Jj is for Jottings 158. Smartphones in Schools.
A few days ago (July 2023) in Australia, smartphones in schools were banned. Some states had already banned or restricted their use, but the ban is now nationwide. The ban also includes smartwatches. There are quite a few reasons to ban smartphones in schools given below, but there is also the overriding factor of how smartphones affect the brain.
Smartphones in Schools. “I’m not going to have a smartphone – and I’m not going to school, either.”
Jj is for Jottings 132. Direct Vocabulary Instruction.
When a child has poor vocabulary knowledge for their age, it indicates that they struggle to learn vocabulary from their written or spoken language experiences. They will then need direct vocabulary instruction to increase their chances of catching up with their peers.
It also makes sense to teach them strategies to help them learn new word meanings from their language experiences. These strategies involve teaching them to use morphological knowledge (see previous article) to work out meanings of more complex words, or to search for words that might provide clues to the meanings of other words in context. A combination of this broad, strategy-based approach and direct vocabulary instruction will provide the best results, according to recent research. And it aids not just vocabulary knowledge, but also reading comprehension.
Many children with poor language and reading skills will have only a nodding acquaintance with many word meanings. They can even be quite common, concrete words which you would expect them to know. These children can easily slip through the net. Parents and teachers may not observe that, although children may use a word, their knowledge of it is actually very limited. It’s not just a case of “he used that word so we can mentally tick it off as part of his vocabulary”. We need to be more vigilant than that.
Direct Vocabulary Instruction needed at this age? Probably not for a cria.
Jj is for Jottings 121. A Noun is a Name.
A noun is a name. But there’s a bit more to it than that. A noun is one of several parts of speech, which also includes verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions and even interjections. Although they are called parts of speech, they are really units of language, but we won’t try to go against the flow on that issue. The difference between speech and language is explained here. I can’t tell you how many times I have been requested to do a speech assessment, when language was really the issue. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 116. Children Who Own Books Read More.
Children who own books are six times more likely to read. And they are more likely to read above the expected level for their age. The UK-based charity, The National Literacy Trust, did a survey of more than 56,000 children from all over the UK, ranging from ages 9 to 18. The survey revealed that 22 % of children who own books read above the expected level for their age. But only 3.6% of children who did not own a book read above the expected age level. Continue reading
The alpacas and all of us here
Wish you and those you hold dear:
Christmas cheer, joy and love,
P’raps a peaceful white dove,
And we hope that you’ll join us next year.
You can see that Shanti isn’t feeling very angelic wearing a halo. Shikha batted it off with his paw every time.
And here is something that has just appeared in The Australian newspaper in the book review section on December 15-16, 2018.
Pretty good to get a recommendation nearly 5 years after publication!
Remember to keep reading to your young children throughout the holidays, and encourage the older ones to read for pleasure.
Jj is for Jottings 80. Decodable Readers.
As mentioned in the previous article (see here), decodable readers support the teaching of phonics in a cumulative manner. The rules and patterns of the English language are taught sequentially. As the student learns the rules, he practices using decodable readers. In this way there are no nasty surprises involving unknown words, because they know the rules and every word can be decoded. This gives the reader both skills and confidence, and makes learning to read much less of a challenge.
Jj is for Jottings 79. Literacy, Language and Prison.
Here are studies from three countries on the relationship between literacy, language and prison or young offender sentences:
1. USA.
Approximately 80% of prison inmates are functionally illiterate, and 47.8% of the inmates were deficient in word attack skills, according to reports. (Texas, 2000) Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 72. Single Words Versus Connected Speech.
Following on from the discussion about the end of a word not always really being the end (here), we find that, as a result of running our words together to get a smooth flow which is easier for the listener to follow, we can end up with strings of consonants together, as in, “He mends trucks.” Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 67. Reading Comprehension – Is Your Child Barking at Print?
When your child is reading to you, are you sure they (I’m using “they” to cover both boys and girls) are actually understanding what they are reading, or are they just barking at print? i.e. Reading the words correctly but not actually decoding them, so they really have no idea what they are reading. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 65. What Is Synthetic Phonics?
We’re just taking a break from the series on How to Raise a Reader – we’ll finish it next time.
Synthetic phonics means “building words from individual sounds”. For example, even if you had never seen it before, you could spell the word “step” Continue reading
