Automaticity does not mean that teachers become automatons – glorified robots just walking through their classes. No, automaticity means that teaching skills have been learned so well, they have become so ingrained, that they are automatic. Just like when we learned to drive a car, the first attempts were focused on details and we had lots of…
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Where does learning occur? Where does learning occur? The obvious answer for teachers is in the classroom. But the real answer is that learning occurs in the student’s brain. Bestselling author Daniel Coyle in his book The Talent Code describes the process of learning a skill as a process of neural pathways being insulated…
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Today, we are going to focus on general questions about teaching English Learners (ELs). These are questions we regularly get from teachers. If you would like further information about teaching English Learners, feel free to contact us. We also recommend the book, Explicit Direct Instruction for English Learners by DataWORKS co-founders John Hollingsworth and Dr.…
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Pencils and Scantrons are a thing of the past! No more rote memorization and long hours spent cramming for the test! Common Core assessments are computer-based adaptive tests that require students to use critical thinking skills to answer a variety of questions from the simple (read: traditional) to the complex (read: these are intense!). One…
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In November 2010, the U.S. Department of Education released its National Education Technology Plan. It is called Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. It outlines five goals and 24 recommendations for states, districts, the federal government, and other stakeholders. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, “the plan’s development was led by the…
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Vocabulary development is a critical aspect of teaching, especially in classes or schools with high populations of English Learners. Differentiating between the types of vocabulary can help teachers decide how much effort to put into teaching particular vocabulary words, as well as which strategies will be most effective when teaching the words. In today’s post,…
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In spring 2014, the New York State Education Department released a newly developed Blueprint for English Language Learner Success. It is a groundbreaking statement that sets high expectations for English Language Learners and recommends a new Seal of Biliteracy on students’ diplomas. In this way, the state recognizes the economic and cultural value of being…
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DI vs. di vs. EDI Direct Instruction (DI) Direct Instruction was developed by Dr. Siegfried “Zig” Engelmann during the 1960s. It is a scripted program where teachers are given cues to follow throughout a lesson. Student interaction is largely choral responses following a teacher signal. direct instruction (di) Dr. Barak Rosenshine used the term direct…
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Each state that has adopted Common Core State Standards will select an assessment consortium to assess how children are progressing in school. The two options most widely chosen at this point are: Smarter Balanced and PARCC. Each assessment consortium has provided practice test questions and today we will review one of these questions and discuss…
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Headed to Costco on a Saturday afternoon, you pull your car up to a gas pump, slide your credit card through the reader, select the appropriate grade of fuel and begin pumping. Then you head into the big box store, gather the items on your list, and line them up on a conveyor belt for…
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