Back-to-School
Are you familiar with the frog in boiling water metaphor? (Of course, do not attempt this at home!) Imagine a pot of cold water sitting on the burner of a stove. A frog is peacefully swimming in it. The heat is turned on, and the water starts warming up. The
strategies
It’s that time of year again, and most teachers are trying their best to enjoy their final days of summer break. It’s hard to believe that some schools have already started professional development opportunities for their staff members. Before you know it, your own classroom will be filled
ELAsuccess
In this series of blogs about micro-comprehension, I have presented strategies that boost micro-comprehension: vocabulary words, gap-filling inference, sentence structure processing, figurative language processing, and applying text structure. When you teach students how to slow down their own thinking— to become aware of what they are thinking about while reading,
ELAsuccess
From the beginning, Shurley English teaches students to understand the role that each word plays in a sentence. The first part of speech we begin with is the noun, and in true Shurley style, we start by going over the Noun Jingle. The jingle and corresponding lesson teaches that a
ELAsuccess
As I continue my series about micro-comprehension, text structure processing is next in line. Earlier, I wrote about sentence structure processing. The process of analyzing sentence structure and text structure shares similarities. However, analyzing at the sentence level gives a close-up picture of the meaning of the sentence; whereas, analyzing
ELAsuccess
Have you ever noticed that several language arts terms have the letters o-n-y-m in them? I’m talking about words like synonym, antonym, homonym, heteronym, acronym, etc. Of course, the list goes on, but here’s what you need to know about all of these words: Onym is actually a
Back-to-School
Journal Writing is an activity that is implemented very early in the Shurley English curriculum. Students are taught how to create a written journal to record their thoughts and feelings. Then, throughout the school year, they are encouraged to respond to specific prompts in their personal journals. (If you’re
ELAsuccess
Reading fluency, comprehension, prosody (the highs and lows of the voice to convey emotion), —these facets of reading sound like a bunch of educational mumbo-jumbo, but they matter! As I continue to poke around in figurative language processing, these components have to be mentioned because many readers need us to
ELAsuccess
I have never taken a class in martial arts, but I have certainly enjoyed watching Bruce Lee’s moves in his action-packed films! Let’s face it! The guy was physically amazing, but more than that, he had a way with words! Lee was more than just a famous martial
ELAsuccess
As part of my series-within-a-series for figurative language processing, writer’s workshop might seem like a surprising topic to bring up in a discussion about reading comprehension. But, it’s not. I have worked with many students through the years, many who struggled with reading comprehension. They struggled for various
Summer Learning
If you’re looking for a unique way to keep your child engaged in reading over the summer, you might want to consider doing some choral reading at home. In case you’ve never heard of it, choral reading is a literacy technique that helps students build their fluency, self-confidence,
ELAsuccess
If you are a reading teacher, or if you have a sweeping love of books, you probably know about literary devices, which include figurative language. In this series about micro-comprehension, I have been touching upon the kinds of connections students need to make with stories they read or hear. Those