article, it is important to teach students strategies for writing like summarizing their reading to ensure that they comprehend the text they need to write about, allow collaboration time so students can peer edit their work, and setting small goals so the project as a whole is not overwhelming.

Burns, S. (2013, May 15). Evidence-based practices for teaching writing. Retrieved June 22, 2017, from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Better/articles/Winter2011.html

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Comprehension Skills, Strategies & Best Practices

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Comprehension Skills, Strategies & Best Practices

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This article is a great resource for teachers who are teaching comprehension strategies in the classroom. These ideas and examples suggest that teachers have students connect with their texts on a personal level, an interest level, and an academic level. It is important for students to understand the importance of a text that is being assigned, how that text relates to them as a reader, and of course, to always have the students infer and ask questions throughout the entire text. Using these strategies can make comprehension easier for students and are great methods for instructors to teach comprehension.

Comprehension Skills, Strategies & Best Practices. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2017, from http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/best-practices-library/comprehension-strategies.html

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This module explores comprehension strategies and their benefits. Examine descriptions of each type of comprehension strategy, instructional implications for teaching comprehension, and sample lessons.

Although word recognition, decoding, and fluency are building blocks of effective reading, the ability to comprehend text is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. Comprehension is a prerequisite for acquiring content knowledge and expressing ideas and opinions through discussion and writing.

Comprehension is evident when readers can:

Interpret and evaluate events, dialogue, ideas, and information

Connect information to what they already know

Adjust current knowledge to include new ideas or look at those ideas in a different way

Determine and remember the most important points in the reading

Read "between the lines" to understand underlying meanings

Comprehension strategies work together like a finely tuned machine. The reader begins to construct meaning by selecting and previewing the text. During reading, comprehension builds through predicting, inferring, synthesizing, and seeking answers to questions that arise. After reading, deeper meaning is constructed through reviewing, rereading portions of the text, discussion, and thoughtful reflection. During each of these phases, the reader relates the text to his own life experiences.

Comprehension is powerful because the ability to construct meaning comes from the mind of the reader. Therefore, specific comprehension instruction-modeling during read-alouds and shared reading, targeted mini-lessons, and varied opportunities for practice during small-group and independent reading-is crucial to the development of strategic, effective readers.

There are six main types of comprehension strategies (Harvey and Goudvis; 2000):

1. Make Connections-Readers connect the topic or information to what they already know about themselves, about other texts, and about the world.

2. Ask Questions-Readers ask themselves questions about the text, their reactions to it, and the author's purpose for writing it.

3. Visualize-Readers make the printed word real and concrete by creating a "movie" of the text in their minds.

4. Determine Text Importance-Readers (a) distinguish between what's essential versus what's interesting, (b) distinguish between fact and opinion, (c) determine cause-and-effect relationships, (d) compare and contrast ideas or information, (e) discern themes, opinions, or perspectives, (f) pinpoint problems and solutions, (g) name steps in a process, (h) locate information that answers specific questions, or (i) summarize.

5. Make Inferences-Readers merge text clues with their prior knowledge and determine answers to questions that lead to conclusions about underlying themes or ideas.

6. Synthesize-Readers combine new information with existing knowledge to form original ideas, new lines of thinking, or new creations.

Students quickly grasp how to make connections, ask questions, and visualize. However, they often struggle with the way to identify what is most important in the text, identify clues and evidence to make inferences, and combine information into new thoughts. All these strategies should be modeled in isolation many times so that students get a firm grasp of what the strategy is and how it helps them comprehend text.

However, students must understand that good readers use a variety of these strategies every time they read. Simply knowing the individual strategies is not enough, nor is it enough to know them in isolation. Students must know when and how to collectively use these strategies.

Modeling through think-alouds is the best way to teach all comprehension strategies. By thinking aloud, teachers show students what good readers do. Think-alouds can be used during read-alouds and shared reading. They can also be used during small-group reading to review or reteach a previously modeled strategy.

Wilhelm (2001) describes a think-aloud as a way to:

Create a record of the strategic decision-making process of going through text

Report everything the reader notices, does, sees, feels, asks, and understands as she reads

Talk about the reading strategies being used within the content being read

There are many ways to conduct think-alouds:

The teacher models the think-aloud while she reads aloud, and the students listen.

