This article underscores the intimate connection between reading and writing as communication skills that share a common linguistic and orthographic foundation, and which combine in complex ways to support practical literacy tasks. Developing higher order literacy skills requires teachers to develop metacognitive skills and self-regulation, both…

The New Zealand Curriculum is comprised of eight compulsory learning areas: English, the arts, health and physical education, learning languages, mathematics and statistics, science, social sciences, and technology. Collectively, these learning areas are intended to provide children with a broad and balanced education. Despite this, the…

This article focuses on creating awareness about learning difficulties among teachers, educational administrators, and all those involved in the field of education. Children with learning difficulties are found across all ages, socio-economic levels, and races. Individuals with learning difficulties find it very difficult to learn new skills. Most…

Many students struggle to acquire adequate reading comprehension and writing skills. Although word recognition and spelling are needed to fully actualize these skills, the oral language aspects of reading and writing can be taught and practiced without text. Oral storytelling is good for all students, but it may be essential for students with…

Researchers, organizations, companies, non-profits, practitioners, and to some extent, the public, are clamoring for massive reform in developmental coursework in higher education (American Association of Community Colleges, 2018; Edgecombe et al., 2014; Complete College America, 2012). One such reform is the push for integrated reading and…

Tableau Theatre is an instructional method that fulfills two of the most timely needs in developmental education today: enhancing student motivation and providing engaging learning activities. As a form of highly contextualized learning, the use of total body engagement stimulates brain activity, a prerequisite for learning and allows space for a…

Contemporary nonfiction for young people plays a crucial role in the reading and writing lives of K-12 students. It is a rich and compelling genre that supports students' development as critically, visually, and informationally literate 21st century thinkers and creators. Unlike many textbooks and materials written for online or print-based school…

According to Ruetzel & Cooter, "… writing and reading are mirror processes with reciprocal benefits" (2019, p. 316). When teachers provide opportunities for reading and writing practice every day, children flourish. What better place to infuse this practice than through children's play. As children play, they think critically, answer…

Every reading and writing instruction initiative has its challenges and unintended consequences and leaves someone a bit behind. What's a school leader to do? This article offers three key questions that school leaders should ask every day to optimize literacy instruction in their schools.

Drawing on the authors' experiences as Black parents, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators, this timely book presents a multipronged approach to affirming Black lives and literacies. The authors believe change is needed--not within Black children, but in the way they are perceived and educated, particularly in reading, writing, and…

Despite strong support for integrating reading and writing instruction, writing practice is often crowded out of the schedule in elementary classrooms. To promote increased emphasis on writing, a working group of literacy researchers highlights three writing goals and six research-based reading-to-writing practices to enliven instruction with more…

The purpose of this article is to comment on ways that writing-reading connections can take place enhancing reading comprehension and composition. Drawing from a genre-based instructional approach, examples are provided to explain such connections in the process of (a) a rhetorical analysis conducted on writing prompts and prior to reading, (b)…

In using wordless picture books, teachers enhance the reading experience while fostering, nurturing, and broadening students' reading and writing skills. Wordless picture books are accessible to "all" students. They encourage and require readers to slow down as they inhabit and comprehend the story told through art, symbolism, and…

Today's secondary virtual teachers are tasked with designing and implementing effective literacy instructional approaches for adolescent online learners. Neglecting to consider the magnitude of possessing literacy skills needed in today's world and not teaching literacy effectively may lead to challenges for students in school and beyond. For most…

Many adolescent readers experience difficulties comprehending informational text, which may result from underlying difficulties with foundational skills (e.g., word recognition and fluency), knowledge demands (e.g., background, text structure, and vocabulary), and/or reading motivation. Supplemental interventions for adolescents targeting only…