Welcome to Our Blog
Developing Justice-Oriented Readers
Kids, Books & Anti-Racism Series featured speaker Allison Briceño breaks down ways teachers can use justice questions to develop justice-oriented readers.
Spring 2023: Online Graduate Courses
By enrolling in an online graduate course, you have the flexibility to learn at your own pace!
Teaching Phonemic Awareness Through Interactive Writing in Ten Minutes a Day
Include 10 minutes a day of interactive writing in the kindergarten and first grade curriculum and notice gains in children’s phonemic awareness.
Creating Effective Anchor Charts in Your Minilessons
Anchor charts have many benefits for learners of all ages. Here are three characteristics about creating effective anchor charts that will support your students in developing a strong sense of ownership in their learning.
Developing Empathetic Thinking
Author and consultant Gravity Goldberg shares four ways you can work on developing your own empathetic thinking and also support this in students.
A is for Assessment: Considerations for linking assessment and instruction
How do we uncover the kinds and degrees of support that will be most effective for individual students? Our best shot starts with assessment that is authentic, asset-based, actionable, and anti-racist.
Engaging Hearts and Minds Through Purposeful Talk
Create conditions and supports for engaging hearts and minds in ways that build depth of meaning making, compassion, and critical process for all students, including our youngest learners.
Focus on Phonics: Five Tips for a Successful Beginning with Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons
Daily systematic explicit phonics instruction is essential for students to learn how to read effectively. Consider these five pointers for organizing your time and materials from the Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Systems.
Open Windows, Open Minds: Let’s Not Close the Pools Again
Every educator in the United States must be prepared to engage in their own racial healing work and face challenges without fear, for the lives of their students.
Setting up the Classroom Library for Optimizing Student Choice and Engagement
The classroom library can become the heart of the classroom. Here are a few tips to optimize your students’ engagement and ease in choosing books.
Upcoming Professional Development
The New Benchmark Assessment System 2.0 (System 2, Levels K-Z)
Join us for this two-day institute to learn how to use BAS 2.0 to pinpoint student proficiencies and needs, including word-solving, fluency, comprehension and writing about reading, and examining how to transition from assessment to instruction.
The New Benchmark Assessment System 2.0 (System 1, Levels A-P)
This two-day institute will help you learn how to use the new BAS 2.0 system to pinpoint student strengths and needs as readers, including oral reading behaviors, fluency, comprehension, writing about reading, and phonological awareness and early phonics skills.
Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Texts
In this 8-week online course, learn how to support students in thinking deeply and critically about their reading so they can share their thinking through talk and writing.