How Much Teacher Guidance Versus How Much Independent Work?

By Tim Shanahan     2016

Teacher’s letter:
I’ve been reading your blog articles very carefully, and in one entry you recommended having the kids read a lot during the literary block time (and all other subjects), suggesting possibly 50% of the time should be spent reading. My question is how much of that reading time should be teacher-led […]

• Articles
• Learning
• Reading
• Teaching

Is Rhyming Ability Important in Reading?

By Tim Shanahan

Question:

Our district is wrestling with how much emphasis to give rhyming as an early literacy skill. We had previously downplayed rhyming as a necessary focus but the new CA ELA/ELD Framework and CCSS where rhyming is specifically called out has resurfaced old questions.  

Our struggle is this…. with our very high (87%) English Learner […]

• Articles
• Learning
• Learning Process

Computational Competence Doesn’t Guarantee Conceptual Understanding in Math

By Dan Willingham

Commenters on the teaching of mathematics sometimes express impatience with the idea that attention ought to be paid to conceptual understanding in math education. I get it: it sounds fuzzy and potentially wrong-headed, as though we’re ready to overlook inaccurate calculation so long as the student seems to understand the concepts—and student understanding […]

• Articles
• Learning
• Math
• Teaching

10 Guidelines for Dealing with Prior Knowledge

by Tim Shanahan

Don’t overdo it. Research shows that providing readers with key information about a text can improve comprehension, as does reminding them of relevant information that they already know. But in the research studies these things were usually accomplished pretty economically; often the researcher did not do more than tell students the topic. To […]

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• Learning
• Literacy
• Reading
• Teaching

What People Know About the Cost of Multitasking

By Dan Willingham

Researchers emphasize there are very few circumstances in which you can do two things at once without cost (relative to doing each on its own). Yet some drivers sneak a look at their phone while on the road, and some students have the television playing while they complete an assignment.

Why? One possibility is […]

• Articles
• Attention
• Behavior
• Learning

Is There Research on that Reading Intervention?

By Tim Shanahan 

“I am a reading specialist working in an urban school district with struggling readers in K-5.  Do you have any suggestions on intervention programs that you find the most beneficial to students?  Currently, we are using LLI (Fountas and Pinnell), Sonday, Read Naturally and Soar to Success, at the interventionist’s discretion. […]

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• Learning
• Reading

DSM-5 Changes in Diagnostic Criteria for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD): What are the Implications?


By Rosemary Tannock, Ph.D.




Q: What is SLD1 according to DSM-5?

A: DSM-5 considers SLD to be a type of Neurodevelopmental Disorder2 that impedes the ability to learn or use specific academic skills (e.g., reading, writing, or arithmetic), which are the foundation for other academic learning. The learning difficulties are ‘unexpected’ in that other aspects of development seem […]

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• Learning
• Learning Differences
• Research-Based/Evidence-Based

How Minds Work: The Key To Motivation, Learning, And Thinking

By Alice Thomas

All children are motivated. However, not all children are motivated about that which we want them to be motivated. (The same is true for adults.) How, then, do we keep students in our classrooms motivated and engaged?

The underlying knowledge a teacher must have to orchestrate differentiated instruction day after day, hour after hour, […]

• Articles
• Higher Level/Critical Thinking
• Learning

Have Technology And Multitasking Rewired How Students Learn?

By Daniel Willingham

Question: It seems like students today have a love affair with technology. They are much more up-to-date on the latest gadgets, and they seem to have a sixth sense about how to use them. Is it true that growing up with cutting-edge technology has left them thinking differently than students of past generations? […]

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• Learning

Understanding The Learning Process To Effectively Differentiate Instruction

By Alice Thomas

The underlying ability a teacher must have to orchestrate differentiated instruction day after day, hour after hour, by assessing his/her students and adjusting strategies and tactics moment by moment, requires sophisticated knowledge and skills.

To successfully use differentiated instruction, a teacher must first have a firm understanding of each of the cognitive components of […]

• Articles
• Learning