• Convenient, flexible, easy-to-use

  • Online learning that fits
    your schedule
  • Learn wherever and whenever you want
  • Easy-to-use learning platform guides you through the course



• We've helped educators at more than 15,000 schools

  • "This is how I'm going to get my continuing education credits from now on."

    - Wendy J. Cope, French Teacher, Lancaster Catholic High School, Lancaster, PA

  • "This course lives up to its promise. It is real and easy to implement. It's made a big difference in my teaching!"

    - Frank Martin, Principal, The Stevens School

  • "I absolutely love the class I am taking. I am taking it to improve my leadership skills. It's been great!"

    - Connie Cullip, Special Education Supervisor, Rudyard, MI EUPISD




• • "The Coursework is convenient and interesting! I definitely recommend the program."

    - Jennifer Desloges, 7th Grade English Teacher Plymouth Elementary, Plymouth, NH

  • "I am through about 4 lectures and am loving the ease and simplicity of how it all works! Everything is so easy to navigate."

    - LuAnn Funk, 2nd Grade Teacher, Case Avenue Elementary

• • "I took this course with some reservation, but it proved to be very helpful. Some of the simple things that I learned made a huge impact on the amount of energy my students put into learning"

    
    

    "It was easy to do. I got to work at my own pace, explore all the websites and absorb the materials As a 28 year veteran I do believe you can teach old dogs new tricks."

    - Joseph Fusco, Physics Teacher Lodi High School, NJ

Course 1054

Boosting Achievement Through Reading: Comprehension, Vocabulary and NCLB

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Apply this towards your professional development requirements

Tuition: $575                

This course provides you with the latest research-based reading strategies and methods for applying them in your classroom, regardless of grade level or content area. You'll discover proven ways to engage students in reading, intensify their understanding of content, and create a bridge to success inside the classroom and beyond.

Led by the nation’s foremost experts on reading instruction, this convenient, online course lets you earn Professional Development credits, hours or certificates of completion whenever and wherever you like. It combines the following three learning modules:

     1. Reading to Learn: Best Practices for Improved Comprehension Skills

     2. Reading and No Child Left Behind: Raising Scores and Student Achievement

     3. Vocabulary Instruction in the Classroom: Strategies for Improving Reading      Comprehension          

At the end of this course, you will have fully grasped the interplay between reading and NCLB and expanded your instructional repertoire in the areas of reading, vocabulary and comprehension development. The result: increased achievement through reading for all your students.

What You'll Learn

Reading comprehension is the foundation for all learning. Sadly we still have many learners who struggle and fall short of their full potential. Fortunately, there are proven ways to increase your students' comprehension ability by combining researched-based instruction with effective assessments. This module offers the latest teaching strategies and techniques for improving your students' reading comprehension skills - at all grade levels and in any subject area. You'll learn:

• 6 proven strategies to enhance your students' reading comprehension
• How to overcome five comprehension obstacles that students face
• 16 research-based reading strategies that benefit diverse learners
• How to vary your instruction for multiple intelligences to boost reading comprehension skills for all students
• Keys to effectively assess the reading comprehension ability of your students

Highlights

Reading Comprehension: Help Students Excel at School, on Tests and in Life

• The most important thing you must do to increase reading and comprehension
• Guide students to interact with text and effectively construct meaning
• Help students find main points and key information to increase overall literacy
• 10 ideas to expand and refine your reading and comprehension instruction

Effective Reading Instruction for All Types and Levels of Learners

• High-impact techniques to improve achievement across all disciplines
• Apply 3 reading connections that quickly improve students' comprehension
• Help students make inferences and draw conclusions based on what they read
• Use questioning to clarify and deepen students' understanding of your instruction

Apply Proven Teaching Strategies that Raise Student Achievement

• Develop knowledge and skills through validated teaching best practices
• Teach students to "read between the lines" using context and clues
• Engage students using mental imaging
• Help students evaluate their thinking process and form new ways of learning
• Implement ongoing observational assessments to improve classroom teaching

What You'll Learn

All students must learn how to read to succeed. The problem: studies suggest 40 percent of our students across the nation cannot read at a basic level, the impetus No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted. The good news: you've embraced the fact that you're the person who can teach children to improve their reading skills. And we're going to help you. This module offers straightforward guidance and engaging activities you can use immediately to improve students' reading proficiency. You'll learn:

