We often make assumptions about students’ reading ability when selecting complex texts. “We’ve excused a lot of students from reading complex texts because we assumed they couldn’t do it” (Fisher). In this video, Doug Fisher provides tips for selecting the right complex texts based on
Not so long ago, literacy had everything to do with decoding printed passages or writing a decent letter. Now, literacy is deeply rooted in such 21st Century texts as infographics or videos—all things digital, actually. As a way of developing common language in my workshops,
We all want our kids to be college or career ready right? So why do so many of us—parents and teachers—actively support a practice that diminishes this outcome? I’m not talking about standardized tests or education policy being dictated by a billionaire software engineer (at
I cracked open the book and gulped. Reading your own personal writing in front of your students is hard. Why? We work with students everyday. We ask them to share their work, to be brave about making mistakes, to persevere, to keep trying. And yet here
The opening sentence in our new book, Visible Learning for Literacy, says “Every student deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design.” There is so much behind this deceptively simple statement. For example, the opening phrase every student conveys one of our core
There is a strong correlation between a student’s word knowledge and future academic success. Evidence shows that what students already know about a topic is a reliable predictor of how easy they will learn new information in that topic. Words are the tools students use
Do you have a minute? Of course not. Between the demands of dozens of literacy initiatives, testing, accountability, and preparing your students for life, you are stretched very thin. That’s why we created Corwin Literacy. We believe all teachers are lifelong learners, and we’ve curated
Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has been signed into law, we’re keeping close tabs on national ESSA news as well as ESSA news from the eight most populous states in the union: CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, OH, and GA. Our
Please be sure to read my previous blog post on the major findings from the new federal report, “Evaluation of Response to Intervention Practices for Elementary School Reading”. In response to this new report, I would like to provide the following recommendations to improve RtI processes
A 13-state evaluation report finds that Grade 1 through Grade 3 students receiving Tier II literacy interventions actually lose ground. Here are some reasons why. This past November (2015), a new federal report, Evaluation of Response to Intervention Practices for Elementary School Reading—commissioned by the U.S. Department of