The teacher thinks aloud during shared reading, and the students help out.

Students think aloud during shared reading, and the teacher and other students monitor and help.

The teacher or students think aloud during shared reading while writing on an overhead, on self-stick notes, or in a journal.

Students think aloud in small-group reading, and the teacher monitors and helps.

Students individually think aloud during independent reading using self-stick notes or a journal. Then students compare their thoughts with others.

(Wilhelm, 2001)

When you introduce a new comprehension strategy, model during read-aloud and shared reading:

1. Decide on a strategy to model.

2. Choose a short text or section of text.

3. Read the text ahead of time. Mark locations where you will stop and model the strategy.

4. State your purpose-name the strategy and explain the focus of your think-alouds.

5. Read the text aloud to students and think aloud at the designated points.

6. If you conduct a shared reading experience, have students highlight words and phrases that show evidence of your thinking by placing self-stick notes in the book.

7. Reinforce the think-alouds with follow-up lessons in the same text or with others.

(Wilhelm, 2001)

Use the following language prompts to model the chosen strategy :

1. This reminds me of a time when I â€¦

2. I know about this topic because I â€¦

3. The setting of this book is just like â€¦

4. This book is something like â€¦

5. What's going on in this book is just like what's happening in â€¦

1. Before I read this text, I wonder about â€¦

2. While I'm reading, I try to figure out â€¦

3. After I read, I ask myself â€¦

4. I wonder whyâ€¦

5. What does this word mean?

6. Why did ____________ do that?

7. What is going to happen next?

8. Why did the author put that part in there?

9. I have questions about this part because it doesn't make sense. I need to make sure I read it right. If I reread and fix a mistake, that might answer my question.

1. The author gives me a picture in my mind when he or she describes â€¦

2. I can really see what the author talks about when he or she â€¦

3. I can draw a picture of what the author describes.

1. I know these parts of the story are important because they match my purpose for reading, which was â€¦

2. I believe the author thinks ____________ is important because â€¦

3. I think the author's opinion about _____ is ______ because â€¦

4. This text uses the (cause/effect, problem/solution, description, compare/contrast, sequence/steps in a process) text structure. I can use a graphic organizer to help me understand it.

5. I see lots of information right here. I need to identify which parts are important and which parts are just interesting.

6. All these ideas are important, but I think some are more important than others. I need to determine which ideas are the most important.

7. This (chart, table, graph, time line) helps me understand that â€¦

8. These (boldfaced words, font changes, bullets, captions) help me locate what is important.

9. Let me take the big ideas and summarize the text.

1. The author says this, but means â€¦

2. If I read between the lines, the author tells me that â€¦

3. The clues to prove my inference are â€¦

4. Because of what the author said, I know that â€¦

5. From the clues or information the author gives, I can conclude that â€¦

6. I think that ____________ will happen next because the author says ____________.

1. This story or passage is really aboutâ€¦ My views on this areâ€¦

2. My opinion of _________ is â€¦

3. I first thought ________ about the topic. Now I think â€¦

4. I've read a lot of information. Let me stop and think about this for a minute.

5. My judgment of this information is â€¦

6. From this information, I can generalize that â€¦

Additional Tips
Revisit the same text to model more than one strategy. For example, on Monday, use a text to model what's important versus what's interesting. On Tuesday, use the text to model how to identify big ideas. On Wednesday, use the big ideas to summarize and synthesize.

Extend the text as a reader-response activity. For example, on Monday, use a text as a shared reading lesson to model how cause-and-effect relationships help determine text importance. On Tuesday, extend thinking: map the cause-and-effect relationships onto graphic organizers, synthesize big ideas, and draw conclusions.

Strategy: Determine Text Importance (Main Idea/Supporting Details)

Text: greeting card, Benchmark Education Company's Comprehension Strategy Poster "Safety Signs"
Day 1

1. Say: Sometimes when we read a piece of text, we have a hard time choosing the most important parts. This lesson will help us learn to do that. Here is a card that I received. First I'll think of the main idea about the card, and then I'll think of some details that help to prove the main idea. This isn't a playing card or a note card-it's a greeting card. That is the most important concept. I'll write This is a greeting card on the graphic organizer where it reads Main Idea.

