In the webinar, Margie Gillis and Nancy Eberhardt explored the effective use of syntax in teaching reading and writing. The webinar highlighted the role syntax plays in enhancing language and literacy. Gillis and Eberhardt highlight a “function-first” approach to teaching syntax, a key element of the Ontario Language curriculum. Specific instructional activities to teach syntax…
This book is a fantastic resource aligning closely with much of the new Ontario Language Curriculum and reinforcing how assessment can inform our instruction and interventions in order to best help students succeed in literacy. It’s valuable learning for classroom educators, those working in coaching/consulting roles and those in special education. While targeting skills typically…
This resource has been compiled by a group of Canadian language and literacy experts. It is organized into three primary segments. First, it highlights the essential information educators should possess about various research types, enabling them to stay well-informed and knowledgeable about the connection between language, reading, and writing instruction. The next section focuses on…
In this episode, host Kate Winn welcomes Dr. Sonia Cabell for a candid discussion about five key research-based elements of early language and literacy instruction for young children.
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…
This is a rubric to support educators in analysing a literary 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…
Students must need to understand the role and function of cohesive devices, or cohesive ties, to carry meaning across sentences in a text. Learn about cohesive devices like determiners, pronouns, conjunctions and adverbs.
Dr Timothy Shanahan discusses the features that make a text complex, including background knowledge, organization, and text cohesion.
This tool is intended to support educator analysis of anchor texts for both complexity and opportunities for culturally relevant pedagogy to determine whether/how to use a text and to prepare for instruction.
The Knowledge and Practice Standards define the knowledge and skills that all teachers of reading should possess to teach all students to read proficiently. These competencies can be used to guide professional development for educators.
This infographic highlights how students unlock the power of reading to learn. In the early years, children gain vocabulary, knowledge, and understanding of their home language through listening. This can be boosted by engaging in meaningful conversations, listening to stories read aloud, and exposure to knowledge and vocabulary-building media. While this is a powerful and…
In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, authors Tanya S. Wright and Susan B. Neuman explore the topic of content-rich vocabulary instruction. The article explains why vocabulary instruction is essential and what it is. It provides five meaningful ways to increase vocabulary instruction in the classroom, including how to create a vocabulary-rich environment, ways to…
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