Review: David Crystal’s Book on Grammar

MAKING SENSE: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar, by David Crystal

281 pp. Oxford University, $24.95.

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Peter Sokolowski, NY Times: “The indefatigable linguist Crystal’s latest book, “Making Sense,” is a surprisingly entertaining historical and scholarly tour of the mechanics of English.

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Grammar can seem as technical and off-putting as math or physics to many people who nevertheless can speak, read and write very well, and while some books on language prey on readers’ insecurity with lists of word-choice peeves and classist language shibboleths, Crystal efficiently punctures such snobbery.

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His approach is to explain the points of grammar and their natural acquisition in the order in which a toddler develops language skills, a brilliant strategy that allows him to begin with the most basic concepts and build upon them while simultaneously exemplifying the descriptive nature of his work.

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He illustrates the lingering “pernicious” effects of trying to fit the square peg of English into the round hole of Latin grammar, responsible for centuries of confusing information about how English works.

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Discussions of semantics (what we are trying to say) and pragmatics (how we are trying to say it) give a more concrete nature to grammar, and are used effectively here to explain away the silly admonition against the passive voice in writing.

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A primer on corpus linguistics and a short explanation of how our language evolved from Old English help complete Crystal’s masterly telling of why a living language’s grammar, like its vocabulary, is not only unfinished, it is unfinishable. One could not have a more genial guide for such a tour.”

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/books/review/wordplay-emoji-slang-puns-language.html?mcubz=3

Reading/Spelling tutor in Columbus OH: Adrienne Edwards 614-579-6021, or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Effective, Efficient Teaching: New Book

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Anita L Archer and Charles A Hughes have now released their new book “Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching” (Footprint Books 2011).  Visit http://explicitinstruction.org/ to read the first chapter. 

Anita Archer is an independent educational consultant, Portland OR, and Charles Hughes, PhD, is at the Department of Educational and School Psychology and Special Education at Pennsylvania State University.

Explicit instruction is systematic, direct, engaging and success oriented.  It has been shown to promote achievement for all students. 

This book aims to be a practical and accessible resource, giving special and general education teachers the tools to implement explicit instruction at any grade level or content area.

Archer and Hughes are leading experts who provide clear guidelines for identifying key concepts, skills, and routines to teach; how to design and deliver effective lessons; and ways to give students opportunities to practice new material until it’s mastered.

Sample lesson plans, examples and reproducible checklists, as well as teacher worksheets, enhance the book’s usefulness.  

Sixteen Elements of Explicit Instruction from Chapter 1 

1. Focus instruction on critical content.   Teach skills, strategies, vocabulary terms, concepts and rules students will need in the future, and which match their instructional needs.
2. Sequence skills logically.   Consider curricular variables. Teach easier skills before harder ones and high frequency skills before less frequently required skills.  Ensure mastery of prerequisites to a skill before teaching the skill itself.  Separate skills and strategies that are similar and therefore might be confusing.
3. Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units.  Teach in small steps.  Segment complex skills into smaller units of new material to avoid overload of cognitive,  processing and working-memory capacity.  Once these units have been taught, synthesize them by practicing them as a whole.
4. Design organized and focused lessons. This will make the best use of instructional time.  Ensure that lessons are on topic, well sequenced and contain no irrelevant digressions.
5. Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lessons’s goals and your expectations.  Tell learners clearly what’s to be learned and why it matters.  Students achieve more when they understand goals,  expected outcomes and how the new information is relevant.
6. Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction.   Review relevant information and verify that students have the relevant skills to learn what’s coming.  (This also provides the opportunity to link the new skill with other related skills.)
7. Provide step-by-step demonstrations.  Model the skill.  Clarify the decision-making processes needed by thinking aloud as you perform the skill.  Demonstrate the task clearly to show  what smooth performance looks like.
8. Use clear, concise language.  Make sure wording is unambiguous.  Avoid confusion by tailoring your speech (vocabulary, sentence structure) to students’ receptive vocabulary.
9. Provide an adequate range of examples — and non-examples.  Students need to know when — and when not to —  apply a skill, strategy, complex or rule.  Offer a wide range of examples, so they will not “underuse” a skill.  Conversely, offering non-examples reduces the chance they will use a skill inappropriately. 
10. Provide guided and supported practice.   This will promote initial success and build confidence.  Regulate the difficulty of practice opportunities.  Guide students while  they perform tasks.  As they demonstrate success, increase task difficulty and decrease the level of guidance.
11. Require frequent responses.  Plan for a high level of student-teacher interaction through questioning.  When students respond frequently through oral, written or action responses, they focus on the content of the lesson and are provided with opportunities for their own elaboration.  In addition, you are able to check understanding.  They stay active and interested. 
12. Monitor student performance closely.  Watch carefully; listen to students’ responses in order to verify mastery or make timely adjustments.  This offers you the chance to offer feedback where necessary.
13. Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback.  Follow up on students’ responses as quickly as you can; this helps ensure high rates of success and reduces the likelihood of practice errors.
14. Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace.  Deliver instruction at an appropriate pace to optimize not only instructional time, but also the amount of content and on-task behavior.  The rate should be brisk but should include a reasonable amount of time for thinking and processing time — especially for new material.   Don’t be so slow that students get bored; don’t be so quick that they panic about keeping up.
15. Help students organize knowledge.  Many students have difficulty seeing how certain skills and concepts fit together.   Use teaching techniques that make these connections explicit.  Well-organized and connected information makes it easier for a student to retrieve information and integrate it into new material.
16. Provide distributed and cumulative practice.  Distributed (vs. massed) practice refers to multiple opportunities to practice over time.  Cumulative practice means providing distributed practice through including practice opportunities that address both previously and newly acquired skills.  To assure retention as well as automaticity, provide students with multiple practice attempts.

“Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching” by Anita L Archer and Charles A Hughes is published by Footprint Books.   ISBN 9781609180416.  It is part of the “What Works for Special-needs Learners” series.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Reading Teachers’ Print and Electronic Resource List

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In addition to the articles in their quarterly Perspective on Language and Literacy, the National Dyslexia Association (IDA) offers a list of valuable research-based resources on the teaching of reading.

PRINT  RESOURCES

• Becoming a Professional Reading Teacher,  P. C. Aaron, R. Malatesha Joshi & Diana Quatroche; Paul H. Brookes, 2008.  An extremely useful textbook on teaching reading.  Provides teachers with a thorough grounding in research.
• Direct Instruction Reading (5th ed.), Douglas W. Carnine, Jerry Silbert, Edwards J. Kame’enui & Sara C. Tarver; Merrill, 2009.  Textbook on teaching reading. Provides explicit discussion of how to teach important components of reading, and how to implement a comprehensive reading program in general as well as special education.  Teaching scripts and application exercises at the end of each chapter.
• Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, Judith R. Birsh; Paul H. Brookes, 2005.  Excellently edited book; chapters written by recognized experts in different areas.  Includes not only the important components of reading, but also handwriting, composition, study skills and math.  Focuses on multisensory strategies for teaching dyslexic and other learning challenged students.
• Speech to Print:  Language Essentials for Teachers (2nd ed.), Louisa Cook Moats; Paul H. Brookes, 2010.  A definitive resource.  Provides educators with a comprehensive understanding of language structure at all levels: phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.  Includes helpful case studies, sample lesson plans, word lists and developmental spelling inventories.
• Teaching Reading Sourcebook for Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade (2nd ed.), Bill Honig, Linda Diamond & Linda Gutlohn; Arena Press, 2008.  Another excellent and comprehensive resource.  How to teach the important components of reading, oriented primarily toward general educators.  Especially readable for beginning-level teacher candidates.

ELECTRONIC  RESOURCES 

• Center on Instruction (www.centeroninstruction.org).  A Web site that provides extensive, up-to-date, research-based information that is very useful to practitioners.  In addition to the area of reading, covers special education, English language learning, mathematics and science.
•  Florida Center for Reading Research (www.fcrr.org).  A research and technical assistance center that offers resources for conducting scientifically based instruction.  Includes reading program and assessment reviews.  Useful instruction information for preschool through 12th grade.
•  The Iris Center, Vanderbilt University (http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/).  Especially valuable Web resource for research-based information about implementation of RTI.  Reading and other domains are covered.  Contains numerous online interactive tutorials and modules.
• National Council on Teacher Quality (www.nctq.org).  Research and  advocacy group; focuses on effective teaching.  Web site provides evaluations of teacher preparation programs in several states.  Detailed information on individual university programs and textbooks. 
• Phonetics Flash Animation project, The University of Iowa (www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/).  Web site containing video-audio animated phonemes in English, German, and Spanish allowing users to hear and see the correct speech sound production of all phonemes.
• Reading Rockets (www.readingrockets.org).  Particularly user-friendly, easy to understand Web site.  Provides much research-based information for both teachers and parents.  Includes multimedia resources such as videos and podcasts.
• Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts, University of Texas at Austin (http://www.meadowscenter.org/vgc/)  In conjunction with the affiliated, multidisciplinary Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, this Web site contains a wide range of detailed information on reading research and practice.  Includes numerous research-based resources for progress monitoring, diagnosis and intervention.

