Since I first learned how to write the alphabet I’ve had a fetish with improving my handwriting. I did not have a notebook, folder, or scratch paper throughout my entire schooling that was not covered with writing in every which way. I was determined to find the perfect way of presenting myself on paper. There was nothing that bothered me more than to feel like one of my peers had a better style of handwriting than me. I will never forget Paige Miller* and how she always seemed to be one step ahead of me on the handwriting front. As soon as I would be satisfied with my style, I would see her latest handwriting innovation and was forced to go back to the drawing board. I had to feel like my handwriting was at least on par with hers.

After years of playing around with different ways of writing my “a’s,” “i’s,” “g’s,” and “y’s” (because those were the letters that were the most fun to experiment with) I finally hit gold. I have now had a consistent style that has held my satisfaction for over 6 years now. It was a long pursuit, but alas, I found the right fit for me (or I just stopped being petty). But, did this fetish in some way reflect what kind of student I was? Is handwriting an important part of English instruction? Or, is it just a silly pursuit for competitive girls (or boys) that care about aesthetics?

Currently there are school districts eliminating handwriting from their curriculum in order to salvage extra class time for other subjects and, with the prevalence of keyboards - they feel handwriting has become irrelevant. However, some are wondering if students will lose out on some sort of intellectual or physical development in response.

Dr. Laura Dinehart of Florida International University School of Education has found that a 4-year-old’s fine motor writing skills are more predictive of later academic achievement than early number skills or early language skills. Dinehart’s team was able to discover this by examining the scores of 1,000 second graders and comparing it to their pre-kindergarten writing skills.

Not only were students with better penmanship in pre-k found to have higher scores in both reading and math later on, but they also had higher grades in general and higher scores on standardized tests. Students with strong handwriting marks in pre-k were found to have an overall “B” average in second grade compared to an overall “C” average for the students that did poorly on writing tasks in pre-K.

The only problem with the study: researchers don’t know why. 

Schools are dropping handwriting from their curriculum and researchers are finding how predictive this skill is to future success, but no one knows why that is. Is handwriting’s benefit in today’s tech-savvy, keyboard oriented society simply that of being diagnostic of future achievement? Do teachers unknowingly perceive children with strong writing ability as being “brighter” students thus encouraging them more and creating a self-fulfilling prophesy for these students? What is it about good penmanship that leads to future success?

Dr. Dinehart did point out in her report that studies have found that children who physically write letters recognize them more readily than students who type them on the keyboard, possibly meaning that handwriting instruction leads to better reading skills. However, more research still needs to be done.

But, although the link is yet to be discovered, there is a link. Schools may be jumping off the handwriting bandwagon too early. As Dr. Dinehart said: “What we do know is that kids with greater experiences in early childhood do better later on, and writing can’t be discounted from that.”

What have you noticed in your classroom? Is there a link between good penmanship and strong performance?

*Name has been changed.

What do you find to be the most difficult thing about teaching beginning and struggling readers? We recently asked this exact question open-endedly to educators as they registered for our latest webinar. Of all the varying responses, there was one that stood out as the most common response (being mentioned in about 30% of all responses): keeping struggling readers motivated. 

As I was researching this dilemma, I ran across these charts from the Reading Rockets website:

So how can you go from practices that demotivate students to practices that promote motivation? It’s great to have a picture of what you want your students to feel, but how to do you make them feel that way? Here are some ideas on how you can remove the following demotivating practices from your instruction:

Non-relevance: if your students don’t see how reading material or reading in general will help them in their life, they aren’t going to be motivated to improve their skills. If they aren’t provided or exposed to material that appeals to them, they aren’t going to want to read. Not only will texts that aren’t interesting or relevant to them demotivate struggling readers, it will also demotivate strong readers.

Ask your students what interests them. Learn what they care about and show them how reading can open up information about the things that do interest them. If they don’t see how what they are learning or suppose to read connects to the other things they are learning or are interested in… they are going to feel like reading is irrelevant. 

Excessive control: researchers have found that one of the core ideals that motivate each of us is that of autonomy. We want to feel like we are in control of our lives. We want to feel like we can choose how we spend our time. The more we feel this freedom, the more motivated we are. Forcing students to read materials they don’t care about is not going to motivate them. The more your students get to choose what they read, the more motivated they will be to read.

