Just as science has informed our understanding of the reading brain and instruction, researchers are also providing expertise into this process through a lens of implementation science.
Intersecting Research with Educational Practice
The Windward School follows a research-based, multisensory, direct instruction model, so faculty are not only continually trained in teaching best practices but also encouraged to apply proven research strategies in their classrooms every day.
Skilled use of language is one of a teacher’s greatest, most valuable, and potent tools, if it is well and wisely used.
Educators hold the paramount responsibility to create a learning environment that broadens our students’ language and worlds. It is vital that all schools address the research and implications of the role of language in the learning process.
With preliminary data on reading emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic suggesting further reading decline, it has never been timelier to harness the opportunity to rebuild and broaden a system of reading education for all children.
Read alouds provide critical time for students to strengthen their comprehension abilities, answer inferential questions about nuanced characters and plot points, and learn new vocabulary words in context.
We never outgrow a shared read aloud, and all ages benefit. As children enter the tween years, we must renew our commitment to reading aloud and embrace innovative ways to breathe new life into a familiar habit.
At a systemic level, we must deeply examine the ways in which teachers' professional development is offered and seek entrepreneurial solutions for future learning for educators in an uncertain environment.
Research has demonstrated the importance of providing opportunities for children to practice newly acquired skills in engaging ways, and game play is critical to help students integrate information.
Through the Windward/Haskins in-school research study, Windward faculty were trained in EEG to learn about brain imaging techniques.