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Teaching students who have a poor memory or who are unable to concentrate for long periods is challenging. It can almost seem impossible when discussing specific topics that require memorization. 

For this reason, educators should use various techniques to enhance the memory of their students. In this article, we will discuss three ways in which teachers could make it slightly easier for students to memorize the work they learn during lessons. 

Teach the Same Material Over and Over Again

One of the best ways in which work can be drilled into the memory of students is by teaching it over and over again. However, this does not mean that the teacher should spend multiple lessons simply using the same plan and discussing the same things. 

Instead, they should dedicate time to various activities and practice exercises that talk about the work differently. For example, one exercise could be a match-the-column activity, while another could be a research project. 

Use Visual Images and Other Memory Strategies

Every student learns differently. For this reason, the teacher needs to incorporate different teaching methods when discussing the topic. Images are often extremely useful for making work easier to memorize because students visualize the images when thinking about the work. 

With that being said, various memory strategies can make work easier to learn and remember. For example, many teachers enjoy using PowerPoint or YouTube videos to capture the full attention of students. 

You could also have a class discussion to make the students feel more engaged.

Use Handouts To Give Students a Basic Idea Of the Work Beforehand

It can be challenging to memorize work that is completely foreign to you. Thus, teachers should try handing out worksheets related to the lesson before going over the material. 

In this way, the students will be able to go over the work in their free time and gain a general idea of what they will be learning in the future. 

Concluding Thoughts

To do well in school and understand the work, many students rely on their memory. With that being said, certain sections of work are tough to memorize. For this reason, teachers should incorporate various methods to make their lessons easier to remember. 

They can do this by teaching the same work over and over again. Also, using visual images, videos, and PowerPoints is a great way to capture students’ attention.

Reading is an essential skill that every person must acquire to lead a successful life, but learning to read can be challenging for many children. However, with the right help, any child can become a proficient reader regardless of how much they struggle. 

As a parent, you play a vital role in recognizing when your child struggles to read and knowing how to help them. We will discuss some helpful strategies that parents can employ to aid their struggling children. 

How To Recognize Reading Problems

A few critical indicators will help you know whether a child is struggling to learn to read or not. Not all children will display all of these indicators, but most children will display at least several of them.

These indicators include difficulty with hearing individual sounds, rhyming, retelling a story, following directions, sounding out most words, as well as avoiding reading aloud. If your child is displaying one or more of these characteristics, then they might be struggling to read. 

Let’s take a look at some strategies to improve their reading skills. 

Meeting With Their Teacher

This is one of the most important things you can do to improve your child’s reading skills. Gather examples of their work that reflects your concerns, and ask the teacher for their observations. 

You can then discuss what can be done both at school and at home to help your child improve their reading skills. Be sure to stay in contact with the teacher to monitor your child’s progress and ensure that they are getting the help they need. 

Meet With the Principal Or Reading Specialist

If you have already met with your child’s teacher and have not noticed an improvement in their reading performance, then you can meet with other professionals at the school to see if there are services, classes, or other interventions available. The principal will help you with this and guide you through the process of getting your child involved in these options. 

If your child’s school has a reading specialist, then you should consider talking with them, as well. They will provide specialized classes designed to improve your child’s reading skills while also addressing their individual needs. 

Get an Evaluation

A professional team, which may consist of a speech-language pathologist, school psychologist, or reading specialist, can give your child a series of tests and determine whether they are eligible to receive special education services. If they are, then you have the option of placing your child in a special education program to help improve their reading. 

Concluding Thoughts

Reading problems do not have to get in the way of your child’s education. There are many ways that you can help them learn to read proficiently – all it takes is a little time and dedication.

All words are not equal. For example, some words are generally more useful than others. Knowing the meaning of “shame” generally pays off far more often than knowing the meaning of “serendipity.” 