Difficult lessons: it is critically important that your lessons are not perceived as being too difficult. If students feel incapable their defenses will go up and they will resist anything that they believe will make them feel like a failure. In order to avoid making your lessons seem too difficult it is important to use effective strategies when teaching and to assure your students understanding by constantly asking them and observing what they are and aren’t understanding.

Listen to our free webinar, “Why Johnny Can’t Remember What He Read,” to learn teaching strategies and questioning strategies that ensure student understanding. View now! > 

Frequent individual work: it is important to use both group work and individual work. Although group work is motivating for some students, your more introverted students may prefer to work alone. Switching approaches or allowing choice to work alone or in groups, allows students to work in the way that most motivates them.

Disconnected units: if your teaching doesn’t have a natural flow to it your students will get frustrated or confused and lose their motivation. When teaching reading skills it is important that they systematically build upon each other in a natural sequence. It is also important to connect new concepts to past concepts so students see how they connect. You may be using a strong sequence, but your students may still be confused because you have not explicitly explained how the concepts you are teaching relate to other skills you have taught your students.

To learn how to teach reading in a systematic, skill building method, sign up for Reading Horizons free 30-day online training! >

What have you found helps motivate your struggling readers?

We recently hosted a wonderful webinar presented by Jay Kelly, a Reading Horizons Teacher Trainer. The topic of the webinar was “Why Johnny Can’t Remember What He Read,” focusing on how to help students with a working memory deficits and how this affects their reading abilities. Here are some of the questions and answers that were covered during the Q&A section of the webinar:

Q: How do you measure working memory?

A: That is very much an open debate. There are a lot of measurement tools but there is debate about whether or not they actually measure working memory. There is not a definitive go-to assessment that is widely regarded as a measure of working memory. Woodcock-Johnson would be the default assessment that measures working memory, but there is not a recognized, widely regarded assessment. However, it is an area that is actively being researched. Honestly, the best assessment is informal assessments. A student that consistently is struggling to remember what he was taught yesterday – he probably has a working memory problem.

Q: In younger students, are there ways we can help develop their working memory?  Or is working memory set?

A: No, it’s definitely not set. Especially for younger students. The five strategies demonstrated in this presentation would be the best way to promote their working memory growth.

Q: I have found that sometimes older students are too embarrassed to admit they don't understand, or don't ask a question because they just want the class to be done. What would you do about that?

A: What I do is two things… ask questions really, really often to make sure everyone is on the same page with me. The other thing is that I make sure that all of my students have white boards (or white paper inside a clear sheet protector) and markers and I frequently ask them to scale things from 1 to 10 on how well they are understanding a concept, how confident they feel they could re-teach what I have been taught, etc... If you set the room up appropriately, others can’t see their answers, but I can see what is and isn’t being understood.

Q: I don’t see how I can follow these strategies and follow district pacing guides and the need to meet grade level standards in a given amount of time? 

A: Teachers often say if they use these strategies their instruction is going to go a lot slower, and it will – at first. Because you are taking your time to do it right the first time. In terms of pacing guides you are going to be slower the first time through teaching a concept, but retention and proficiency is going to be dramatically higher so you don’t have to go back and re-teach. At the end of the day it ends up being faster.

Q: Of the strategies you have discussed which would you consider to be the most important?

A: Of the five strategies none of them are negotiable, but if I had to pick one I would choose bundling modalities. One concept or skill, as many senses as possible, as close in time as possible. 

Q: Won't this approach alienate students who are stronger readers?

A: No. Because they are going to learn faster and retain better. This is going to help all of your students. But even if they do complain, you can tell them that it’s going to help them learn faster and they won’t have to study as much and they are going to retain better. These strategies allow you to reach all of your students even the stronger students, and they allow you to reach your students that are always struggling and if I can help those struggling students while still helping those stronger students, that is where I want to focus my efforts. The return on investment is on the whole far, far greater.

Q: During the feedback loop, how do you approach incorrect answers?

A: You want to do two things… one, you want to ask him why he answered in the way he did. Push him to answer and provide reasons. This way he’ll realize he was wrong or he’ll understand better in the end. Two, you want to press your students why they answered the way they did even if they got the answer right. Two reasons… one, if the only time I press them is when they are wrong, you will create defensiveness. The second reason is because that promotes good thinking… they might’ve guessed and got the right answer and they really don’t know the reason why. 

