Literacy Blogs

Teacher’s Question: Dear Dr. Shanahan, I have been searching for research around student testing. Could you point me in the direction of relevant research: Does testing time of the day make a difference? Does it matter if the testing proctor is that student's teacher for that subject? What effect does testing over several days in short bursts have?   With the state test, all grades are tested on the same day at the same time. But our benchmark tests are different. We give those three times a year (a test with four passages and 35 questions, taking about two hours to complete). Students are tested within their ELA or Math ...

Recently I was interviewed by Fatherly, a website that focuses on providing parenting advice to dads. They wanted some book recommendations for babies, toddlers, and kindergartners. This link will connect you to the first in their series on this topic, and below I provide elaborated answers to these timely questions. https://www.fatherly.com/play/books/best-books-for-babies/ https://www.fatherly.com/play/best-books-for-toddlers/ https://www.fatherly.com/play/books/best-books-for-your-kindergartner/    What is the ideal form of baby books? Babies very early on exhibit what is called the palmar reflex… that is if something touches or grazes their palms, their little hands lock on it. I guess that keeps them from falling out of trees or something. Try touching a finger or your hair ...