Some words are also easier to learn than others. Teachers must recognize and be patient with these asymmetries across their students’ experiences when teaching vocabulary. This article will discuss some of the essential facts that teachers should know when teaching vocabulary to their students. 

Rich Meanings Are Just As Important

Vocabulary instruction is often reduced to having learners copy down definitions from the dictionary. However, researchers have identified several approaches that outperform any learning that may take place from copying definitions. 

One fundamental principle is to have learners work with more complex or extensive definitions or explanations of word meanings. Therefore, you should encourage the encyclopedic explanation over the simple dictionary definition. 

Teachers can have their students engage in providing several different versions of the definition of a word, such as the dictionary definition, synonyms and antonyms, comparisons, classifications, and more. Once a student has come up with these different explanations of a word, they are more likely to remember it. 

Promote Word Usage

It is not enough for students to simply learn the meanings of words – they must learn to use their learned words in their writing, reading, speaking, and listening. As such, instruction should create opportunities for learners to use the words they learn in each of these contexts. 

For example, a vocabulary assignment can be completed by students in groups working together to identify multiple definitions. That kind of cooperation requires learners to talk to each other about the words, promoting word use and retention. 

The Importance Of Review

It can be challenging for students to retain their vocabulary if they are not getting enough opportunities to use it. Teachers might teach vocabulary because some words were featured in texts for that week, but then students may not see those words again for some time. 

There are several ways to promote vocabulary retention, like having one day each week where you only work with words taught in the past. Alternatively, an entire week could be dedicated to this several times throughout the year.

Another way to make sure that words are being retained is to see how many additional words students can create morphologically by adding suffixes or prefixes, by changing parts of speech, etc. 

Concluding Thoughts

Like reading, vocabulary is an essential skill that all students must learn, though it can be challenging to teach. Be sure to follow the above tips, and your students will be expanding their lexicon in no time.

Teaching children can be a challenging task. Often, students do not feel motivated to work, meaning that they will disrupt the class or not pay attention during lessons. For this reason, educators must get as much help as possible.

Parents can play a significant role in the education of their children. In this article, we will be discussing three ways in which parents can prepare their kids for school while simultaneously helping teachers when it comes to learning. 

Ensure That Your Child Is Properly Prepared For The Day

If your child enters school unprepared, they are likely to have an unproductive day. For example, leaving stationary behind, forgetting worksheets or books, and simply being in a poor mood can negatively affect their education. 

To prevent this, parents need to ensure that their children are adequately prepared for the day ahead. This can be done by providing them with a healthy breakfast, surrounding them with positive energy, and ensuring that they have all their necessary learning materials. 

Help Your Child With Homework Tasks

Almost every child will battle with homework from time to time. If you want to help the teacher out, take the time to sit down with your kid and assist them with any learning problems that they may have. 

With that being said, you do not have to wait until they have an issue to help them. Supporting them during their at-home learning can make them feel more motivated when it comes to their work. For this reason, it is recommended that you assist your children as much as possible. 

Provide Your Child With a Healthy Home Environment

At-home learning can feel impossible when in a disruptive environment. For this reason, you must find your child a quiet place in which they will be able to work peacefully without any distractions. This could be done by dedicating a particular time for studying. In this timeframe, the house should be kept as quiet as possible. 

Also, you should always ensure that your child is getting a sufficient amount of rest. Often, students become so wrapped up in homework, studying, and extracurricular activities that they do not prioritize their well-being. 

Concluding Thoughts

Educating children can be seen as one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Many students simply do not want to learn, making the task seem impossible at times. For this reason, teachers should get as much help as possible from parents. 

Parents can assist by ensuring that their children are adequately prepared for school. They should also provide their children with a healthy home environment and help them with any homework issues.

If you teach a large group of students, you probably know that every child is different when learning new concepts. For example, some children may respond better to one teaching method, while other children may perform better with another teaching style. To ensure all children can achieve their academic goals, the teacher will need to use differentiated instruction.

What Is Differentiation?