For more questions and answers, and to learn the five strategies that help improve students working memory, view the entire webinar and download the slides at the following link:

“Why Johnny Can’t Remember What He Read” – By Jay Kelly, MA

Guest Post by: Robyn Shulman, M.Ed.

From the 1997-98 school year to the 2008-09 school year, the amount of ESL learners enrolled in U.S. public schools increased from 3.5 million to 5.3 million, a 51% increase (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2011). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2008, there are now over 200 languages spoken in the United States.

The number of ESL students is highly disproportionate to the amount of ESL and/or Bilingual teachers in the US today. Without the number of necessary trained ESL/Bilingual teachers, and lack of first language support, it is imperative that mainstream teachers play a major role in contributing to the success of the ESL student. ESL students can and will be successful given that all teachers provide the necessary platform and ongoing continuum of support. This support must come from both an ESL pedagogical view, as well as, an emotional, social, and developmental lens.

The 10 tips and strategies below are intended to help mainstream teachers meet the needs of our wonderful, diverse population. The first 5 tips focus on social, developmental and emotional needs, while the last 5 focus on ESL pedagogy, methods and strategies. Using these tips together will provide a balanced approach, as they are both integral to English acquisition.

Social, Emotional and Developmental Needs:

1. Cultural Awareness: All teachers should take a moment to self-reflect about their own understandings and questions in regard to cultural differences. Take the time to learn about different cultures, gestures, and traditions and celebrate these differences with all of the students in the classroom. Encourage all students to share their culture with classmates.

2. Empathize: Try to imagine how overwhelming it must feel to leave your home country and family members while trying to assimilate, learn, and socialize in a foreign language. Be aware that ESL students will be in culture shock and feel highly alienated for some time. Garner patience and understand that it will take time for ESL students to talk, as a silent period is highly expected. Smile and show support to your best ability.

3. Provide A Comfort Zone:  Assess where the ESL student's abilities are in relation to basic survival skills and needs. Assign a friendly and welcoming buddy to assist with common school locations, requirements, and routines. If possible, keep an extra eye out during busy transition times to assure the student gets to the correct location. If possible, find someone in the school, another classmate, parent or volunteer that may speak the student's language. Connecting the student with someone who speaks his/her native language will provide a great deal of comfort.

4. Spotlight Respect For All Cultures: Reaffirm the message about being supportive of one another, kind, understanding and patient. Encourage everyone to openly talk about his or her personal culture, traditions, and languages. Have parties celebrating the different cultures in the class, sharing music, historical family photos, dances, games, food and traditions. Hold discussions about the history of America, immigration, and the value of diversity and differences. Encourage students to share their own stories of immigration, passed down from generation to generation.

5. Community: If parents and/or guardians do not speak English, request an interpreter if possible for all school communication, including parties, conferences and special events. Invite parents to all school community functions to encourage and foster a sense of belonging. If possible, introduce other students and/or families who speak the same language as the ESL student. Sharing cultural commonalities will provide strong bonds for students, parents, and teachers.

ESL Pedagogy, Methods, and Strategies:

6. Assess Student Informally: Assess ESL students on an informal basis when they first arrive to class, and ongoing during the school year. It is imperative to primarily check for understanding in regard to basic and social needs. Pay attention from the sideline to see if they know numbers, letters, and/or short English phrases. Continuously check for comprehension and growth informally, make notes, and never be afraid to raise the bar and challenge a bit.

7. Don't Discourage Native Language Use: With all good intentions, this is a common mistake teachers can make. ESL students who have a stronger foundation of their native language will have a shorter route to acquiring English. Don't discourage native language use, as this will result in negative feelings about the student's language, culture, and may cause delay in English language acquisition. Provide free time for the ESL student to read and write in their native language.

8. Use Manipulatives, Visuals, Games, Music and Hands-On Activities in the Classroom:  According to William Glaser, we learn 80% of what we experience, and 95% of what we teach others. ESL students do exceptionally well when this theory is followed. Involve them in projects that will encourage them to talk as much as possible with their classmates. Some ideas for projects are the following: cooking (following easy directions), art (drawing, painting, sculpture), musical activities (music provides an amazing platform for learning), and acting (for example, charades).

9. Provide Various Opportunities For Talking and Consider Seat Placement:  It is very important to consider seat placement in the classroom for the ESL student. All too often, ESL students are seated in the back of the classroom, which leads to a great lack of contribution, listening, and participation. Try and seat the ESL student close to the front, especially with other students who are inviting and enjoy conversation. Provide the most opportunities as possible for talking and listening to others in the class via group work. You will be surprised how much shorter the silent period will end.

