RTN Blog

Mastery checks for Book 3 are now available in Consumables on RTN!

Save time and print these picture cards or use powerpoints ready made to accompany stories in The Colors and Shapes of Language I and II. Pictures for Retelling can be found in Resources and Tools/Instructional Resources/Tools.

Neuhaus Education Center is now in partnership with Southern Methodist University in a Master of Education degree program with a specialization in reading.  This is the second semester for the first cohort of students (pictured in “What Teachers are Saying”).

Check out the Forums and Information/Career Center for job postings here on RTN. Just posted – Houston ISD  School Improvement Officer. Click this link for a thorough job description and contact information: SIO.

The word hysterical comes from a Greek word which means:

• used to attract attention
• uterus
• hyper
• put-on

11 % said used to attract attention
58 % said uterus
23 % said hyper
5 % said put-on

The correct answer is uterus. From the term Hysterikos, which meant, “suffering in the womb,” the Greeks derived the word hysteria meaning uterus, which was considered to be the seat of emotional instability in women!

Do teachers learn as much from online professional development as they do from onsite, face-to-face instruction? A recent article by Carreker, Boulware-Gooden, and Slania (2010) says , “yes.”  Two groups of teachers, each receiving the same instruction were pre- and post-tested after a professional development course in spelling. One group received online instruction, and the other group received onsite instruction. Both groups made significant gains. To learn more, see the article, Is Online Professional Development on Spelling as Effective as Onsite Professional Devlopment on Spelling?

Over 120 of you responded to our survey of opinions about the success of  Response to Intervention (RTI) in your schools and here is what we found:

• Teachers felt that they had been able to work as teams in identifying struggling readers, and that the screenings they use were informative and easy to give.
• Teachers feel that though they have been identifying struggling students earlier than ever before, they lacked the time and adequate staff to carry out the interventions necessary for student success.

To read the article summarizing survey results, read “Perceptions and Realities: What Teachers Say About Response to Intervention” which can be found in “Articles” on this web page.

A consumable lesson plan form to be used with Language Enrichment (Neuhaus Education Center) is now available on RTN in our Instructional Resources,  on the Consumables page.

Poor reading comprehension has many possible root causes. Is it poor decoding, causing faulty word recognition and inadequate fluency? Is it poor listening comprehension/attention? These Reading Comprehension Screenings will help isolate the skills which may interfere with deep comprehension.

Making word profiles increases students’ awareness of all of the properties of a word: sounds, symbols, syllables, word origin and meaning. Here’s a link to some examples of word profiles which can be used alone or with Practices for Developing Accuracy and Fluency (Neuhaus Education Center). These can also be accessed from Reading Teachers Network in Instructional Resources/Tools.