Unlike the strict vocabulary limits of the past, scaffolded texts use language research to create rich learning opportunities. At their core is the organization of words into morphological families – groups that share the same root. This structure comes from analyzing large collections of texts to identify the word families that occur most often at different grade levels.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers educators a data-driven alternative to intuition-based word lists. By analyzing vast language datasets, AI tools can identify word clusters supporting text comprehension and general knowledge, as well as words with rich webs of related vocabulary.
By exploring vocabulary through the lens of story structure, we empower students to engage more deeply with texts and enrich their vocabularies.
It’s time to shift our perspective and focus on recognizing and celebrating the literacies, curiosities, and strengths of adolescents.
Presentation by Elfrieda H. (Freddy) Hiebert at the 2024 conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading Background Builders: Energy Use in Humans… Read More »Contextual dynamics in reading: Navigating challenges and leveraging opportunities across texts.
In these clips from the Q & A session of a webinar for the International Literacy, Cervetti and Hiebert emphasize the importance of integrating content area learning with ELA, cautioning against replacing experiential learning with superficial knowledge in ELA curricula. They advocate for diverse text sets to build depth in students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary, and to foster meaningful engagement and ownership in their learning.
One learning technique has proven effective in supporting students in organizing and remembering knowledge: semantic maps.
Whether the technique is called a semantic, concept, or mind map, the distinguishing feature is that words, phrases, or sentences that represent concepts are presented in a diagram-like scheme.
In this session, speakers Gina N. Cervetti and Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert will discuss the importance of knowledge building in the literacy instruction classroom and draw direct connections to both students’ academic success and their social-emotional well-being through developing other critical skills essential for personal growth.
My hope is that when a plaque gets put up for me some day, that people will see this unusual name and say: ‘She was committed to the kids, and to their teachers.’ And I review that commitment every single morning and every night… I just have to keep answering the questions I think are important.
“Knowledge building as the foundation of literacy learning” is our focus this May at TextProject, and what better way to kick it off than by… Read More »TextProject celebrates Children’s Book Week May 2 – 6!
