Professional Learning Resources Online

Research. In Action.

Teachscape Online Professional Learning Resources are designed to help busy professionals—teachers and instructional leaders—deepen their understanding of academic content and of effective, research-based strategies. This will enable educators to apply the content to improve both the processes and outcomes of teaching and learning.

The Teachscape Online Professional Learning Resources provide on-demand access to content modules reflecting research-based best practices, organized in six key areas of professional development:

• The Mathematics Series
• The New Teacher Support Series
• The English Language Learners Series
• The Effective Strategies Series
• The Literacy Series
• The Elementary Science Series

Each series is comprised of a number of study resources that includes:

• Online, multimedia professional learning modules
• A Study Guide that provides suggested paths through the professional learning, reflective questions and suggested applications for independent use or for use by a coach or other instructional leader with a group of teachers
• Recommendations for ongoing professional learning

For a fully downloadable catalog of our resources, click here.

Teachscape Online Studies: The Mathematics Series

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the 12 Professional Learning Resources in the Mathematics Series, the recommended grade levels and the online professional learning modules each includes. Developed in partnership with the Concord Consortium, each of the resources focuses on essential mathematics content for the indicated grades, as defined by the NCTM Standards and Focal Points.

The Online Professional Learning in Mathematics Series
Summary Chart

I. Mathematics for the Elementary Grades

The Foundations of Effective Mathematics Teaching focuses on four essential aspects of effective teaching: (1) deepening understanding of mathematics content for teaching, (2) understanding student thinking, (3) effective formative assessment strategies, and (4) developing an environment that fosters problem solving.Online modules include:

• Foundations of Effective Mathematics Teaching highlights the rational and pedagogy underlying effective practice.Continuous improvement of both teaching and learning is stressed.
• Effective Questioning in the Mathematics Classroom presents ways that questioning makes student thinking transparent and helps deepen their understanding and extend their comprehension. Differences between one-to-one and group discussions are stressed.
• Formative Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom offers rationale and strategies for formative assessments that elicit student understanding and inform teaching practice. Integrating formative assessments with standards and high stakes testing is stressed.

The Big Ideas in Elementary Mathematics: Focus on Problem Solving uses work with a "broken" calculator to identify creative problem solving strategies and use these to support students as they build meaning of mathematics, gain number sense and compute with fluency. The online modules include:

• Problem Solving in Mathematics offers views of various problem solving strategies and the teacher's role in creating an environment that support problem solving. Using questioning and discussions to understand student thinking is stressed.
• Broken Calculator uses exploration of a "broken" calculator to promote number sense, computational fluency and problem solving. Student communication about the strategies and solutions is stressed.

The Big Ideas in Elementary Mathematics: Focus on Number and Operations explores the Big Ideas of two core concepts in elementary math—division and with remainders and the magnitude of fractions—and the research-based strategies to promote student understanding of each. The online modules include:

• Division with Remainders provides insight into the multiple meanings of division and how to help students contextualize and understand division problems.Effective questioning strategies are stressed.
• The Magnitude of Fractions explore effective ways to help students represent and compare fractions as numbers with magnitude, not just as parts of a whole. Proportional (multiplicative) reasoning is stressed.

Studies on Algebra: Algebra in the Elementary Grades provides insights into understanding and teaching the foundational concepts of algebra—patterns, equivalence, order of operations, variables and use of algebraic symbols and representations. The online modules include:

• Pan Balance Equations deepens understanding of the concepts of equivalence, order of operations and appropriate use of algebraic symbols.Effective questioning strategies to promote and support student learning are stressed.
• Patterns and Functions explorea using patterns to identify functions, predict items in a sequence and represent these as pictures, charts and linear equations. Correct use of mathematics vocabulary is stressed.

