Literacy

10 Ways To Use ReadWorks In The Classroom by TeachThought Staff At TeachThought, we've been using ReadWorks recently to grow literacy skills of readers from elementary school to high school. There are several features that make…

The Highest Literacy Is Understanding The Value Of A Text contributed by Dr. Michael Ben-Chaim Students’ underachievement in reading comprehension has become a chronic, habitual, and well-documented characteristic of the…

Book: The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by TeachThought Staff Summary "Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well…

19 Reading Response Questions For Self-Guided Response by Terry Heick Though I've been busy with TeachThought for the last four years, my original 'trade' was teaching English (literature, writing, digital media, etc.) I was…

16 Amazing Libraries For Bibliophiles by TeachThought Staff Want to see some amazing libraries? The YouTube channel 'Believe That' explores them in a video that, while not incredibly detailed and missing some obvious libraries…

 What Does English Sound Like To Non-English Speakers? by Terry Heick When someone hears a language they're not familiar, it sounds--well, weird. I'm not a neuroscientist, nor am I a linguist, so this is a layperson's…

A Framework For Merging Classic Literature & Modern Technology by Terry Heick Why do we need a framework? Literacy instruction has done a relatively poor job of keeping up with the urgent pace of change in the ways people…

40 Viewing Comprehension Strategies: Watching Videos Like You Read A Book by Terry Heick You can't watch a video like you read a book; the modalities couldn't be much more different. On the surface level a video uses light,…

Why Do I Want To Become A Teacher? To Give The Gift Of Literacy by Alexas Worth, Junior at Indiana University Southeast I have wanted to be an English-Language Arts arts teacher since I was in 7th grade. I went through a brief…

Why Students Should Read by Terry Heick This post has been updated from a previous post Lately, there’s something about reading that’s bothering me about how we teach reading and writing. I’ve written about it before and…

A Writing Strategy That Works For Every Student, Every Time by Terry Heick Writing is difficult to teach, if for no other reason than it is also difficult to do. Put simply, writing is the documentation of thinking. Because…

What Is The Relationship Between Reading And Writing? It’s Linear. How Can Schools Produce Better Readers? Write Twice As Much With 1/2 The Rules contributed by Dennis Pierce In a wide-ranging interview, ASU researcher Steve Graham…

What I Tell Students When They Say They Don't Like To Read by Terry Heick When students say they 'don't like reading,' the first thing I do is skip the preaching and try to relate--to meet them where they are, so to speak. Something…

This Is The Future And Reading Is Different Than You Remember by Terry Heick If one thing changes, everything changes. Reading, for example—it has changed because writing has changed. Writing has changed because the barriers to…

Why So Many Students Dislike Reading by Terry Heick We tend to teach reading in a very industrial way in the United States. We focus on giving kids “tools” and “strategies” to “make” sense of a text. To "take it apart." To look for…

7 Tips For Parents Of Struggling Readers Literacy starts and ends at home. Teachers instruct, support, promote, and provide, but if the bulk of the reading and writing isn't done at home for authentic purposes and self-directed…

Need A Lift? Here Are 50 Books That Make You Happy by TeachThought Staff Need some positive thinking? How about some books that make you happy? While the idea of a book 'making you happy' is obviously a stretch, peace of mind…

How We Created A Reading Program For Urban Students In Poverty by Lynette Guastaferro, Executive Director at Teaching Matters How did we create a reading program for students with unique needs? Good question. We saw a need for a…

12 Tools To Find Quality Reading Passages For Your Classroom contributed by Lisa Tanner Are you preparing your students to succeed in this high-tech world? As more media moves to the internet, digital literacy is an essential…

What Writing Is & Is Not by Terry Heick Writing is inherently reflective. Writing is an output and product of equal parts process and affection. Writing can be used to learn and demonstrate learning--often…

20 Types Of Learning Journals That Help Students Think by Terry Heick What is a learning journal? A learning journal is simply an ongoing collection of writing for learning--that is, writing done for the purpose of learning…

How I Use Automation And Personal Feedback To Differentiate Writing Instruction contributed by Jennifer Harrison  Summary A Texas teacher uses a combination of digital tools and good old-fashioned teaching to target her writing…

How To Read A Book: 3 Strategies For Critical Reading by Terry Heick If you're not familiar with Adler and Van Doren's How To Read A Book, it is worth, well, reading. As you might've guessed, these have less to do with decoding,…

The Rarity of Engaged Reading by Angela Peery, TeachThought PD Facilitator Grow with >> TeachThought PD Literacy Workshops Picture a classroom full of youngsters. They could be darling, chubby-cheeked kindergartners or…