Downloadable Article for Free at What Works Clearinghouse

What Works Clearinghouse is a site that is rich in downloadable article and reviews that are helpful to teaching and learning.

If you have a passion (and the need) to read something in your specialized area, look no more. All you need is browse, and download the materials you need.

For example, I was driven to 'Literacy' page because I was browsing about interventions for students with learning disabilities, and it stormed me with a gazillion of materials!

Try the following topics for yourself:

• Improving Reading Comprehension from Kindergarten through 3rd Grade, or
• Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools

All materials come in PDF format. If your computer has no PDF reader (which is unusual in this generation), you will need to install it by visiting adobe.com.

IRA as an Ultimate Teaching Source

The International Reading Association (www.reading.org) presents a whole new way of looking at teaching of reading. Although ideally a subscription program, IRA delivers rich information to guests, such the one that features about beginning reading (click here to go directly to the page). What's best about IRA is the presence of ReadWriteThink.org, a peer-reviewed lesson plan hub for teachers of reading.

On top of that, there are also free webinars and podcasts, booklists, meetings and events, and awards and grants that are available to promising reading teachers.

Starfall: Free-to-use Reading Program for K-2

With the right introduction and consistent motivation, Starfall is a perfect fit for K-2 beginning readers (and struggling readers, as well).

It has features that would amaze the children, such as getting ready to read, tales to read, about me, art gallery and magic, plays, non-fiction, comics, and more.

Starfall does not claim to be the end-all, be-all hub. As the site says: Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.

Using Online Books to Push Learners in Choosing Good-fit Books

The Daily Five uses a concept called 'I PICK' Good-Fit Books. Simply put, the book is read meaningfully through the following ways:

• read the words
• read the pictures
• retell the story

I PICK Good-Fit Books concept include the following:

1. choose a book

2. determine the purpose for which a learner wants to read it

3. determine why the chosen book is interesting

4. check comprehension by throwing questions for understanding

5. check whether the child knows all the words in the chosen book (which leads to a sense of ownership of the whole reading process)

Teachers who are advocates of technology integration in the classroom can use the internet in encouraging learners to choose the books they can use in the Daily Five exercise. The internet is an alternative to the use of hard copy books. It also provides excitement, variety, and continuity of interest.

Keep on exploring sites to get the appropriate books that your learners need. However, it is very important to provide monitoring and guidance to learners who are using the internet in their reading adventure.

You may visit thislivebinder (Daily 5: Listen to Reading Livebinder) to explore more.

Click 'n Read Phonics: A Research-based Reading Lab Online

I recently attended a reading workshop conducted by the NC State Improvement Project. It was very inspiring and eye-opener. Having realized that I need to go back to basics in making struggling readers love reading, I spent hours doing research on what could be the most appropriate but handy reading lab that I could use in the classroom.

Among the numerous reading programs that I stumbled upon, I reviewed Click 'n Read because of its greater facility and flexibility. It is best to use for K through 3rd grade levels -- a real early intervention program! Likewise, it is very easy to use. Click 'n Read is purely online with hundreds of lessons and activities to choose from. The lessons are highly structured and developmental in scope. Best of all, it provides a progress report after lesson's completion. This is very helpful for teachers and parents in tracking the reading progress of the individual child.

Click 'n Read can be accessed here.

Category: Elementary

Free Text to Speech Converter for Struggling Readers

Unless you have all the time to personally address every need for differentiation in the classroom, you won't need a text-to-speech converter software.

Free Natural Reader provides the devoted classroom teacher a facility to convert a reading text instantly into an exciting audio material. How do you find your classroom filled with learners engaged in every way -- some are having a group guided reading with you, while others are quietly listening to the same reading piece that you are using to teach a skill?

Make the most of your students' experiences by providing them with strategies according to their need. The software can be downloaded here.


Category: All levels

Twitter: Communicating Made Ridiculously Easy

Now that the social media are tremendously growing in number, our world is truly shrinking as a global village. Using Facebook and Twitter alone, not only have businesses grew, but the ordinary people have come to meet old friends again. It is so exciting to connect with old friends!

A few moments before writing this post, I was browsing through my FB and Twitter (both personal) accounts. I couldn't help but look at dominant but common posts and tweets. First, there is a heavy rainfall in a Southeast Asian country right now. However, contrary to what many people all over the world do as precautionary measures during extreme weather conditions, SE Asian are very happy that floods are rising above the ground and classes are suspended temporarily. Lol! This is not to illustrate a point about a people's dislike for education. However, it only implies that certain groups have come to see certain climatic conditions as a commonplace.

The second 'bestseller' right at this posting time is Anderson Cooper's 'coming out.' The LA Times revealed that three hours after the CNN anchor posted on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog about his once-in-a-lifetime revelation, it generated 100,000 shares on Facebook. Similarly, there is a pandemonium in Twitter, and probably in other media.


In using these as illustrations, I do not insist on letting my readers get soaked into my post-modernistic sociological perspective that was somehow affected by Michel Foucault's view of how changing power relations affected punishments (the longest run-on I have ever written!). My only point is to show how the world is 'bothered' or 'thrown into confusion' by an issue in which people in certain communities are not even concerned about. All these are brewed within the social media.


I have been using Twitter for personal and 'other' purposes. However, this is the first time that I will attempt to use Twitter for academic purposes. Please follow me.