The Big Ideas in Elementary Mathematics: Focus on Geometry promotes geometric thought through application of the Van Hiele Framework, strategic questioning, inductive and deductive reasoningand by building understanding of the ways in which both concepts and procedures deepen thinking.Online modules include:

• 2D and 3D Figures uses strategies that include reasoning, the vocabulary of mathematics and a four-stage version of the Van Hiele Framework to develop student understanding of geometry.Students' use of reasoning and proof are stressed.
• Calculating the Area of a Triangle promotes the use of both concepts and procedures as problem solving approaches to help students understand effective ways to find areas of non-standard figures. The use of journaling and appropriate mathematics vocabulary to support understanding is stressed.

The Big Ideas in Elementary Mathematics:Focus on Probability and Statistics focuses on helping students use measures of center to describe data sets and to order and organize the data to make predictions that sometimes defy the notion of "fairness." Online modules include:

• Measures of Center explores how to help students organize, represent and describe data and data landmarks and use this to inform initial thinking about a situation.Scaffolding instruction for English learners and use of questioning are stressed in this module.
• Using Data to Make Predictions deepens understanding of probability by exploring concepts of social vs. mathematical fairness, causality and the relationship between sample size and predictions.Use of activities to contextualize the concepts and promote understanding is stressed.

II. Mathematics for the Secondary Grades

Studies in Middle School Math: Proportional Reasoning explores how a teacher uses an engaging activity to help students understand proportional reasoning and apply it to concepts in geometry, measurement, operations and algebra. The online module included is:

• Proportional Reasoning in the Middle Grades promotes application of proportional reasoning to problem solving and to connecting content across the mathematics curriculum. The four levels of proportional reasoning and their application to specific types of problems are stressed.

Studies in Secondary Math: Data Analysis promotes the use of measures of center to interpret relationships within and among data sets by exploring and interpreting patterns. The online module included is:

• Data Analysis focuses on understanding the ways students think about measures of center, the relationships among data set and ways to represent the data to support deep understanding.Use of inductive reasoning to infer relationships is stressed.

Studies in Algebra: Proportional Reasoning explores the relationship between proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking and offers strategies to develop proportional reasoning through understanding student thinking about "real world" problems. The online module included is:

• Proportional Reasoning helps teachers deepen their understanding of and address the predictable challenges of helping students acquire and apply proportional reasoning to understand the multiple meanings of proportions and their applications to algebra. Understanding and advancing student thinking about proportional reasoning is stressed.

Studies in Algebra: Linear Functions grounds the study of algebra in linear functions within the context of "real world" applications to promote the concepts of rate of change, multipleStresses representations, and the graphic and symbolic form of functions as objects for operations.Online modules include:

• Linear Functions focuses on functions as the core objects of algebra by representing, evaluating and manipulating them in multiple ways and in various formats that represent "real world" contexts. Observing and understanding student thinking is stressed in this module.
• Transformations of Linear Functions focuses on the relationship between graphic and symbolic forms of functions as core concepts of algebra—as objects that can be operated upon. The emphasis in this module is on helping student shift from thinking of functions as processes to thinking of functions as objects.

Studies in Algebra: Linear Equations stresses the relationship between equations and functions by promoting a view of equations as functions to which values have been assigned and by offering multiple ways to represent and solve equations and systems of equations.Online modules include:

• Linear Equations examines the relationship between functions and equations and on solving systems of linear equations from the perspective of functions, both symbolically and graphically. The concept of equivalence is stressed.
• Systems of Linear Equations explores problem-solving strategies, beyond the procedural, to solve systems of linear equations. The focus is on non-standard approaches to solutions and on student perceptions and misperceptions of linear equations.

