The Common Core Standards along with grade-level expectations and standards from most states now call for a strong emphasis on reading and writing nonfiction texts — from the beginning. This means that learners of all ages need to become acquainted with the structures and features of informational texts, both as readers and as writers. This guide offers strategies for using those features to enhance understanding and increase efficiency in seeking and recording information and to communicate ideas.
Improve instruction and help all students achieve at high levels by making these research-based adjustments to your balanced literacy program. This guidance outlines some of the most common challenges of a balanced literacy model, how they can impede students’ learning, and how you can adapt your reading program to better serve students.
Review the “Install This Research-Based Practice Instead” column below to see how you might disrupt practices to demonstrably boost your students’ achievement and allow more of your students to become strong and eager readers. Each characteristic described in the left-hand column presents an opportunity to redesign, adjust, or even radically alter instruction, and replace it with a new practice in the righthand column that is research-proven.
Dr. Guinevere Eden is a professor in the department of pediatrics and director of the Center for the Study of Learning (CSL) at Georgetown University. She uses MRI scans to map brain activity and study the biological signs of dyslexia. Eden hopes that this will soon make it possible to diagnose dyslexia very early in children.
Read about the history of voting, presidential trivia, or a duck who thinks he should be in charge, in this month’s list of recommended books for kids ages 0-9. They all pay tribute to our unique democratic system. So, grab a book, get involved, and don’t forget to vote!
