This article discusses the current contradictory policies surrounding the push for phonics instruction in Texas schools. Focusing on this current iteration of the reading wars, this article seeks to help teachers develop a historical context for reading instruction, review existing research on learning to read, and turn that knowledge into…

Teaching with digital resources can seem overwhelming. Teachers and students sometimes struggle to use online materials, but potential solutions can be found in federated databases and curated eBook collections specially chosen for Texas teachers and students. This article assists educators as they locate and use TEKS-aligned digital resources and…

In this article, the author describes teaching a Spanish lesson to non-Spanish undergraduate students. This lesson contained instructional strategies identified as effective practices: physical involvement with language, multiple media to present language, and opportunities to demonstrate language comprehension through physical expression.…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) place a high focus on close reading -- a form of strategic reading associated with the gradual release of responsibility model, text complexity, and text dependent questioning. However, all readers should be provided this opportunity to dig deeper. One method of presenting this opportunity in elementary…

Learning with informational texts doesn't need to be restricted to the recall of information and facts; instead, challenging students to interpret and present their findings in the form of readers theatre performances requires the application of synthesis and analysis skills. This article frames informational texts and readers theatre as…

In this article, the authors show how oceanography can enlighten and energize the teaching of middle- and high-school social studies on a grade-by-grade basis, and they describe "hooks" from oceanography that will heighten students' interest in various social studies topics. They base the article on their own experiences--as a…

This chapter is part of a book that recounts the year's work at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Rather than an "elitist" laboratory school for the children of university faculty, the dual-language ECDC is a collaboration between the Corpus Christi Independent School District and…