Studies in Algebra: Quadratic Equations explores quadratic functions, equations and transformations through concrete situations and provides analysis of multiple ways to explore their solutions by viewing algebra as objects and processes. Online modules include:

• Quadratic Functions promotes the concept of quadratic functions as a central idea in working with quadratic equations to model "real world" situations. This module stresses understanding student thinking about quadratic functions to inform practice and deepen their understanding.
• Quadratic Equations connects physical, symbolic, tabular and graphic representations of quadratic equations and functions and standard (textbook) and non-standard solutions to these. Stresses functions and relationships as the core of algebra.
• Transformations of Quadratic Functions focuses on the transformations of graphic and symbolic representations of quadratic functions as a means for understanding the characteristics of and solving these functions.In addition to transformations, this module emphasizes dilations, translations and reflections of quadratic functions.

Teachscape Online Studies: The New Teacher Support Series

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the six Online Studies Resources in the New Teacher Support Series, the targeted grade bands and the online professional learning modules each resource includes. The New Teacher Support Series is offered as a two-year course of study to ensure teachers develop the featured pedagogical content knowledge in a sequenced way that reflects the needs of teachers in their first two years of professional service.

The Online Professional Learning in New Teacher Support Series
Summary Chart

I. Online Study Resources for New Teachers - Suggested for Year One

Classroom Management helps teachers organize and manage their classrooms from the first day of the school year, establish effective rules, routines and procedures, monitor student behaviors and ensure that the classroom environment is set up to promote teaching and learning. This resource is built around:

• Beginning of the Year Classroom Management (Elementary) promotes research-based practices to establish and maintain well-managed classrooms. The emphasis of this module is on applying research-based practices proven to ensure the classrooms support effective teaching and learning.

OR

• Secondary Classroom Management (Secondary) promotes developing classroom management systems that, at any time of the year, help teachers organize and manage the environment, make student expectations clear, build effective relationships and foster an environment that promotes student engagement and success. This module stresses development of plans to apply the strategies and develop/re-vamp the way they manage their classrooms.

Essential Teaching Strategies promotes the use of classroom practices that have been proven to make a difference in what students learn and how well they learn it. The core teaching behaviors illustrated are designed to:(1) help teachers focus on those instructional practices that maximize student learning; and (2) apply student management strategies that build student participation and maintain student focus. The online module included is:

• Foundations of Effective Teaching highlights research-based practices used by teachers shown to be effective in establishing and maintaining well-managed classrooms and consistently producing gains in student achievement. This module stresses both effective instructional strategies and group management practices.

Decision-Making for Student Achievement focuses on helping teachers collect, analyze and interpret multiple forms of data and use these to develop class profiles that illustrate instructional groupings that reflect ranges of student learning strengths and needs. The online module included is:

• Instructional Decision Making promotes a systematic process for collecting, analyzing and interpreting student data to group students for instruction and to make decisions about the implications of their identified learning strengths and needs. This module emphasizes the development of an action plan to identify concrete steps teachers can take to ensure the academic achievement of students in each of the identified instructional groups.

II. Online Study Resources for New Teachers - Suggested for Years Two and Three

Deepening Understanding of Student Learning Needs helps teachers dig more deeply into student work, data and ongoing formative assessments to assess and understand the learning strengths and needs of the students and use this information to differentiate lessons for the range of instructional groupings in their class. The included online module is:

• Understanding Student Needs promotes an ongoing, systematic process to assess, interpret and address student learning needs made evident through multiple sources of formal and informal data in a balanced literacy approach. This module emphasizes identifying focus students representative of the learning groups and informing instruction through their learning needs.

Effective Instructional Planning builds on prior work with developing well-managed classrooms and applying effective teaching practices by promoting research-based approaches to effective, outcomes-based instructional planning. The included module is:

• Design for LEARNing offers teachers a research-based model for instructional planning that incorporates strategies to:(1) build on prior knowledge; (2) teach focused, effective lessons; (3) promote active, engaged learning; (4) incorporate reflection; and (5) link to long term learning. This module emphasizes application of effective planning to improve student learning.

