The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom

By modeling the use of sophisticated words, educators can promote students’ vocabulary growth and word consciousness. In this article, the research support for this approach is explained, suggestions are provided for how teachers might accomplish this goal, and examples are shared from teachers who have done it successfully. Don’t miss the helpful list of sophisticated…

Informational Texts Qualitative Analysis Tool

This is a rubric to support educators in analysing an informational text, and planning for instruction. It is organized around the four categories of qualitative complexity: purpose/meaning, language, structure, and knowledge. Within each category, educators will first analyze the complexity level of each category, drawing from the Literary Text Qualitative Rubric, to determine what makes this…

Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages

It is of critical importance that educators learn as much as they can about students’ home language in order to provide both effective and culturally relevant and responsive instruction. ASHA maintains a list of phonemic inventories that support educators in learning more about the structure of languages student speak.

Academic Word Finder

Tier 2 words appear in many different contexts and are often subtle or precise ways to say relatively simple things. Since these aren’t words that will typically be used in a student’s conversations and they aren’t domain-specific, they should be given more focus than Tier 1 and Tier 3 vocabulary. The Academic Word Finder produces…