Differentiated Instruction

Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in the K-2 Primary Classroom

1 Comment / Uncategorized / By sonjacassella

Differentiated Instruction means teaching kids in one classroom with supports and strategies that makes the instruction accessible for all. It’s a fundamental expectation of teachers in the modern school, but how do you do it? Initial Steps to Differentiating Instruction The Most Common Basic Differentiation Strategies in the Modern Public School Are: Behavior Strategies Seatwork …

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6 Ways to Do an End of Year Teacher Reflection

Leave a Comment / Teaching / By sonjacassella

“Bittersweet,” says the Reading Core Specialist as she sorts cards into zip lock bags. This is how her end of year teacher reflection has been going. And it’s not just her. Beginnings are scary, and endings are sad. I know this, and I know you’ve got to stay in the middle. But at the end …

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DIBELS Testing Reflections

Leave a Comment / Teaching / By sonjacassella

This week was DIBELS sweeps. This ought to be an easy task, but it also leads to DIBELS testing reflections: Musing over all the lessons of the year, and all the worries about testing and the future. First of all, there’s the tension about the scores. Before testing starts, sometimes teachers are on edge. They …

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Just One Primary Reading Inventory?

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By sonjacassella

To Shut Down the Reading Wars, we Need A High-Quality, Nationally Normed K-2 Primary Reading Inventory. Last week I was trying to explain why there are so many kids in America that can’t read. This week there’s something else that’s been much on my mind: Part of the reason for the Reading Wars is that …

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Kids Need Continuity and Routine

Leave a Comment / Teaching / By sonjacassella

This last week I have been working to bring the first graders back to their safe-feeling routines while working in the new classroom. They’re unfocused in their new surroundings. There are perhaps few concepts in teaching more difficult than how school children kids need continuity and routine. The students simply can’t really get their intellectual …

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A List of Science of Reading Articles

Leave a Comment / Science of Reading / By sonjacassella

This List of Science of Reading articles is designed to be an expanding project. Right now, it covers three topics: Science of Reading, Phonics, and Emily Hanford’s work. Science of Reading: National Reading Panel Report From the National Institute of Child Health. This report is the one that lays out the “Five Pillars of Reading,” …

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Phonics is Hard — And Teachers Get Tired

1 Comment / Phonics / By sonjacassella

I’ve been thinking about how phonics and blending instruction centers on the teacher. And how phonics is hard sometimes. This is partly a function of self-directed vs. teacher directed learning. In terms of work, teacher directed learning is harder for both student and teacher. At least much of the time. Teacher directed learning has become …

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Why Can’t American Children Read?

1 Comment / Science of Reading / By sonjacassella

Why can’t children read? To start, the age of English, the difficulty of memorizing English spellings,. and the dull nature of phonics reps. Many years ago, a parent of a friend was a high school teacher in a rural district. He told us, “There are these kids, maybe four or five per class, and they …

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Case Study: Help, My First Graders Can’t Read! 8 Steps to Get Them Reading

1 Comment / Science of Reading / By sonjacassella

This is First Grade When I started teaching, my mentor teacher hold me how scary First was. “First graders can’t read. They come in and they don’t know reading at all.” She continued: “They come in with zip. You teach them from ground zero.” Recommendation? A lot of phonics and blending practice. But she acknowledged …

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February Teaching Blues and the “Techne” of Teaching

Leave a Comment / Teaching / By sonjacassella

February Teaching Blues are a thing. How to fight back? Perhaps a quick course in self-reflection about the techne’ of teaching? I’ve seen more than one email addressed to teachers this week that talks about the “February Blues” or the blah of February or some other description of the fact that there are days in …

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