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Disciplinary Literacy

As students advance through middle and high school grades, the required level of literacy skills increases significantly to meet the growing demands of reading and writing in different content areas. Students need to be able to understand the language used in school texts that becomes increasingly complex and specialized. This post focuses on what is frequently described as disciplinary literacy – what it is, how it is different from basic reading skills and content literacy (i.e., general reading skills and strategies), and the role that content area teachers can play in helping students develop the literacy skills needed to support content learning.

Joan Sedita | November 12, 2024 | 0 Comments

Making Inferences to Support Comprehension

We make inferences every day by reaching conclusions based on clues and reasoning. We figure things out by applying our knowledge and experience to the situation at hand. If we infer that something has happened, we don't actually see or hear the actual event, but from what we know, it makes sense to think that it has happened. Helping students understand when information is implied in text (not directly stated) will improve their inferencing ability.

Joan Sedita | October 8, 2024 | 0 Comments

Oral Language: The Foundation for Reading and Writing

Language skills and literacy achievement are highly correlated; research consistently demonstrates that the more children know about spoken language, the better equipped they are to succeed in reading and writing (Burns et al., 1999, Mehta et al., 2005, Pennington et al., 2019). The language children are exposed to at home and in school influences the development of their language comprehension, which in turn influences their fluency, vocabulary development and comprehension of written and media texts. The development of oral language skills through instruction combined with frequent exposure to rich oral language opportunities throughout the school day lays the foundation for learning to read and write. Effective literacy instruction must include teaching that fosters oral language development, especially for students who enter kindergarten with weak spoken skills and English language learners. (Calderon, 2011)

Joan Sedita | August 26, 2024 | 1 Comment

Developing Phonemic Awareness Using Letters

Phonological sensitivity developed using oral language (such as syllable awareness, sensitivity to rhyming, awareness of alliteration, and awareness of onsite-rimes in spoken words) is an important part of emergent literacy skills for young children (ages 4-5) in preK and beginning kindergarten. They are precursors to phonemic awareness, which is the phonological task most related to learning to read and spell words in any alphabetic system (Ehri, 2004). Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify, blend, segment, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words. This post highlights the importance of developing phonemic awareness using activities that include letters.

Joan Sedita | August 6, 2024 | 5 Comments

Writing Instruction Scope & Sequence

One of the hallmarks of an explicit, structured approach to teaching is to follow a logical sequence for teaching skills that progresses from basic to more complex, making sure prerequisite skills have been learned by checking for understanding before moving to the next step. This is often referred to as instruction that follows a scope and sequence. I am often asked to provide a scope and sequence for teaching writing, which is the topic of this post.

Joan Sedita | July 8, 2024 | 3 Comments

Connecting the Ropes: Integrating Reading & Writing Instruction

In general, there is a strong case to be made for integrating writing and reading instruction. The goal of this post is to highlight the numerous ways that the components of reading and writing overlap and make the case for integrating reading and writing instruction and practice within the same lesson whenever possible. This overlap will be explained by pointing out the similarities between two frameworks: Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope (2001) and the Writing Rope framework that I developed in 2018.

Joan Sedita | May 31, 2024 | 3 Comments

Case Study: Bethlehem Area School District Extends Literacy Shifts into the Adolescent Level

Shauna Cotte | May 14, 2024 | 0 Comments

Phonics Instruction for English Learners

This post focuses on instruction of phonics for English learners. English learners benefit from the same explicit instruction of literacy skills, including phonics, as native English speakers, keeping in mind the special considerations of English learners regarding oral language proficiency, vocabulary and background knowledge, and attention to addressing new sounds (phonemes) of English. A structured literacy approach to teach phonics should be used: explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic.

Joan Sedita | May 7, 2024 | 4 Comments

Building Vocabulary: Semantic Feature Analysis

It is helpful for students to learn a new word by associating it with other related words. The related words can be words students already know or new words. Semantic feature analysis is an engaging activity that can be used to make associations.

Joan Sedita | April 4, 2024 | 0 Comments

You May Be Right, I May Be Crazy: MTSS and Tier I Instruction

This is a guest re-post of a blog recently written by Stephanie Stollar, founder of Stephanie Stollar Consulting and creator of The Reading Science Academy. Stephanie's message caught our eye -- she shares some important insights about issues related to implementing core literacy instruction for schools using a multi-tiered system of supports framework.

Stephanie Stollar | March 20, 2024 | 1 Comment

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