Differentiated instruction is the process of continually adjusting teaching methods, pace, and style to accommodate a diverse group of learners. Teachers will group students based on their learning abilities and skill sets and then assign tasks accordingly. The whole class will be taught the same topic, but they may get slightly different tasks based on their understanding level.

For example, the task might be to read a passage and answer some questions based on it. However, if one group of students struggles with these sorts of comprehension exercises, then the teacher can modify it for the struggling students.

The teacher will not give this group the whole passage to read at once, but they might give them a smaller, more manageable part and ask them to answer one or two questions before assigning the rest of the passage. 

Why Is Differentiation Necessary?

Differentiation is crucial if a teacher wants to make sure that all children can progress despite their different learning abilities and preferences. Differentiated instruction ensures that children are not assigned tasks that are too easy or too difficult for them. 

With differentiated instruction, children get tasks that challenge them to improve and learn a new concept without making them feel frustrated by giving them tasks that they cannot handle.

Implementation

There are multiple strategies that teachers can use to implement differentiated instruction, such as using online tools like Google Classroom. These methods can help teachers design exams that test on the same subject, but the format of the questions is modified according to each student’s level.

Keep in mind that this does not mean designing tests with different questions for each student. Instead, the aim is to create exams according to two or three distinct patterns for different groups of students, such as advanced, middle, and lower. The advanced group will get one pattern, while the lower group will get a different pattern of questions.

Parental Involvement

Parents can also play a key role in getting differentiated instruction for their children. They can help by asking their children to let a teacher know when they are having trouble with an assignment.

Concluding Thoughts

Differentiated instruction is necessary because it helps the whole class progress and not just the naturally gifted kids. It allows for children to grow and learn based on their capacities. In this way, children feel less frustrated and more open to learning new things, as everything is aligned with their pace.

A robust vocabulary is important for every individual to improve their communication skills. With a good grasp of vocabulary, kids learn much better and faster than their peers. They should be encouraged to learn new words routinely so that they are motivated to learn and exhibit interest in studying and acquiring more knowledge. 

Reading Aloud Practice

It is widely believed that reading out loud in classrooms helps kids build their vocabulary. Good teachers are aware of the kind of books they are supposed to be teaching to the students. These books have to be on a level that the kids will understand and show interest in. 

Books that engage students will motivate them to remain active in classrooms and discussions to improve their language and communication skills further. Certain words that children find difficult in classroom reading can be further elaborated in an exciting manner that would be easier for students to grasp. 

Emphasis On Difficult Words

Emphasizing words that teachers know would be challenging for students would help students recognize the passage’s difficult words. Encouraging students to inquire about the difficult words they come across during class reading will only come about if they recognize the difficult words. 

What may appear difficult to the students may be ordinary words to the teachers. A good teacher recognizes the students’ level and emphasizes the words so that students can question their familiarity. For this reason, the reading style of the teachers is highly dependent upon the learning of primary-level students.

Vocabulary Instructions 

According to the experts, ways that help students recognize the essential words in a text are incidental exposure, embedded instruction, and focused instruction. 

Incidental exposure is putting emphasis on the word through your tone, embedded instruction is pointing to objects to help them with the meaning of certain difficult words, and focused instruction is preparing students to learn a new activity that would serve the purpose of motivating them.

Concluding Thoughts

Many skilled teachers across the world practice the technique of reading texts and stories aloud in their classrooms to develop curiosity in children. It also helps engage students in a way that they are further motivated and show enthusiasm in learning. 

Students who have an excellent learning background during their childhood grow up to become successful high schoolers. High schoolers with a higher GPA are reported to have a good grip on vocabulary, which results in their learning and understanding of textbook knowledge being above average.

Letter writing is a fun activity that gives children a way to practice handwriting and teaches them how to compose written text. Moreover, handwritten letters are heart-warming, so that is all the more reason to encourage children to write letters. Continue reading so you can explore ways on how to encourage children to write letters. 

