Minding the Gap

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October 2024

Do We Need to Teach Comprehension Strategies Explicitly?
The answer might depend on whether the strategy involves abilities that are "biologically secondary."
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Natalie Wexler
13
Bringing Politics into the Classroom
Should teachers steer clear of current political issues in the classroom—or is it educational malpractice to act as if those issues don’t exist?
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Natalie Wexler
17
Want Students to Be Good Speakers? Teach Them to Write
A push for "oracy" in England points up connections between writing and oral language
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Natalie Wexler
12
Clearing Up Misconceptions About "the Baseball Study"
Critiques of an iconic experiment on knowledge and reading comprehension miss the mark.
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Natalie Wexler
50

September 2024

A Recipe for Student Success Glosses Over a Key Ingredient
A new report from TNTP lists some important factors but downplays the role of curriculum.
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Natalie Wexler
8
Should I Stop Writing About Education?
Some maintain that a person who has never taught has no business talking about how it should be done.
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Natalie Wexler
37
Beyond Reading Comprehension Strategies
We need to be clear on what we mean by “comprehension strategies”—and reevaluate the usefulness of the concept.
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Natalie Wexler
19
Many Students Struggle to Read Beyond Third Grade
The science of reading movement has focused on improving phonics instruction for children in the early grades, but it has largely overlooked students at…
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Natalie Wexler
17

August 2024

New Reports Suggest Schools Can Boost Social Mobility
Class is more significant than race to academic achievement--and a big factor is the kind of knowledge schools could provide.
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Natalie Wexler
7
What's Washington, DC? Who's Thomas Jefferson? Tough Questions.
Evidence that Americans lack basic knowledge of the world is all around us, but most of us don’t talk about it—and some dismiss it as unimportant.
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Natalie Wexler
14
Uncovering the "Hidden Lives" of Learners
A book by the late New Zealand-based researcher Graham Nuthall provides a rare and important window into what and how students learn.
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Natalie Wexler
20
© 2024 Natalie Wexler
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