The Missing Link in Reading Comprehension
The Big Idea Reading comprehension and overall academic achievement can be greatly improved, and learning gaps closed, by systematically increasing the amount of academic background knowledge students learn beginning in the elementary grades.
Read MoreTime on Task
Some teachers are just better at their craft than others, in this series of essays I will attempt to identify the characteristics, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of those teachers. I will use research on what works, personal experience (having observed over 1000 teacher lessons) and established understandings in this series of articles. Because I have done so, I believe that all teachers can change their behaviors or attitudes in ways that will help them become better and better at their craft. That is both the purpose and goal of these essays. - Dr. Jack Conklin, Senior Scholar
Read MoreTeachers Find Bracketing History Effective
Invariably, I start the year with several students worried that they will never be able to memorize all the dates they fear I will throw at them. My philosophy about dates is that some specific dates are important, but it is even more important that students have an understanding of cause and effect. When students are able to place events in sequence and understand how events are interconnected, then history becomes three-dimensional. Past events become living and breathing stories that had no foregone outcomes as they were occurring.
Read MoreBracketing History
Media are replete with horror stories detailing a lack of historical knowledge among Americans both young and old, often centering around chronological confusions and howlers. Even CBS Late Night host David Letterman has highlighted the problem with a feature he calls On This Day In History According To A Dumb Guy. But I 'm afraid his hypothetical dumb guy who mixes up historical events is a far too common reality. Our much maligned educational system usually gets the blame for such problems. Are these attacks justified?
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