Initiating Discussion About Letter Writing

Letter writing may be considered old-school amongst children today, so they must realize the significance of handwritten letters to become genuinely interested in writing one. Begin by asking children if they have ever received a handwritten letter, and motivate them to talk about how it made them feel. 

Ask them questions, such as how many times did they read it? Did it make them feel special? What did they think while reading the letter? Would they want to get letters again? Would they want to write letters to friends and family? 

Teachers can also make letter writing the topic of group discussion by asking questions, such as what do students think is the difference between a handwritten letter and an email? Is a handwritten letter more special than online communication? 

Invoking sentiment can help them realize the importance of a handwritten letter and warm them up to the prospect of writing one.

Ways Teachers Can Encourage Letter Writing 

Teachers can prompt students to write letters by giving them specific tasks, such as writing the following: 

• Letters to museums or farms asking for permission to visit 
• ‘Thank you’ letters to guest speakers
• Letters of congratulations to friends on their achievements
• Letters that say sorry to their parents for committing a mistake
• Letters to newspapers and magazines

Prompting students to write letters by giving them such tasks helps them with language development and assists them in learning about other subjects. For instance, exchanging letters overseas can encourage an understanding of geography and pique children’s interest in other places. Writing letters to historical figures may help develop students’ curiosity about learning history. 

Ways Parents Can Encourage Letter Writing

Parents can encourage children to write by having them write the following: 

• Handwritten invitation letters to family and friends
• Letters to overseas relatives asking them to visit 
• ‘Thank you’ letters to relatives
• Letters exchanging news with friends or cousins
• Handwritten letters responding to someone who is grieving— showing how much you care by trying to share their sadness and asking if you could help in any way
• Letters of appreciation to teachers to tell them how much you appreciate their efforts

Concluding Thoughts

Writing formal letters in classroom settings helps students develop language and writing skills. Exchanging informal letters with friends and family develops a deeper connection and gives children an excellent memory to cherish. Therefore, teachers and parents should strongly encourage children to get into the habit of writing handwritten letters.

Learning how to make a story map is a smart way to organize your thoughts graphically, and teachers are beginning to realize how story maps can aid in learning. Continue reading to understand what a story map is, its benefits, and how you can teach your students to make a good story map. 

What Is a Story Map? 

A story map is a method that helps aid learning by graphically organizing the critical elements of a story or a book. Students will have to pay attention while reading a story and identify the story’s plot, the main characters, their characteristics, the moral of the story, etc. Then, they will need to organize them graphically. 

Beginners’ story maps only focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story, while intermediate-level story maps prompt students to think about the plot, setting of the story, characters’ traits, etc.

How Do Story Maps Help In Learning?

Thinking through the story and reflecting on the plot and the characters helps develop critical thinking. Attentive reading improves students’ comprehension, and students learn to analyze literature and identify key elements of stories. Graphic organizers help students compartmentalize their thoughts and help them think efficiently. 

How To Make Story Maps

If your students are just beginning to read literature, this is the perfect time to help them learn how to make story maps.

You can begin by providing a blank story map organizer to each student and then fill it in with them the first time to give them a model. Then, after you finish a new story, discuss components, such as characters, setting, plot, and theme, with your students.

After discussing, ask them to fill out their story maps. Check and provide feedback if they miss something crucial and discuss ways of improvement. 

Story Maps For Second Language Learners

Making story maps is a technique that helps all students. It benefits not just students who are performing well academically, but it also helps second language learners, as well. Here are some ways you can modify story maps so that they would help such students.

First, do not give advanced maps to students who have just begun to learn English. Use the easy beginning-middle-end format with them. 

Make it easy for your students by guiding their thought process. Give them prompts and questions. Who are the main characters? What is the story about? What is the setting of the story? 

Initially, begin with easy stories and clear instructions to get into the practice of thinking, organizing their thoughts, and making story maps.

