Making Word Learning Fun for All Students

Michael Optiz and Michael Ford discuss strategies and considerations for successfully implementing the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework and providing differentiated instruction to help accelerate progress and growth for all students.

Lucy Calkins, senior author of the Units of Study for Reading/Writing explains how the workshop model of teaching reading and writing differs from traditional and basal approaches. Listen as Lucy provides advice to help literacy teachers adopt the workshop model without interrupting basal programs.

This introductory chapter from Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey's latest book on student vocabulary instruction and development, Learning Words Inside and Out: Grades 1-6, defines a framework for improving vocabulary instruction to make it more appealing and engaging for all students.

Donald Graves (1930-2010), a long-time University of New Hampshire literature professor and prolific educational author, is interviewed by Penny Kittle about his life and career as a writer. Learn where Don found his motivation, why he loved getting up each morning, and what being a writer meant to him.

Laura Robb (author of Teaching Middle School Writers) and Jim Burke (author of What's the Big Idea?) discuss teaching strategies to identify and support the hidden talents of writers in middle school.

In this video podcast educational authors Jim Burke (What's the Big Idea?) and Laura Robb (Teaching Middle School Writers) discuss the many challenges of connecting with and motivating today's digitally-minded students to build and nurture a love of reading.

Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, gives an overview of the Units of Study for Teaching Reading program, which provides effective instruction on using the workshop model to better engage students in daily reading and writing lessons. www.unitsofstudy.com

An overview of the different types of minilessons and essential elements of elementary reading lessons using the reading workshop model developed by Lucy Calkins for the Units of Study for Teaching Reading series. Each lesson element is discussed in detail and tips for effective teaching are provided by an elementary reading coach. http://www.unitsofstudy.com

Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey share tips and principles of vocabulary instruction from their latest book on providing effective vocabulary instruction to boost student performance in all subjects for grades 1-6, Learning Words Inside and Out.

Literacy consultant Joyce Gordon interviews guided reading intervention experts and educational authors Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, and RtI expert Mary Howard to discuss how the Leveled Literacy Intervention elementary reading program meets requirements for Response to Intervention.