2. Read the card aloud to students.

3. Use the following think-aloud to model how to determine details: Now I'll think of some details about the card. These details describe the main idea and let people know that the main idea is true. I'll look for details that prove that this is a greeting card. First, I see that the card has a picture on the front. I'll write It has a picture in the first Supporting Details box. Next, I notice that the card is signed by the person who sent it. I'll write It has a signature in the next Supporting Details box. Can you think of another detail about the greeting card? Let's add that to the graphic organizer.

Day 2

1. Say: Yesterday we looked at a greeting card and identified the main idea and supporting details. Today we're going to read a text about road signs and pay attention to what the words tell us. Please listen to find out the main idea and supporting details of the text.

2. After reading aloud the text, draw a main idea and supporting-details graphic organizer on chart paper. Ask students to help complete it with information from the text. If they have difficulty, guide them with the following prompts:

Main Idea: Read the title and the first sentence. Ask: Is the author telling us the main idea here? Model thinking about the strategy: The title of the selection is Signs. This is the topic, which gives us a clue about the main idea. In the first sentence, the author states that it is easy to read road signs if you look at their colors. That sounds as though it is an important concept the author wants us to know about signs. Now I'll keep reading to see what types of signs the author mentions to support this idea.

Supporting Details: Read the second, third, and fourth sentences. Ask: Does the author tell us supporting details here? How do you know? Model your thinking: The author describes three different colors of signs-red stop sign, a yellow be careful sign, and an orange work sign. These examples support the main idea that colors help us read road signs.

Strategy: Determine Text Importance (Implied Main Idea/Supporting Details)

Text: Benchmark Education Company's text Plants -Level 12 (G)
Part 1 Use a real-life example to model how to infer.
Say: Listen carefully to the following sentence: Even though the children wore heavy coats, they were shivering as they waited for the bus. I'm giving you a hint as to what season it might be. I don't tell you, but you can use the clues in the sentence to infer that it is winter. Many times, authors do not directly state information in the text. To be good readers, we have to infer as we read. We use clues and evidence to figure out what the author hints or implies.
We're going to find an implied main idea for two different parts of a book. We know that the main idea is the most important information that the writer wants us to understand. In this case, the topic is plants. We'll need to think carefully about what the authors tell us about plants so that we can understand the implied main idea. Remember, the main idea will not be directly stated. Create a graphic organizer.
To activate students' prior knowledge about plants, creating a KWL chart. Record what they already know about plants in the K column and what they would like to know in the W column. Tell them that they will complete the L column after they read.

Plants need water and light to grow.

How does a plant get water?

How does a plant get food?

We can eat plants.

What parts of a plant can we eat?

Do we use plants in other ways?

Preview the book.
Hold up the book. Ask: What do you see in the photograph on the cover? What do you think the girl is doing? What kind of plant is shown on the cover?

Look at the title page. Ask: What do you think these children are doing? How are plants involved? What things are the children using as they work with the plants?

Preview the photographs in the book, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: On page 2, I see three kinds of plants. What are some ways that plants are alike?
Set a purpose for reading.
Say: I want you to see if you can find answers to the questions on our KWL chart. Monitor students' reading and provide support as necessary.
Discuss the reading and complete the graphic organizer.
Ask students to share answers to any questions from the KWL chart that they found during the reading. Complete the L column of the chart.

Plants need water and light to grow.

How does a plant get water?

How does a plant get food?

Water falls as rain. The ground soaks it up. The roots help get water from the ground.

The leaves use light from the sun to make food.

We can eat plants.

What parts of a plant can we eat?

Do we use plants in other ways?

We can eat some roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds.

Sample Small-Group Reading Lesson
Part 2 Model how to determine the implied main idea utilizing a graphic organizer.
Remind students that to infer means to understand clues and evidence that the author has provided for us in the text. Implications are not directly stated.