For much more great information about such matters, you should join the International Dyslexia Association. 

You’ll  receive their quarterly newsletter as well as the online annual, Annals of Dyslexia.  Membership benefits also include an online  Journal of Reading and Writing, members-only discounts at national and local conferences, IDA publication discounts, a professional referral for service database, and the opportunity to attend and participate in IDA’s prestigious and influential yearly conference.  

Visit http://www.interdys.org and click “Join IDA;” or call 1-800-ABCD123, ext. 405.

Note: This year’s conference  — its 62nd — is in Chicago, November 9-12, 2010.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com.



+ More Web Sites for Teachers: Diversity & Inclusion

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I just received an ASCD publication, “Connecting Teachers, Students and Standards: Strategies for Success in Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms.”

From Chapter Two, “Supporting the Classroom with Materials for Instruction,” here are some widely varied Web sites for teachers.

Understanding UDL (Universal Design for Learning)

• Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) — http://www.cast.org
• CAST  UDL Lesson Planner — http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/
• Digital Content in the Classroom — http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_introduction.cfm?tk_id=41
• DO IT — http://www.washington.edu/doit
• Planning for All Learners — http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_introduction.cfm?tk_id=21

Using Dictionaries and Other Aids

• Enchanted Learning Picture Dictionary — http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html
• Franklin Spelling Ace — http://www.franklin.com/handhelds/dictionaries/spell_correctors/
• Internet Picture Dictionary — http://www.pdictionary.com
• Merriam Webster Online — http://www.m-w.com

Embedding Content-Rich Experiences

• Colonial Williamsburg — www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/visit/tourTheTown/NASA:http://search.nasa.gov/search/search.jsp?nasaInclude=virtual+field+trips
• Pandacam at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park — http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2
• Smithsonian Museums — www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/   

Using Web 2.0 Tools

• Blogs in Plain English — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI
• Podcasting in Plain English — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c
• Social Media in Plain English — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOCIX1jPE&feature=channel
• Twitter in Plain English — http://www.youtube.com/watch?/v=ddO9idmax0o
• Wikis in Plain English — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnL00TdmLY
• TeacherTube — http://www.teachertube.com
• You Tube — http://www.youtube.com

 Other Sites

• Teaching Tolerance — http://www.teachingtolerance.org
• Cooperative Children’s Book Center — http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/multicultural.asp
• Multicultural Children’s Literature — http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com

source: “Connecting Teachers, Students and Standards: Strategies for Success in Diverse and inclusive Classrooms,” by Deborah L Voltz, Michele Jean Sims, and Betty Nelson. ASCD. 2010.  ISBN: 978-1-4166-1024-3.   Join ASCD or order books at http://www.ascd.org.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Web Sites for Teaching Native American Heritage

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From EduHound’s “Classroom Tools & Tips,” which provides edtech resources for teachers, here are this week’s offerings.  The topic is

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE

• Reconnecting the Circle —Encourages people to learn about Native American people and cultures, and to develop a more meaningful and complete perspective on Indian Country.  http://www.reconnectingthecircle.com
• Native Americans: Themed Resources for Teachers —  from the Library of Congress, this site features a compilation of Native American related materials from across the Library’s Web site, including exhibitions, presentations and lesson plans.  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/native-americans/
• National Museum of the American Indian: Collections Search — Includes a representative sample of NMAI’s object and historic photo collections.  Each item is accompanied by basic, standardized information.  http://www.americanindian.si.edu/searchcollections/home.aspx
• Native Words – Native Warriors: NMAI Codetalkers — Learn about “Code Talkers,” the twentieth-century American Indian warriors and heroes who significantly aided the victories of the United States and its allies.  http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/codetalkers/
• Education World: Native Americans —  Explore Education World’s resources on the history and culture of America’s original inhabitants.  http://www.educationworld.com/a_special/native_americans.shtml

source: EduHound’s newsletter “Classroom Tools & Tips” from www.eduhound.com.   Send suggestions for topics to Judi Rajala at jrajala@eduhound.com.  The site also provides templates (offer your own!) and clipart, among other great resources. 

