Writing can be challenging to implement in upper elementary classrooms because teachers report needing additional support and students may struggle to meet the academic and developmental demands of emerging adolescence. This was true of one diverse, high-need, under-resourced school that had ambitious writing instruction goals. To meet these…

Literacy coaches are more effective when they have a clear plan for their collaborations with teachers. This article provides details of such a plan, which involves identifying a problem, understanding the problem, deciding what to do differently, and trying something different. For each phase of the problem-solving model, there are key tasks for…

Readers Theatre has been used to introduce critical issues, promote fluency among English learners and non-English learners, teach vocabulary, and integrate content in the classroom. Previous studies of Readers Theatre application have demonstrated an increase in student reading fluency, motivation, and confidence. The focus of this systemic…

Describes a model for staff development that encourages teachers to make decisions about their learning and professional growth. Explains how the model was developed and implemented. Shares results of the model's effectiveness along with recommendations for improvement. (PRA)

The content areas provide rich contexts for developing vocabulary. This article presents some principles and a lesson model--the learning cycle--that can be used to develop vocabulary while building understanding in science. Because science instruction and the learning cycle model promote learning in real-world contexts, they provide students with…

Puts reading and spelling difficulties in a cognitive developmental perspective that views the acquisition of reading, writing, and spelling as a sequence of characteristic strategies for dealing with written language. Concludes that the ultimate goal is to reduce the great number of children who fail to acquire literacy due to teachers' lack of…

Describes the development and implementation of a professional development program extending through the school year to help teachers prepare for the state's upcoming portfolio mandate. Describes a powerful collaborative model of professional development that recognizes the value inherent in the shared learning that occurs when divergent…

Offers classroom teachers a way to use listening activities to improve students' comprehension, a procedure that has worked well with a group of children in grades K-3. (JC)

Addresses two broad issues: the current understanding of spelling development and how this understanding fits within a broader model of literacy development; and the implications of the developmental model for spelling instruction and word study. Suggests that it is essential that instruction balance authentic reading and writing with purposeful…

Describes an instructional model for presenting students with opportunities to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate ideas through cooperative problem solving. Provides suggestions for implementation using examples from the author's classroom experiences. (MM)

Presents the Planning Pyramid, a framework for planning in content area classrooms, designed to help teachers plan for inclusionary instruction and to meet the challenge of content coverage in general education classrooms for students with a broad range of academic needs. Offers a science example to show how it works. (SR)

Proposes a seven-stage model of direct instruction as it might be applied to a reading skills lesson on predicting outcomes. Discusses each stage of the model: exploration, explication, translation, modeling, guided practice, application, and closure. (FL)