Why Explicit Instruction?

Explicit Instruction expert, Dr. Anita Archer, provides the rationale and overview of explicit instruction and its benefit for students. Archer provides a quick 5 minute overview of what Explicit Instruction is and isn’t, with concise and kind language.  This resource can be used to for professional development and to begin discussion between educators on Explicit Instruction. 

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read

Put Reading First is a comprehensive guide to evidence-based reading instruction. Intended for educators and administrators, this guide aims to improve reading outcomes for children in the early grades.Chapter 1 provides an overview of the essential components of effective reading instruction, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Chapter 2 focuses on the critical early stages of reading development, emphasizing the importance of explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics.Chapter 3 highlights the significance of developing automaticity and prosody in reading to enhance comprehension.Chapter 4 delves into the importance of vocabulary, teaching word meanings and strategies to foster word learning.Chapter 5 explains techniques for enhancing understanding, including active engagement, monitoring, and metacognition.Practical strategies for classroom instruction include using explicit and systematic phonics lessons, providing ample opportunities for guided oral reading, incorporating vocabulary-building activities, and promoting meaningful discussions to enhance comprehension.

The Connections Between Writing, Knowledge Acquisition, and Reading Comprehension

In this International Dyslexia Association Perspectives article, Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler discuss why writing is challenging and how educators can teach these skills effectively to their students. They discuss sentence-level activities, embedding writing instruction in content knowledge, and how to prepare students for lengthier writing.  

Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching

A key component of the 2023 Language curriculum is explicit, systematic instruction. In this book, experts Anita Archer and Charles Hughes share the foundations of explicit instruction, how to design lessons based on subject skills/strategies as well as vocabulary/concepts, organizing for and delivering instruction, and providing appropriate independent practice – going from I do, to we do, to you do. This book is incredible learning for classroom educators as well as special education teachers/interventionists, and can be applied to any subject or grade level. Helpful lesson templates/checklists can be downloaded and reproduced. 

Etymonline: Online Etymological Dictionary

Etymonline is a free online etymology dictionary that provides information about the origins and historical development of words in English.  It offers detailed explanations of word origins, meanings, and changes over time, often tracing words back to their earliest recorded usage. This resource can help educators and students understand how words have evolved and diversified throughout history, as well as help understand the orthography and morphology of words.Â