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards    614-579-6021    or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ IDA Conference Reminder — Early Bird Discounts End in Two Weeks…

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The 60th Annual Conference of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is being held November 11-14 in Lake Buena Vista Florida.

“Early Bird” discounts can save you $40, so visit IDA’s site at http://www.interdys.org for more information about fees, hotel discounts, scholarships and  a 2-page Sessions Summary PDF.

Note:   DONATE  YOUR  USED  VEHICLE  TO  IDA

You can give “Dollars to Dyslexia” by donating your used vehicle (whether it floats, flies or rolls) to IDA.  IDA and its partner, Auto-Donations.com, will pick up your used vehicle free of charge, sell it and even send you a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.  Cars, boats, planes, farm & construction equipment — it’s all eligible to be donated.  Proceeds are shared with IDA branches to help support our mission.  

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Resources and Summer Trainings for Teachers

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From Kevin Feldman, some suggestions for resources and summer trainings.

• CORE — http://www.corelearn.com/about/ is a leading institution supporting practical, research-based, professions development/support/tools/etc. to schools and districts.  Check out Summer Institutes at http://www.corelearn.com/calendar/; Core online library at http://www.corelearn.com/learninglibrary/; Core University at http://www.corelearn.com/coreu/
• Sopris West —  a leader in publishing research validated intervention materials (e.g. REWARDS, Read Well, language!); they also run excellent summer institutes around the nation (in beautiful settings): check out http://www.bettereducator.com/summer_institutes.aspx
• READ 180 Annual Conference — Scholastic’s annual training and support event for people using Read 180 and related tools; visit http://www.scholastic.com/products/read180institute/index.htm
• Do What Works — The federal site which shows classroom footage (and more) of research-supported strategies; visit http://www.dww.ed.gov/dww_guidedtour.html
• University of Texas Reading Center — Locate specific materials, strategies, resources based on domain (e.g. vocab/fluency/decoding etc.); lots of FREE resources at http://searchlight.utexas.org
• Center for Media Literacy — Also FREE — great resources such as Five Questions That Can Change the World; see http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article661.html
• The Forgotten Middle — The entire 76 page document is available at http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/reports/ForgottenMiddle.html
• Center on Instruction: Adolescent Literacy Walk Through — A great resource looking at various tools for observing/coaching/walk throughs with a very specific strategic focus; see http://www.centeroninstruction.org/resources.cfm?category=reading&subcategory=materials&grade_start=4&grade_end=12#227
• English Learner Research and Resources: National Clearing House for English Language Acquisition — see http://www.ncela.gwu.edu

source: Kevin Feldman’s newsletter; literacy@lists.scoe.org and kfeldman@lists.scoe.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ ASCD Presents 3 Conferences in One June 26-28, 2009

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The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development(ASCD) will again feature experts on Differentiated Instruction (DI), What Works in Schools (WWIS) and Understanding by Design(UbD) at their summer conference in June.

They are bringing back Carol Ann Tomlinson, Jay McTighe, Grant Wiggins and Robert J Marzano. 

The conference in Houston, Texas, will take place June 26-28, 2009.

• DI (Differentiated Instruction) offers a systematic approach  to ensuring that every student is learning — regardless of interests, learning styles or readiness for school. 
• UbD (Understanding by Design) is a framework for designing new curriculum based on achieving student understanding of content.
• WWIS (What Works in Schools) offers a research-based approach to focusing an entire school or district on the school-, teacher-, and student-level factors that influence achievement.

It is hoped that attendees will benefit from hearing the framework experts discuss how their strategies work to improve student learning.

Tomlinson’s session, “The Differentiated School: Making Revolutionary Changes in Teaching and Learning,” will explain how to focus on differentiation across the school building.  She will address the role of the leader, fidelity to a model of differentiation, professional development, assessing results, and helping parents be part of the change process.

Wiggins presentation, “Improving Feedback to Students” will explain how to provide students with informative feedback, and how to use formative assessment in addition to interim tests and quizzes.

McTighe will explain how to engage student enquiry during his session, “Essential Questions: Doorway to Understanding.”  He will also explore  characteristics of essential questions, and examine ideas for generating them.