Concluding Thoughts

Story maps are an effective way to teach students how to reflect on texts, analyze the critical elements of the stories they read, and graphically organize their thoughts. This method assists in learning, so it must be better incorporated into the classroom.

Children should be taught the importance of learning and reading early on in their childhood. For kids to grow into successful adults, they need to be fostered by their parents into developing a love for reading. 

Reading different texts helps them gain experience and broadens the learning horizons for children. It builds a foundation for students reflected in their academic performance as they move into high school or college. 

Mastery orientation of kids must be started very early on in their childhood, as well. These children often grow up to go to high school with an above-average GPA. Let’s discuss some ways to develop literacy in children from their early days.

Help Them Improve Their Vocabulary

Reading aloud to your kids when they are not yet capable of reading is a good way of expanding their knowledge. Also, reading aloud can help kids develop a robust vocabulary. 

This is dependent upon how the teacher or parents reads to the child, though. The reading style must be exciting and captivating to children to develop curiosity and motivation to learn the new words. 

Make Use Of E-Learning

E-learning has come a long way, and it is about time that every parent indulged in the benefits offered by technology. This form of learning helps children grow into bright students. 

Child-friendly books are available online that kids can make use of to develop their skills. There are also certain devices that teachers or parents can use to help their students learn better and faster.

Exercises and fun games on the internet focus on developing kids’ cognitive skills and encourage them to read, which further helps foster a love for reading in them. Love for reading can go a long way in a person’s life, and the best time to foster the love for reading is during childhood. 

Start Teaching the Basics From an Early Age

Kids should start learning at home. They don’t necessarily have to go to school to learn their alphabets, shapes, colors, and songs. 

They can be taught the basics very early on in their childhood, and it is in the best interest of the children and their parents to know about the ABCs before they go to school. 

Being able to recognize colors and shapes and certain letters of the alphabet will help them learn faster. 

Concluding Thoughts

There is no right time to educate your children. As soon as children break into this world, parents are responsible for teaching them to be better prepared as they grow older.

Learning to read can be seen as an extremely daunting and challenging task. However, this process is made even more difficult by various dialect and reading difficulties. Unfortunately, thousands of people worldwide are forced to learn with disabilities, such as Dyslexia, ADHD, and poor comprehension skills. 

In this article, we will be discussing these conditions and how they affect people learning to read. 

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities that people are forced to live with. In short, this condition causes students to read words in the incorrect order. A few symptoms include late talking, a delay in learning to read, and learning new words very slowly. 

Many children who have dyslexia do not enjoy reading and avoid it as much as they can. For this reason, they may take even longer to develop their reading skills, as they generally do not practice as much as others. 

To help these students as much as possible, teachers and parents should monitor them while reading. In this way, they can interject whenever a mistake is made, helping the child learn from their errors. 

ADHD

ADHD is another common learning disability that can affect a students’ ability to read. This condition causes the person to struggle when trying to concentrate for an extended period. As a result, they often battle in school and when trying to learn new skills, such as reading. 

There are various treatments that students can turn to if they have ADHD. For example, doctors will often prescribe methylphenidate or dexamphetamine to the students. However, teachers should develop creative ways to keep these students interested during long lessons. 

Poor Comprehension Skills

One issue that many students around the world struggle with is poor comprehension skills. In other words, they can read through a paragraph but will not understand what they have read. This can be caused by several reasons – for example, if the person has an impaired phonological processor. 

However, certain students struggle to understand the meaning of words simply because of the fact that they do not have a wide enough vocabulary. This can be caused by the fact that they struggle to memorize work due to other learning disabilities. 

Concluding Thoughts

There are various learning disabilities that can cause students to struggle when reading. Three prevalent problems that affect students’ reading ability include Dyslexia, ADHD, and poor comprehension skills. 

The teacher must find creative ways to meet these children’s learning needs. For example, they could have short, regular breaks or include attention-grabbing activities.