• How to identify and overcome obstacles that prevent reading fluency
• 18 research-based strategies to improve the reading skills of all students
• A 4-step plan to improve students' test-taking ability and raise scores
• The 4 pillars of NCLB and how they impact you and your students
• How to address the special needs of migratory, neglected & delinquent children

Highlights

Proven Reading Instruction for All Learners

• Utilize the 5 essential components of effective reading instruction
• Employ scientifically-tested strategies that increase literacy
• Analyzing assessments to improve instruction and future results
• The key to helping all students become successful readers

Raise Reading Scores Using These Four Test-Taking Best Practices

• Test prep: 5 subtle ways to prepare your students' mind for test day
• Reducing anxiety: Help your students relax with these 5 tips
• During the test: 7 test-taking best practices to go over with your students
• Before they finish: 4 things your students should do before handing in their test

No Child Left Behind for Reading Improvement Crash Course

• The relationship between NCLB and reading instruction
• Reading First: What educators need to know
• Discover the availability of NCLB funding and it's restrictions
• What you should know about No Teacher Left Behind
• Resources that support teachers and administrators through NCLB

What You'll Learn

"Learning, as a language-based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge." ~ Baker, Simmons, & Kame’enui

Consequently, deliberate vocabulary development is an essential component of reading comprehension instruction. It contributes to students' phonemic awareness, ability to accurately decode unfamiliar words and their overall fluency. This module offers you the latest teaching strategies, techniques and examples for improving and expanding your students' vocabulary. You'll learn:

• How students acquire and develop their vocabularies
• 4 components of a comprehensive vocabulary program
• Research-based strategies and activities that develop students' vocabulary
• Keys to overcome the vocabulary catch-22 roadblock
• Effective interventions for students who struggle with vocabulary

Highlights

Easy-to-Implement Strategies for Vocabulary Instruction

• Successfully implement the 2 major types of vocabulary instruction
• 4 proven ways to teach vocabulary with text
• How to foster wide reading to build vocabulary
• 3 ways to choose specific words to be taught
• How to apply the three word tiers
• Learn a read-aloud approach to enhance vocabulary

Research and Best Practices for Vocabulary Development

• Listening vs. reading: Discover the vocabulary development cycle of students
• Understand the 4 ways students learn words
• How to expand the vocabularies of all your students
• Overcome 4 major problems to vocabulary development
• Books that support vocabulary growth and interests

Critical Vocabulary Instruction Questions Answered

• Why vocabulary knowledge is the key that unlocks all learning
• Why teachers need to move away from the "look it up in the dictionary" approach to vocabulary instruction
• Why reading to students so important to vocabulary learning
• Why vocabulary instruction in kindergarten and first grade is vital to success in upper grades

The Virtual Teachers Lounge™

Check in with your peers and get answers to your questions – any time, 24/7. Taking this course will give you exclusive access to the thoughts, insights and experience of other educators and K-12 experts discussing your topics and giving you solutions and ideas for whatever is on your mind. In the Teachers' lounge, you can:

• Learn new, working strategies and solutions from other educators – live!
• Get answers to your toughest questions from top K-12 experts
• Discuss course topics with your peers and benefit from their experiences
• Share your success stories and best practices to benefit other teachers and administrators
• Get new perspectives, fresh ideas and guidance – whenever you need it.
• You can log whenever is most convenient for you, 24/7

All you have to do is sign up for this course, and you're in!

Connect with, hear from and get help from you peers.

Materials & Assessment

Lectures	Your lectures, delivered by one of the nation's leading, recognized experts on this topic, are presented in multiple parts to make listening and tracking your progress easier. You can listen to each as often as you like by playing it on your computer, downloading it to your iPod or other MP3 player, even burning it to CD. Listen wherever it is most convenient for you: at home, in your car; at the park; and whenever you like: before or after work, at night or on weekends. Many educators can complete a module in only a week.
Text Resources	Virtual text resources are downloadable and expand on the material covered in your lectures. They may include articles, web links to related materials and web sites, definitions of important terms and concepts, and a bibliography. All materials can be viewed on your computer or downloaded and printed.
Assessment	To receive your Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Attendance and earn Professional Development/Continuing Education units/credits/hours, you will need to complete all assessments and submit all final projects.
Virtual Teachers Lounge	To gain Professional Development credits or hours for any of these three modules, you must participate in the Virtual teachers Lounge discussion for that module. If you are not seeking credits or hours, participation in the Lounge is not mandatory, but you are still welcome to connect with and share your thoughts, questions, insights and experience with your peers at any time.