Syntax: Somewhere between Words and Text

In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, Nancy Chapel Eberhardt discusses instructional practices to teach grammar and syntax with a focus that will increase the reader’s understanding of complex texts. This article will give educators examples of how to use a Function-Based Instructional Approach in their classrooms, including sentence expansion, using because but so, and…

Reading Comprehension Development and Difficulties: An Overview

In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, Kate Cain explores the topic of reading comprehension and how language skills develop. The article explains how vocabulary acquisition, understanding of sentence structure and how sentences work together, the ability to infer and integrate information, and building a mental model of the text’s meaning while you are reading…

Supporting Reading Comprehension Development

In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, authors Jane Oakhill and Kate Cain explore the factors supporting reading comprehension beyond basic decoding and suggest critical skills that should form the core of literacy instruction and interventions to support poor reading comprehension. The article outlines which skills are critical, such as teaching specific vocabulary words, how to…

Voici Tom Longboat

Ce livre de 32 pages offre aux jeunes lecteurs une nouvelle approche pour comprendre un célèbre coureur de fond des Six Nations de la rivière Grand qui a participé au marathon de Boston. Tom Longboat a été nommé au Panthéon des sports canadiens et la journée Tom Longboat a été instituée le 4 juin en…

C’est ce qu’on m’a dit

Dans cette histoire de préservation de la langue, l’auteure, illustratrice et enseignante de langue anishnaabemowin Juliana Armstrong met en lumière un certain nombre de mots anishnaabemowin avec leurs liens culturels transmis de ses ancêtres ojibwés. Elle a grandi à Christian Island et est membre de la Première Nation Nipissing en Ontario, où elle habite. C’est…

Alex partage sa ceinture wampu

Il s’agit d’un livre illustré de huit pages sur l’importance des ceintures wampum créée à l’intention des élèves du primaire et comporte une page de suggestions d’activités pour le personnel enseignant. Au niveau primaire, c’est un livre non-décodable qui est lu à voix haute par l’enseignante ou l’enseignant. On vise la sensibilisation à la culture autochtone,…

Knowledge and Practice: The Real Keys to Critical Thinking

In this Knowledge Matters Campaign article, Daniel Willingham explores the factors that lead to critical thinking skills, noting that background, or domain knowledge, plays a key factor. Willingham notes, « background knowledge is absolutely integral to effectively deploying important cognitive processes, » suggesting that facts that are taught need to be meaningful, can be learned incidentally and…

Ask the Cognitive Scientist: How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking?

In this column for American Educator, cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham defines critical thinking and provides strategies for fostering thinking in the everyday classroom. Willingham defines critical thinking in three ways stating it must be: novel, self-directed and effective and that it is the third attribute that makes it difficult as what constitutes effective thinking varies…

How to Teach Critical Thinking

In this Occasional Paper Series from Education Future Frontier, cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham takes a deep dive into the science behind teaching critical thinking and offers strategies such as understanding the domain knowledge required for understanding, creating conditions for transferable skills, and understanding the structure of the problem, to help students gain and use critical…