TextProject Topics
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Vocabulary and Morphological Awareness
November 20, 2014
Vocabulary is the term for the words of a language and morphology is the term for the study of the parts of words. TextProject has numerous resources for supporting vocabulary learning and the development of morphological awareness.
Reading Volume, Stamina and Silent Reading, and Summer Reading
November 20, 2014
Whatever the domain of a human endeavor, the amount of time that individuals devote to an activity influences their levels of proficiency. Reading is no different. TextProject provides resources to support an increase in students’ reading, including their ability to read independently. A particular focus of TextProject’s resources is with summer reading. Unless students have appropriate texts for summer reading, their reading declines from the end of one grade to the start of the next.
Comprehension, Close Reading, & Assessment
November 20, 2014
The reason we read is to learn from text. TextProject has resources to aid teachers in supporting comprehension, including close reading of texts. To provide the best instruction for and to their students, teachers need to have a clear view of students’ reading comprehension and knowledge. Assessment is all about understanding what knowledge learners have gained. Currently, many states are moving into a new generation of assessments. TextProject is committed to providing educators with the best possible guidance and resources about the new generation of assessments.
Beginning Reading, Reading Automaticity/Fluency, & Core Vocabulary
November 20, 2014
To become proficient readers, beginning and struggling readers need to become automatic with a core group of words. Other proficiencies are required as well but, without automaticity with the core vocabulary, beginning readers will become struggling readers and struggling readers will continue to lag behind.
Reading Volume
July 14, 2014
Getting good at cognitive-motor processes such as playing the piano, golfing, doing surgery, and reading is a result of practice. Likewise, proficient reading is built on numerous reading experiences. For many students, reading opportunities occur in classrooms first. If these students do not acquire strong reading habits in classrooms, it is doubtful that they will be eager to read extensively outside of school. Even a little more reading time can go a long way. In fact, as little as an additional 7 minutes of reading per day has been shown to differentiate classrooms in which students read well from those in which students were not as proficient readers.
Comprehension & Close Reading
July 14, 2014
Learning from texts and remembering or integrating the knowledge from texts is at the heart of our work as literacy educators. Proficient reading requires integrating new knowledge from texts with existing knowledge. The Common Core State Standards place the content of texts as the source for new ideas or challenging existing ones at the heart of reading comprehension. TextProject resources support teachers in understanding evidence-based reading (sometimes referred to as close reading). Resources also include texts that teachers can use with their students as the basis for discussions and close reading.
Knowledge and Informational Texts
July 4, 2014
Texts are where humans share and store what they learned. The reason for reading—regardless of whether texts are narrative or informational—is to acquire the knowledge that texts hold. To truly become proficient readers of complex texts, students need to be immersed in informational texts.
English Learners & Literacy
July 1, 2014
Learning to read and write in English, while simultaneously becoming facile with spoken English, is a challenge for the many English Learners in American schools. For English Learners, intentional instruction and experiences with vocabulary are especially critical. TextProject has numerous resources to support educators in ensuring that English Learners get the solid foundation that they need to become highly literate.
Text Complexity
March 5, 2013
Being able to read increasingly more complex texts has always been a driving goal of reading instruction. Often this goal has not been directly addressed in state standards and assessments. Things are different with the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core has paid increased attention to this feature of reading instruction by devoting an entire standard to text complexity— Standard 10.
Summer Reading
January 18, 2012
Students who don’t read much over the summer show a decline in reading performance from the end of one grade to the start of the next. Often, it is low-income students who don’t have ready access to books at home that face this problem. Typically, when low-income students are given books for summer reading, the texts are too difficult for students to read successfully on their own.
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