Say: The first part of the book (pages 2-11) gives me many details about the parts of a plant. One detail is that roots help a plant stay in the ground. The book also tells me that roots help a plant get water. I'll write these facts in the first Supporting Details box. Now I'll look for other details to add to my chart. Leaves make food for the plant. Stems take water to the leaves and flowers. Flowers make seeds. New plants grow from seeds. All these details tell me how the parts of a plant help it grow and stay alive. Even though the author didn't directly state this as the main idea, the clues and evidence imply it. I'll write this on the chart where it reads Main Idea #1.
Main Idea/Supporting Details
Topic: Plants
Part 3 Guide students to identify the second implied main idea.
Briefly review pages 12-16. Then ask students to select the most important details and use those as clues and evidence to find the implied main idea. If students need additional modeling and think-alouds, complete the remainder of the graphic organizer together. If they seem to understand the concept, allow them to complete the graphic organizer in small groups, pairs, or individually. Monitor their work and provide guidance as necessary. Allow time for students to share their recorded information.
Main Idea/Supporting Details
Topic: Plants

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K-8 Comprehension Skills, Strategies, Activities & Exercises - Benchmark Education Company

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This module explores comprehension strategies and their benefits. Examine descriptions of each type of comprehension strategy, instructional implications for teaching comprehension, and sample lessons. Although word recognition, decoding, and fluency are building blocks of effective reading, the ability to comprehend text is the ultimate goal of reading instruction.

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What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Comprehension

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What Every Teacher Needs to Know about Comprehension

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This is a detailed instructional analysis of teaching comprehension and what every teacher needs to know when teaching this topic. Within the article lists ways teachers can make sure their students are comprehending a text while reading. It also discusses pre-reading strategies that can set the student up for successful reading and comprehension. Teaching and focusing on vocabulary, decoding, activating background knowledge, and building fluency are just a few examples of ways teachers can guide reading and have students comprehend the text being read.

Pardo, L. S. (2004). What every teacher needs to know about comprehension. The reading teacher, 58(3), 272-280.

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Reading Comprehension in Deaf Education: Comprehension Strategies to Support Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

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Reading Comprehension in Deaf Education: Comprehension Strategies to Support Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

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This review asks the question “what strategies work in teaching deaf or hard of hearing students’ comprehension?”  Research was conducted with different students who were deaf and hard of hearing and their teachers to prove that using different comprehension strategies helped the student’s overall comprehension in a given text. The study took place with different age groups including preschool through grade twelve and both in a private school and residential school. The strategies that this study reviewed were Close Reading, summarizing, story maps, and venn-diagrams. After giving students and teachers a pre-test, these strategies were including in instruction and after the study was finished, both teachers and students were given a post-test. The results were incredible with the majority of students improving their score by 20%, making a fair conclusion that these strategies do work in educating deaf students in comprehension.

Bickham, L. M. (2015). Reading Comprehension in Deaf Education: Comprehension Strategies to Support Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

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Semantic and Syntactic Reading Comprehension Strategies used by Deaf Children with Early and Late Cochlear Implantation

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Semantic and Syntactic Reading Comprehension Strategies used by Deaf Children with Early and Late Cochlear Implantation

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This review explores cochlear
implants (CI) and whether or not having this device improves or worsens comprehension. The study took nineteen children who received CI before two years old and nineteen who received it after two years old. We know that having these devices does not completely bridge the gap between deaf students and hearing, but does it improve the child’s reading comprehension skills. After the study was complete, conclusions showed that even having a CI at an early age, deaf and hard of hearing students do not rely on the same comprehension strategies to read as hearing students do. Hearing students rely on a semantic way of reading, where deaf and hard of hearing students (even those with a CI) rely on syntactic cues. This proves that even having a piece of technology that allows students to hear themselves, does not make a drastic difference in comprehending texts.

Gallego, C., Martín-Aragoneses, M. T., López-Higes, R., & Pisón, G. (2016). Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Research in developmental disabilities, 49, 153-170.

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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This is an instructional article that helps teachers assess their students on a daily basis to ensure that comprehension and understanding has been reached on any given topic. Instead of having a formal, standardized test to assess students, teachers can perform simple activities to find out if their students are understanding the topic. One strategy discussed has to do with one of the major habits teachers perform almost everyday in the classroom which is asking the question "Do you get it?" As teachers were should refrain from asking this question and instead ask open ended questions and make activities for these questions more engaging.  Asking more detailed questions shows the teacher what students really know about a topic. This is just one strategy for assessment that is mentioned along with many more. I highly recommend this article to explore more ways of simplifying assessments in the classroom.

