We know that good readers are able to picture characters, scenes and events that happen in the books they read. You can help children build their guided imagery skills by asking children to clarify their vision of what was happening in a book. After reading the story without showing children the pictures, ask children to [...]

As more and more students have ready access to the internet, doing “old fashioned research” in the library with encyclopedias and reference books has become a thing of the past. In the July/August 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly, author, Nicholas Carr alleges in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” that internet search engines have [...]

Research indicates that there are two instructional strategies that, when done well, can boost students’ reading abilities: Sustained silent reading and direct vocabulary instruction. Yet, says Robert Marzano, no schools or districts in the United States have created programs that combine the two. The strategies, observes Marzano, are silver bullets “just sitting out there.”

In Robert Marzano’s book, Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement: Research on what works in schools. (ASCD, 2004), Marzano outlines six steps for maximum vocabulary instruction. They are: 1.  Provide a description, explanation or example of the new term. 2. Ask students to restate this in their own words. 3. Ask students to draw a [...]

Many districts across the country are implementing the three-tiered RtI model to identify and help struggling readers. While I think that RtI is a great approach for finding and assisting struggling readers early in the process of learning to read, I am worried that many districts are implementing this form of early support without the [...]