Matching Instructional Design with Vocabulary Instruction

Instructional design is an integral part of a balanced approach to teaching vocabulary instruction. The goal of this paper is to reflect on several lessons using research-based vocabulary strategies, and to present thinkalouds that detail the steps in matching instructional design with those strategies, in order to reach the learning outcome. Vocabulary instruction should encourage students to make associations and accommodations to their experiences and provide them with varied opportunities to practice, apply, and discuss their word knowledge in meaningful settings. The ultimate goal of teaching vocabulary is for the students to expand, refine, and add to their existing conceptual knowledge and enhance their reading abilities (Rupley, Logan & Nichols, 1999). Students should be engaged in learning new words and expanding their understanding of words through instruction that is based on active processing. A key component of effective vocabulary instruction is thoughtful reflection about instructional design

Academic Diversity: Reading Instruction for Students with Special Needs

Provisions to assure that all children are provided quality reading instruction have always been a concern for classroom teachers. Today, greater sensitivity to learners with special needs has led to their inclusion in regular classrooms for the full instructional day. Implications for the reading instructional program are clear; it must employ a variety of instructional and organizational techniques to suit a wide range of student abilities. This article addresses legislation that led to the present focus on classroom inclusion for students with special needs and accommodation of the students with special needs in the classroom reading program. Particular discussion is focused on children who are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and children identified as intellectually gifted. Specific recommendations and examples are given that will help these children reach their full academic potential and allow them to experience success in a regular classroom reading program

Meeting Children\u27s Reading Needs: Examining the Roles of Special Teachers

Those who teach remedial reading in the schools have numerous titles, dissimilar training, and overlapping responsibilities. Children who have mild to severe reading problems may be instructed by reading specialists, Title I teachers, teachers of the learning disabled, and so forth. Similarly, the reading teachers\u27 training may range from participation in an undergraduate or graduate reading program to never having taken a formal course in reading. Though there may be an inherent assumption that all these individuals are equally capable of teaching reading, there are marked differences in training that could make this assumption untrue

Pre-service teachers’ application of understanding by design in lesson planning

This study focused on preservice secondary teacher’s use of the Understanding by Design (UbD), framework to create effective, engaging lessons for their future secondary level students. The subjects consisted of 69 secondary pre-service secondary education majors at a Texas University who were enrolled in a required course for admission into the teacher education program. Pre-posttest surveys of lesson knowledge design were administered to all subjects. Comparing pre- posttest results revealed that knowledge of lesson design showed improvement and knowledge gain in the following areas: concepts and vocabulary; unpacking standards; use of verbs from the standards; rigor; content objectives; formative assessment and summative assessment. The analyses made use of descriptive statistics and descriptions

The Effective Reading Teacher: What Are the Missing Pieces?

No abstract available

Diagnosis of Teacher\u27s Reading Instruction as Well as the Pupil\u27s Reading Program

Diagnosis is the heart of effective reading instruction. This educational tenet em bodies the expertise of the teacher to collect relevant data on pupils, to interpret and synthesize the data, and to prescribe appropriate instruction. One assumption underlying the traditional diagnostic-prescriptive model is that the teacher possesses techniques and materials to provide appropriate instruction. The primary focus of such an approach is on the pupil and little attention is given to teachers and their instructional programs. It is our contention that tantamount to diagnosis of the pupil is close scrutiny by teachers of their instructional practices. Teachers should be encouraged to concurrently evaluate their reading instructional program and diagnose its strengths and weaknesses as well as focusing on the pupil. The detection and correction of reading problems are depending not only on noting pupil\u27s strengths and weaknesses, but are also reliant on the examination of the type and quality of instruction that can be provided by the reading teacher to meet the pupil\u27s individual needs