Teaching with High Yield Strategies: The Essential Foundation promotes the application of the nine categories of research-based strategies identified by Robert Marzano and his colleagues as effective ways to strengthen teaching practice and improve student achievement. The included modules are:

• High Yield Overview provides an overview of all nine categories of research-based instructional strategies, the research that underlies their identification and a look at the instructional strategies in action—in multiple content areas and with students in a range of grade bands. This module emphasizes the connections among classroom management, curriculum design and instructional strategies.
• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback supports teachers in understanding how these strategies are interrelated and their importance in helping students set a direction for their learning and assess their progress relative to that goal. This module emphasizes both the teacher's and students' use of these strategies to improve student achievement.

Teachscape Online Studies: The English Language Learners Series

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the five Online Studies Resources that focus on working with English Language Learners.Developed in partnership with Stanford University, this series focuses on strategies to develop K-12 English language skills, SDAIE approaches and independent study resources specifically designed for leaders.

The Online Professional Learning in the English Language Learners Series
Summary Chart

English Language Learners—Online Study Resources

Developing English Language Skills focuses on effective ways to promote the four aspects of literacy—listening, speaking, reading and writing—for English Language learners. The included modules are:

• English Language Learners: Listening and Speaking provides specific strategies for promoting active listening and scaffolding the oral language development of ELLs. This module emphasizes explicit teaching to support comprehension and promote use of correct grammar.
• English Language Learners: Reading and Writing focuses on developing comprehension skills through understanding language patterns, developing academic vocabulary and through strategies that offer students methods to access the content of their reading; while promoting effective ways to scaffold and enhance writing skills. This module emphasizes ways to help students "learn to learn."

English Skills for Middle School Students highlights and promotes the use of specific strategies to move English learners along the five levels of English language proficiency—Beginning, Early Intermediate, Immediate, Early Advanced and Advanced—through a focus on both English language development and academic content development. The included module is:

• English Language Development at Middle School offers instructional strategies to promote English language development and academic content knowledge for early adolescents—youngsters in the middle grades. This module emphasizes the theories and research behind the effective strategies and concrete ways to apply the knowledge to middle school instruction

English Skills for High School Students focuses on literacy development—listening, speaking, reading and writing—through a range of approaches that are focused on developing literacy skills. The included module is:

• English Language Development at High School promotes development of literacy-based academic English skills for high school English learners. This module emphasizes specific strategies proven to be effective with high school English learners.

Using SDAIE to Promote English Language Development focuses on helping teachers understand and apply the Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English strategies to help English learners develop both academic content knowledge/skills and English language skills. The modules included are:

• Using SDAIE for English Language Learners promotes SDAIE strategies, based on sheltered instruction, for teaching content to ELLs. This module emphasizes integrating language development activities into content instruction.
• Teaching High School Math Using SDAIE Methodology help teachers understand effective ways to teach key math content to English learners. The emphasis of this module is on promoting use of math vocabulary and concepts to scaffold achievement and English language development.
• Teaching High School Science Using SDAIE Methodology demonstrates the use of SDAIE strategies to promote both deep understanding of high school content and development of English language skills in science classes. This module emphasizes ways to address the challenges of content area teachers in developing content and English language skills.

Promoting English Language Learning:The Leadership Perspective offers school leaders an overview of the key concepts they need to understand to promote, lead, support and sustain effective ELL practices in their schools. The modules included are:

• ELLs and the Law provides an overview of the court decisions and the role of the Office of Civil Rights in shaping policies that inform programs for ELLs. This module emphasizes using state and federal laws and local policies to develop a vision of ELL services at the school site.
• SLA Theory provides an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) theories that school leaders need to promote effective programs for ELLs. This module emphasizes issues that promote or constrain achievement of ELLs.
• Characteristics of Immigrant ELLs focuses on the dual frame of reference that informs the ease with which immigrant students become comfortable in their new language and culture and the particular challenges that adolescent immigrants face. This module focuses on ways the schools can help these newcomers overcome their predictable challenges.
• Teaching Strategies for Content Instruction promotes the use of SDAIE to scaffold both content learning and English language development. This module focuses on strategies school leaders can use to support effective content development for English learners.
• Teaching Strategies for English Language Development examines development of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills for English learners. This module emphasizes best practices that principals can use school-wide to inform EL programs.
• ELLs and Accountability explores the ways in which the standards movement influences both processes and outcomes for ELs. This module emphasizes managing the school improvement process to remove barriers that constrain the achievement of ELs.
• ELLs and Assessment examines issues surrounding the assessment of ELs. This module emphasizes the use and impact of formative tests, criterion-referenced tests and norm-referenced tests on ELs.