10. Communicate with the ESL teacher: Maintain communication with the ESL teacher as much as possible. The sooner both teachers are working together, the quicker the student will learn English. Be open to the ESL teacher's suggestions, let him/her share in the modification of classwork, and invite the ESL teacher into your classroom. If there is a concern, a question, or if you simply need some advice, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Build this open communication bridge together, as both teachers are there to support and help the ESL student succeed.

About Robyn: Robyn Shulman, M.Ed., is an ESL and mainstream certified teacher in the state of Illinois. She taught in both areas for 7 years, working with pre-school through adult learners. For the past 6 years, she has been working as an academic and career advisor in the ESL/Bilingual field. She currently works for Max My Career as an ESL/Bilingual consultant, working with Illinois school districts, providing workshops, recruiting teachers, and offering career guidance for teachers. You can visit her website at: http://www.maxmycareer.com for more information. 

You’ve probably heard of effective time management tips throughout your life, but being a teacher makes a lot of them hard to implement. The very nature of your job seems to slap a lot of the advice in the face. How can you set aside time to narrowly focus on one task and limit distractions when you are teaching children? Many of which need extra help and attention. You obviously can’t avoid your students. So how can you make the school day more effective not only for you, but for your students as well?

1.  Review your day at the end of each workday.

This may seem like an awkward step to list first (it being something you do at the end of the day) but it really is the key to the success you’ll have starting from the beginning of the upcoming day. It’s important to review what worked well and what didn’t during your reading instruction.

It’s easy to realize while teaching that students aren’t responding well to an aspect of your instruction, but if you don’t take the time to review and come up with a counterplan to try the next day – you may be tempted to implement the same ineffective strategy the next day, simply because you got too busy to come up with a different approach.

This step is also important because it helps you plan for step two (which may change day to day)…

2.  Do the most important thing first each day.

Most people have the most energy and focus at the start of the day. This is the best time to get the most important thing done each day. For teachers, instruction is always going to be the most important thing… but what subject or concept takes the place as most important may be different from day to day.

Often teachers don’t have flexibility in what time they teach each subject, but if you do, you should spend the first 90 minutes of the school day to instruct your students on concepts that you have noticed are more difficult for them (this is a great time to have struggling readers work on their reading skills) while their minds are at their peak performance.

3.  Refuel throughout the day.

Since the reason you are suppose to the most important thing at the beginning of the day is because that is when you are the most refreshed and focused, refueling throughout the day will help you create more opportunities to get both you and your students to focus and work effectively.

Simply being at school doesn’t create value. It’s a fresh mind that’s ready to teach and learn that adds value to the time spent in the classroom. Our bodies cycle between periods where they spend anergy and renew energy. If we never take the time to renew our energy… the effectiveness of our mind quickly decreases.

Elementary schools are good about giving students several breaks throughout the day – recess, lunch, games. But as students get older a lot of times these practices are cut. You might find that giving your students 10 minutes at the beginning of class to socialize or doodle or whatever their heart desires may leave them more focused during your reading instruction. And if you ever feel like your students are getting a bit restless, give them 15 minutes to do what they want. You may feel like you are losing time, but if they aren't focused and are losing brain power, instruction isn't going to benefit them at the moment anyways.

4.  Schedule time for long term, creative, strategic thinking.

Everyone has goals and plans that they want to pursue: professional development, learning new curriculum or teaching strategies, getting a Master’s degree. Whatever it is, if you don’t schedule time to implement these plans – they are never going to get done.

You may not need to take time every single day to pursue long term plans, but at least once a week you should plan time to think about long term, strategic, and creative plans that will help you better reach your struggling readers.

5.  Limit digital distractions.

As pointed at the beginning of this article, time management is hard when you have students that have legitimate needs. Often we spend time on things that don’t add much value to our day. Technology offers a lot of value, but it can also rob us of a lot of our precious time – often giving us little in return. It’s impossible to avoid technology, but we can limit the amount of attention we give it.

We would love to hear any tips you have for better managing time in the classroom!

Sources:

How to Accomplish More by Doing Less

"No" is the New "Yes": Four Practices to Reprioritize Your Life

Three Powerful Lessons I Learned When I Got Offline