Staff, T. (2017, February 13). 20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/assessment/20-simple-assessment-strategies-can-use-every-day/

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day
contributed by Saga Briggs

The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding.

But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. We hope students will understand, if not now then before test time, and we keep our fingers crossed that their results will indicate we've done our job.

The problem is, we often rely on these tests to measure understanding and then we move on. There isn't always time to address weaknesses and misunderstandings after the tests have been graded, and the time to help students learn through strategies to ask great questions is gone.

Below are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

Book TeachThought Professional Development for training on assessment practices that grow teachers
22 Simple Assessment Strategies & Tips You Can Use Every Day 1. An open-ended question that gets them writing/talking
Avoid yes/no questions and phrases like "Does this make sense?" In response to these questions, students usually answer 'yes.' So, of course, it's surprising when several students later admit that they're lost.

To help students grasp ideas in class, ask open-ended questions that require students that get students writing/talking. They will undoubtedly reveal more than you would've thought to ask directly.
2. Ask students to reflect
During the last five minutes of class ask students to reflect on the lesson and write down what they've learned. Then, ask them to consider how they would apply this concept or skill in a practical setting.
3. Use quizzes
Give a short quiz at the end of class to check for comprehension.
4. Ask students to summarize
Have students summarize or paraphrase important concepts and lessons. This can be done orally, visually, or otherwise.
5. Hand signals
Hand signals can be used to rate or indicate students' understanding of content. Students can show anywhere from five fingers to signal maximum understanding to one finger to signal minimal understanding. This strategy requires engagement by all students and allows the teacher to check for understanding within a large group.
6. Response cards
Index cards, signs, whiteboards, magnetic boards, or other items are simultaneously held up by all students in class to indicate their response to a question or problem presented by the teacher. Using response devices, the teacher can easily note the responses of individual students while teaching the whole group.
7. Four corners
A quick and easy snapshot of student understanding, Four Corners provides an opportunity for student movement while permitting the teacher to monitor and assess understanding.

The teacher poses a question or makes a statement. Students then move to the appropriate corner of the classroom to indicate their response to the prompt. For example, the corner choices might include "I strongly agree," "I strongly disagree," "I agree somewhat," and "I'm not sure."
8. Think-pair-share
Students take a few minutes to think about the question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing with the whole class.
9. Choral reading
Students mark text to identify a particular concept and chime in, reading the marked text aloud in unison with the teacher. This strategy helps students develop fluency; differentiate between the reading of statements and questions; and practice phrasing, pacing, and reading dialogue.
10. One question quiz
Ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. You can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding.
11. Socratic seminar
Students ask questions of one another about an essential question, topic, or selected text. The questions initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional questions. Students learn to formulate questions that address issues to facilitate their own discussion and arrive at a new understanding.
12. 3-2-1
Students consider what they have learned by responding to the following prompt at the end of the lesson: 3) things they learned from your lesson; 2) things they want to know more about; and 1) questions they have. The prompt stimulates student reflection on the lesson and helps to process the learning.
13. Ticket out the door
Students write in response to a specific prompt for a short period of time. Teachers collect their responses as a "ticket out the door" to check for students' understanding of a concept taught. This exercise quickly generates multiple ideas that could be turned into longer pieces of writing at a later time.
14. Journal reflections
Students write their reflections on a lesson, such as what they learned, what caused them difficulty, strategies they found helpful, or other lesson-related topics. Students can reflect on and process lessons. By reading student work-especially - types of learning journals that help students think- teachers can identify class and individual misconceptions and successes. (See also
15. Formative pencil-paper assessment
Students respond individually to short, pencil-paper formative assessments of skills and knowledge taught in the lesson. Teachers may elect to have students self-correct. The teacher collects assessment results to monitor individual student progress and to inform future instruction.