Teachscape Online Studies: The Effective Instructional Strategies Series

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the five Online Effective Instructional Studies Resources that focus on understanding and applying a range of research-based instructional strategies, including the nine categories of High Yield strategies identified by Robert Marzano and his colleagues.Developed in partnership with McREL, the San Diego, California school district and the American Federation of Teachers, this series focuses on ensuring both teachers and K-12 students understand and apply the strategies to improve teaching and student achievement.

The Online Professional Learning in Effective Instructional Strategies Series
Summary Chart

Part I: Marzano's High Yield Strategies

High Yield Strategies: The Foundation provides an introduction to the nine categories of instructional strategies and strategies for planning to incorporate these. It also provides High Yield strategies focused on identifying what students will learn and strategies that help inform how well they learn the content. The included modules are:

• High Yield Overview offers an overview of the nine categories of instructional strategies and the context of incorporating these with curriculum design and classroom management. This module emphasizes the research base of the nine categories of strategies and the use of these in groups, not individually, to scaffold improved achievement.
• Planning for High Yield Strategies focuses on the intentional, consistent, and systematic planning necessary to incorporate the strategies effectively with ongoing teaching and learning. This module emphasizes a four-question planning structure to determine effective ways to incorporate the strategies
• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback focuses attention on strategies that define what students will learn and monitor how well they are learning it. This module emphasizes both teachers and students monitoring progress toward clearly defined objectives.
• Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition promotes making the relationship between effort and achievement clear. This module emphasizes the importance of addressing students' attitudes and beliefs in order to underscore the critical importance of effort.

High Yield Strategies: Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge examines the categories of instructional strategies that focus on the ways in which students learn and how they can best synthesize and analyze academic content. The online modules include:

• Cooperative Learning focuses on cooperative learning as a strategy for enhancing student understanding of content and fostering decision-making and conflict resolution skills. This module emphasizes the five key elements of effective collaborative learning.
• Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers provide strategies teachers can use to help students activate their prior knowledge, connect prior knowledge with new knowledge, and organize information. This module emphasizes using these strategies to assess student knowledge as well as for advancing student knowledge.
• Nonlinguistic Representations explores ways students can represent knowledge in nonlinguistic ways—through pictures, graphics, mental images, physical models, and kinesthetic activities. This module emphasizes five proven strategies to help students represent their understanding in nonlinguistic ways.
• Summarizing and Note-Taking promotes strategies to help students think analytically and to deeply engage with academic content, promoting greater comprehension. This module emphasizes distilling and synthesizing complex information through summarizing and note-taking.

High Yield Strategies: Practicing, Reviewing and Applying Knowledge focuses on strategies that build comprehension by requiring students to practice and apply their kills. The online modules include:

• Generating and Testing Hypotheses promotes requiring students to apply their knowledge and use higher-level thinking skills by asking questions about what they know, finding ways to test those questions, and explaining their conclusions. This module emphasizes promoting both inductive and deductive reasoning to improve student learning.
• Homework and Practice focuses on homework and practice as two instructional strategies that provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding of content and practice new skills and extend learning beyond the school day. This module emphasizes using these strategies to deepen content understanding and skill proficiency.
• Identifying Similarities and Differences focuses on comparing, classifying, and creating or recognizing metaphors and analogies as instructional strategies that teachers and students can use to identify similarities and differences between items. This module emphasizes accessing and connecting prior knowledge to new learning to explore content deeply.