“Classroom Formative Assessment and Grading,” Marzano’s session,  covers the framework described in  Classroom Assessment and Grading that Work .   He will introduce strategies for designing and scoring formative assessments, then using them as the basis for grading and reporting practices.

Education experts, researchers, practitioners and writers will be presenting.  They include Robyn R Jackson, education consultant and author of the new book  Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, and Deborah Wortham, superintendent of Steelton-Highspire School District in Steelton, Pennsylvania.

Learn tips and techniques for using DI, UbD, and WWIS in the classroom.  Explore topics ranging from educating the whole child to teaching thinking skills.

Experts from all areas of education will present six pre-conference institutes, and explore all three major frameworks.

To register, or for more information, go to www.ascd.org/summerconference.

source: ASCD brochure article by Willona M Sloan

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Lists of Good Children’s Books: Web Site

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Mary Lee Hahn and Franki Sibberson have a blog called “A Year in Reading”:  www.readingyear.blogspot.com .  They are two teachers who read voraciously and share their new best reads, with a synopsis of each.

If you want information about new children’s books in order to make informed decisions about what to choose, give them a try.  The site will link you to resources for teachers, teacher’s blogs, “kidlitosphere” blogs, author and illustrator blogs — and more book lists — as well.  It’s free!

Here is a list of their latest titles.  Go to the site to find more information about each book:

• Bird Lake Moon, by Kevin Henkes
• The Grasshopper’s Song, by Nikki Giovanni and illustrated by Chris Raschka
• Ask Dr K Fisher about Creepy-Crawlies, by Claire Llewellyn
• Houdini the Amazing Caterpillar,  by Janet Pedersen
• Here Lies Arthur,  by Philip Reeve
• Drummer Boy, by Loren Long

The site will also lead you to Franki’s “Books I Could Read a Million Times.”

Franki Sibberson is the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), and Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic).  She is also a regular contributor to Choice Literacy.  

Mary Lee Hahn is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse). 

source: I was led to this site by  The 2 Sisters Daily Cafe  “Tip of the Week” this week.  This excellent site costs $69 for a year’s subscription and access to amazing resources including videos of classroom techniques — but the “Tip of the Week” can come to you free if you just sign up at www.thedailycafe.com.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email   aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ ILC’s First Annual Teacher-Tech Conference a Success

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The Innovative Learning Conference (ILC) offered educators from the western US and throughout the nation a chance to explore the latest trends in teaching with technology.  It was the first annual ILC conference, and was held October 14-16, 2008 in San Jose, California.

Mike Easton, Executive Director of Education Events for 1105 Media, says “Our inaugural conference, produced in association with CUE (Computer-Using Educators, Inc.), was an outstanding first-year event, with engaged, enthusiastic educators. 

“Attendees enjoyed an exceptional few days of professional development, taking part in workshops and sessions that were cutting-edge in their content and practical in their ‘use-it-today’ ideas and approach.” 

One Beaverton, Oregon high-school computer teacher and ILC presenter, Colette Cassinelli,  blogs: “ILC 2008 was a great conference.  I met a lot of ‘virtual’ friends and was inspired to try some new things in my classroom to better meet the learning needs of my students.”

The conference featured expert speakers and respected leaders in education and technology.  Keynote speaker Danny Forster, host of “Build It Bigger” on the Discovery Channel, was a favorite, capturing everyone’s imagination with his approach to learning through unconventional methods.

There was also an exhibit hall where more than 100 of the nation’s leading solution providers demonstrated the latest innovations in classroom technology.

Says Hall Davidson, Director of Discovery Educator Network, “Great speakers, great topics — the right people were in the room and the entire conference had impact.  I had memorable conversations with educators from Florida, Australia, and Latin America.  ILC is now on my permanent list of conferences.”

The 2009 conference will again be held in San Jose in October.

ILC 2008 was produced by CUE and FETC. 

• FETC is a division of the 1105 Media Education Group, and is a leading provider of integrated information and media in targeted business-to-business markets.
• 1105 Media Education Group includes T.H.E. Journal, Campus Technology, and Education Channel Partnerpublications and their online offerings; also EducationPlaza (a state-specific marketplace for products and services); EduHound, an online resource for teachers and classrooms; and live events for both the K-12 and higher educationmarkets.
• CUE,   Computer-Using Educators, Inc., is a nonprofit California corporation whose goal is to advance student achievement through technology in all disciplines from preschool through college.  It’s the largest organisation of its size.

   tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email   aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com