Apply Connections Back to the TextPosted on April 16, 2018Reading is not about the students' individual connections. It's about the text. The value of a connection is when it helps the reader better understand the point the author...
Discern 3 Types of SynthesesPosted on March 09, 2018Often teachers identify a synthesis as an aha readers experience after combining multiple thoughts and thinking beyond the text. And this is accurate. However, there are actually...
Utilize Quizizz for Frequent Formative AssessmentPosted on March 09, 2018Appropriate for all grade levels--even young readers, struggling readers, or ELLs--Quizizz is a formative assessment based on a digital game of shuffled questions and answer...
Helping Students Identify the Main Idea of Any TextPosted on March 03, 2011When teaching students about main idea, scaffold your instruction. Students need to first learn how to identify the concrete and literal before they can determine the inferential....
Teach Readers to Discern Text StructurePosted on March 11, 2014Authors organize their information intentionally. They present their ideas in an organized pattern. This is called text structure. Understanding text structure empowers readers....
Constructed Responses Require Textual EvidencePosted on February 23, 2012Constructed-responses are a specialized type of writing that requires explicit, formulaic instruction. Smekens Education utilizes the Yes MA'AM strategy to teach students...