Articles
Below are Keys to Literacy articles and other instructional material in PDF format for viewing or printing.
Research Supporting The Key Three Routine: Comprehension Strategy Instruction (9 pages). This article for educators and administrators includes information about the history of reading comprehension research, research-based reading comprehension instruction, strategy instruction for adolescent readers, teaching reading comprehension strategies in the content classroom, the need for professional development in strategy instruction, and more.
Helping Your Child with Organization and Study Skills (14 pages). An article for parents that includes information that will help you improve your teen's study skills. Helpful tips are provided for: creating a study space, helping your teen manage his/her time, tools and strategies for improving study skills, organization skills, note taking skills, and more.
What Every Educator and Parent Should Know About Reading Instruction (8 pages). In this article about reading instruction, Joan Sedita implores parents and educators to familiarize themselves with the scientific-based research and what it tells us about teaching reading comprehension. Topics explored are: phonemic awareness instruction, phonics instruction, fluency instruction, vocabulary instruction, and text comprehension instruction.
Effective Vocabulary Instruction (10 pages). This article for educators offers ideas for: effective vocabulary instruction strategies, indirect vocabulary instruction, direct vocabulary instruction, analyzing word structure, selecting vocabulary words, and the like. Learn the connection between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, and the differences between good and poor readers, and so much more.
Study Skills: Crucial for Students with LD (5 pages). For individuals with learning disabilities, effective study skills training and application is crucial. This article for educators presents a flexible study skills model developed by Joan Sedita, and reviews methods for teaching the first two foundation skills: reading and listening for main ideas and two-column note taking.
Basic Teaching Principles (3 pages). This article for educators includes teaching principles that are universal; they represent good pedagogy for any instruction setting, but they are particularly effective for students with learning disabilities.
Middle and High School Reading Achievement: A School-Wide Approach (7 pages). An effective, school-wide model for teaching reading should include a two-prong approach: a plan for providing reading instruction to good readers and a plan for providing reading instruction to struggling readers. This article for educators presents ideas for achieving school-wide reading comprehension for both audiences.