Both student and teacher can quickly assess whether the student acquired the intended knowledge and skills. This is a formative assessment, so a grade is not the intended purpose.
16. Misconception check
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept you're covering. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why.
17. Analogy prompt
Teaching with analogies can be powerful. Periodically, present students with an analogy prompt: "the concept being covered is like ____ because ____."
18. Practice frequency
Check for understanding at least three times a lesson, minimum.
19. Use variety
Teachers should use enough different individual and whole group techniques to check understanding that they accurately know what all students know. More than likely, this means during a single class the same technique should not be repeated.
20. Make it useful
The true test is whether or not you can adjust your course or continue as planned based on the information received in each check. Do you need to stop and start over? Pull a few students aside for three minutes to re-teach? Or move on?
21. Peer instruction
Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what she's learned . If she can do that successfully, it's clear she understood your lesson.
22. "Separate what you do and don't understand"
Whether making a t-chart, drawing a concept map, or using some other means, have the students not simply list what they think they know, but what they don't know as well. This won't be as simple as it sounds-we're usually not aware of what we don't know.

They'll also often know more or less than they can identify themselves, which makes this strategy a bit crude. But that's okay-the goal isn't for them to be precise and complete in their self-evaluation the goal is for you to gain insight as to what they do and don't know.

And seeing what they can even begin to articulate on their own is an excellent starting point here.
This post was written by Saga Briggins and was first publish by on opencolleges.edu.au; 20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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20 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day contributed by Saga Briggs The ultimate goal of teaching is understanding. But sometimes it's easier to talk than to teach, as we all know, especially when we need to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.

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Linking Classroom Assessment with Student Learning

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Linking Classroom Assessment with Student Learning

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This is an informational article connecting assessments given in the classroom with student learning. This article reviews the importance of assessments and why the goal of assessing students should not be to see how good or bad a student is in a given subject but instead, should be used as a tool in gathering evidence for the classroom as a whole. Assessments can tell students' strengths and weaknesses, can be used to guide lesson planning, and motivate students and teachers as well. Linking assessments and instruction is "critical to effective learning," according to this article. This is a great resource when researching the benefits of assessments.

Linking Classroom Assessment with Student Learning . (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2017, from https://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL_Institutional_Testing_Program/ELLM2002.pdf

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Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standard 

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Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standard 

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This book, in this particular case chapter three, focuses on assessments in the science classroom. A familiar form of assessment is giving unit tests, sending progress reports and report cards home, and then giving a letter grade, but this process does not capture the overall picture of a student's progress and comprehension; nor does is capture what happens in the classroom everyday. Instead of giving out formal tests, teachers should assign an open response question or an assignment and have students prove with evidence how they came to their answer and understanding. By doing this, teachers can see where students are struggling and succeeding which can better guide instruction  and future assignments.

National Research Council. (2001). Classroom assessment and the national science education standards. National Academies Press.

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The National Science Education Standards address not only what students should learn about science but also how their learning should be assessed. How do we know what they know?

This accompanying volume to the Standards focuses on a key kind of assessment: the evaluation that occurs regularly in the classroom, by the teacher and his or her students as interacting participants. As students conduct experiments, for example, the teacher circulates around the room and asks individuals about their findings, using the feedback to adjust lessons plans and take other actions to boost learning.

Focusing on the teacher as the primary player in assessment, the book offers assessment guidelines and explores how they can be adapted to the individual classroom. It features examples, definitions, illustrative vignettes, and practical suggestions to help teachers obtain the greatest benefit from this daily evaluation and tailoring process. The volume discusses how classroom assessment differs from conventional testing and grading-and how it fits into the larger, comprehensive assessment system.

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Read "Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standards" at NAP.edu

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The National Science Education Standards address not only what students should learn about science but also how their learning should be assessed. How do we know what they know? This accompanying volume to the Standards focuses on a key kind of assessment: the evaluation that occurs regularly in the classroom, by the teacher and his or her students as interacting participants.

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How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning

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How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning

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This is an article that focuses on the developmental of useful assessments to demonstrate student success in the classroom. The reason formal assessments like test and quizzes are favored is because the results are quick and the process rather easy. In order for students to achieve highly in the classroom, teachers must be willing to change their views on assessments and their views on what the results of these tests really mean. Few teachers are formally trained on the development and analysis of assessment so it is important that teachers demonstrate to their students the value of testing, why assessments are useful, and show students that instruction can change based on the results of the tests. Teachers who show their students that testing can be stress free and that they are willing to change based on the student's or class' needs are more likely to have a successful, healthy classroom.

Guskey, T. R. (2003). How classroom assessments improve learning.