Dr. Patty McGinnis

NC

Shake It Up With Reading

Fri, May 17, 2013 5:17 PM
Reading---and understanding---informational text

Are your students struggling to read the text? The author provides a template for how to break down complex topics for clearer understanding. Graphic organizers tips for differentiating for reading ability will help you to assist your students as they master informational text. Although the author uses earthquakes as the topic, the ideas presented in this article could be modified for any discipline.

Playful Activities for Young Children: Assessment tasks with low reading and writing demands

Fri, May 17, 2013 4:58 PM
uncovering student thinking in pre-K

Several hands-on investigations are described that you will assist you in uncovering the thinking of young students. Although the activities are engaging, the authors do little to explain the types of questions asked of students. They also do not offer suggestions for correcting misconceptions. Simply uncovering thinking is not enough; teachers need to be aware of common misconceptions and how to address them. If you are looking for hands-on activities for pre-k, you'll find some great ideas, however.

Summing It Up: Teaching summary writing to enhance science learning

Fri, May 17, 2013 4:45 PM
How to teach students how to write a summary

Are you struggling to get your students to read the text? Are you looking for ideas to help you integrate more reading and writing into your curriculum? This article gives you some concrete ways of helping your students summarize the text in writing. Subject area teachers will find the ideas helpful for most students. Students who struggle with reading and writing may need additional scaffolding which is not addressed in the article.