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Mar 1, 2023
Thematic Unit Planning: A How-To Guide
Choosing a Theme: The most successful theme will be related to a topic that both you and your students can become genuinely interested in engaging with for the duration of the unit. If you’re not enthusiastic about the topic, why would your students be? When Choosing a Theme, Ask: How are my themes relevant to
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Jan 22, 2023
Reader’s Theater for Older Students
My classroom can feel like a typical English high school classroom. We engage in many of the same activities reading many classic, grade-level texts, engaging in higher-order class discussions, and writing analytical essays. However, it is a small group setting, and we take longer to work through books, dedicating much focus to study and literacy
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Jan 10, 2023
Vocabulary Strategy: Use of Context
An important strategy to help students build their vocabulary is use of context – i.e., using the clues or hints provided in the text that surround an unfamiliar word to help guess the meaning without depending on a dictionary. This can include words, phrases, or sentences that appear before, after, or close to the word.
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Jan 5, 2023
The Fluency Development Lesson (FDL): Synergistic Fluency Instruction
Key elements of fluency instruction include modeling fluent reading (read aloud to students), assisted reading (students read a text while simultaneously hearing the same text read to them by a partner, group, or recording), wide reading (students read a text one time and then move on to a new text), and deep or repeated reading
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Jan 4, 2023
Putting the Decoding Toolkit to Work
At Landmark, one way we promote this practice is through the use of the Language Box to encourage students to tap into their listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking skills. Similarly, when working at the word recognition level, we can build skills by activating the Four-Part Processing Model (Moats and Tolman, 2019, based on Seidenberg
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Dec 21, 2022
The Language Box
The rows in the Language Box™ ask us to consider the ways we process or produce language: orally and in writing. So let’s consider what each of the four boxes means for a student: Oral language skills include listening and speaking. Oral language is processed through listening. Students are asked to comprehend and apply what
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Dec 8, 2022
The Hidden Demands of Writing
Another way to think about the many necessary literacy skills inherent in written expression is to examine the hidden demands in the writing process: Comprehension To write with clarity, students must understand what they have read, and they must also understand the prompt for writing. For instance, if the task is to explain three personality
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Nov 28, 2022
Using Consistent Language and Cueing to Support Both Social Communication and Classroom Management
Students do better when language related to social communication is consistent. It can help to create an environment that lessens anxiety attributed to unpredictability and places the focus back on the subject. Consistent language allows students to feel comfortable understanding what is expected of them in the classroom and can provide predictability when other areas
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Nov 15, 2022
Hot and Cool Executive Function Skills
Cool Executive Function We activate our cool executive functions when we are asked to complete a task that lacks an emotional or motivational component, meaning that the task at hand is low-stakes and there are few consequences dependent on successful or unsuccessful completion. Many executive functioning tests given in clinical settings measure these types of
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