When teachers attend professional development on an unfamiliar topic, they too, need help before they can fully implement the new instructional practices in the classroom. Not only do they need to fully understand the new concept, but they must be given time and support to change their practices....

I marvel at my friends who are able to use technology with ease to accomplish these same tasks. For me, the act of “putting pencil to paper” helps me process content much more deeply. All of my life, I attributed this to my learning style, but I recently read an article in The Atlantic that gave validity to my preferred method of note taking.....

Here’s what you will find at the Looking at Writing section of the Reading Rockets website:

• Writing samples from real kids
• Advice about instruction based on samples
• Guidance on writing assessment
• Writing resources
• Videos of nationally recognized experts on writing instruction

The information is organized by grade level, starting with PreK and ending with grade 3....

As the standards are implemented in states across the country, parents and teachers have expressed concern regarding the education and literacy skills of students with reading disabilities. Literacy trainers at Keys to Literacy are often asked questions such as:

• What impact will these standards have on students with dyslexia or other disabilities if they cannot read or write at the expected grade level?
• Do the new state assessments allow for accommodations?........

Wendy has created a fantastic website full of articles, videos, and other great resources for teaching struggling readers (the picture of the girl pouting on the first page is priceless). Check out the great work Wendy and the rest of the advisors at Reading Matters to Maine are doing.....

If so, you will want to review the Institute of Education Science’s practice guide, Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School (Baker et al, 2014).

The guide is IES’s first upgrade for ELLs since 2007 and it is aligned to the Common Core literacy standards. It expands the scope to middle school and shifts the focus away from “beginning reading” and early reading intervention to academic language and academic vocabulary......

Recently I ran across two articles related to studying the reading brain:

• Learning to Read Does Not End in Fourth Grade by Abby Abrams, Time Magazine
• The Emerging Field of Educational Neuroscience in The Examiner (e-newsletter from the International Dyslexia Association - IDA)

Advances in this area are made every day, but unfortunately very little of what these researchers learn gets in the hands of educators in the field. So I decided to devote this post to providing links to resources about this fascinating topic of reading and the brain.....

Keys to Literacy began developing online PD courses in 2009. Since then, nearly 3,000 teachers across 54 districts have participated in blended online PD for our comprehension and vocabulary training. Through this experience, I have learned a great deal about what it takes to implement hybrid training......

Books for babies and toddlers are the only gift I consider giving at new baby celebrations because reading to young children is more valuable than anything else you might buy in a baby store.....