Improving Reading and Writing Skills

In a recent Education Week post, Mike Schmoker described three key elements for teachers to use to impart core literacy skills to their students: purposeful reading, discussion, and writing. He advocated for 90-120 minutes engagement each day, spread throughout the curriculum. To understand just what this means for classroom instruction, let’s examine the three skills, … Continue reading “Improving Reading and Writing Skills”


Can You Read Poetry Efficiently?

When people are learning how to become more efficient and effective readers, the subject of poetry often comes up. For most people, poetry seems a laborious read, one filled with hard-to-pronounce words, complex themes, and structures that appear to embrace subvocalization rather than eschew it. In truth, can you read these works efficiently? The answer … Continue reading “Can You Read Poetry Efficiently?”