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Visual Tools for for Differentiating Reading and Writing Instruction
A book for teachers focused on drawing and telling as writing tools may seem a tad strange, especially in a time when mandated literacy testing leaves little room for extras or frills. Yet students struggling with literacy need these tools urgently. Storyboards with simple drawing increase weak readers' comprehension skills and engage older, reluctant writers for the first time. Reaching struggling students is important, but the same visual tools that engage the reluctant writer have long been used as the secret weapon of teachers in the gifted and talented class to make instruction more engaging for learners who need more challenges.
Here's the good news: Teachers who initially try alternative tools as a means of reaching their text-challenged learners often discover they can tap powerful learning potential that just can't be reached with text alone. In fact, teachers find they can reach learners with a broad range of skills-using the same tools.
Learn more about how to use storyboards to improve literacy instruction in your classroom through the excerpts below and in the Scholastic Professional book Visual Tools for Differentiating Reading and Writing Instruction by Roger Essley, Linda Reif, and Amy Rocci.
Articles
Scholastic Professional | Storyboards are widely used because we know pictures combined with text offer a rich synthesis of information that can entertain and inform. This technique can be an invaluable tool when differentiating reading and writing instruction.
Scholastic Professional | Tips on how to use visual tools, such as storyboarding, to differentiate instruction in a reading program.