Part II: Effective Instructional Strategies

Instructional Strategies to Improve Student Achievement focus on three specific strategies shown to improve student achievement—explicit, direct teaching; differentiating to address student learning needs; and scaffolding to support and enhance student learning. The online modules include:

• Direct Instruction provides information about the underlying research and the five phases of the direct instruction model. This module emphasizes the processes and impact of direct instruction on student learning.
• Differentiating Instruction provides a foundation for differentiating instruction, as understood through the Universal Design for Learning principles. This module emphasizes the planning necessary to differentiate instruction.
• Scaffolding in Action focuses on building knowledge about scaffolding and using scaffolding effectively in classrooms. This module emphasizes assessing student needs, planning for scaffolding and integrating scaffolding with the ongoing teaching.

Strategies to Deepen Student Learning promotes the teaching strategies proven to enhance and deepen student learning. The online modules include:

• Foundations of Effective Teaching explores teaching strategies that underlie establishing and maintaining well-managed classrooms and consistently producing gains in student achievement. This module emphasizes both effective instructional strategies and group management practices.
• Instructional Decision Making promotes a systematic process for collecting, analyzing and interpreting student data to group students for instruction and to make decisions about the implications of their identified learning strengths and needs. This module emphasizes the development of an action plan to identify concrete steps teachers can take to ensure the academic achievement of students in each of the identified instructional groups.
• Understanding Student Need promotes an ongoing, systematic process to assess, interpret and address student learning needs made evident through multiple sources of formal and informal data in a balanced literacy approach. This module emphasizes identifying focus students representative of the learning groups and informing instruction through their learning needs.

Teachscape Online Studies: Literacy

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the seven Online Studies Resources in Literacy that focus on deepening understanding of the theories that form the foundation of effective literacy practices and the application of these practices to promote student achievement in the key areas of literacy—listening, speaking, reading and writing.Independent study resources in literacy are provided for use for teachers of both elementary and secondary grades.

The Online Professional Learning in Literacy Series
Summary Chart

Part I: The Foundations of Effective Literacy Practice

The Foundations of Effective Literacy Practice provides research overviews, instructional implications and application of the key areas identified by the National Reading Panel as key to teaching reading successfully. The online modules include:

• Foundations of Teaching Reading - Phonemic Awareness focuses on developing a deeper understanding of the research base, the components of phonemic awareness and on effective instructional practices in this area. This module emphasizes applications of the research to scaffold effective reading practices.
• Foundations of Teaching Reading - Phonics examines the sound-spelling correspondences in reading instruction. This module emphasizes four specific approaches to teaching phonics effectively.
• Foundations of Teaching Reading - Fluency explores how fluency scaffolds comprehension and how it is different from automaticity. This module emphasizes specific strategies to promote development of fluency.
• Foundations of Teaching Reading - Vocabulary examines effective ways to develop vocabulary to scaffold comprehension. This module emphasizes listening, speaking, reading and writing vocabulary.
• Foundations of Teaching Reading - Comprehension focuses on effective ways to help students extract meaning from text. This module emphasizes linking new knowledge to prior knowledge to scaffold meaning.
• Foundations of Teaching Writing focuses on the writing process as a series of steps all writers go through. This module emphasizes writing as a form of communication that allows students to scaffold comprehension.
• Foundations of Teaching Reading and Writing - Putting It All Together features a roundtable discussion among four experts:Dorothy Strickland, Catherine, Snow, Connie Juel and Isabel Beck. This module emphasizes the challenges of developing a lively and literate environment.

Part II: Reading Research

Understanding the Reading Research:Perspectives from the Experts offers the perspectives of leading researchers for critical aspects of literacy—the role of district/school culture in supporting early literacy, effective comprehension strategies, the recommendations of the National Reading Panel, strategies to prevent reading failure and the importance of teacher preparation. This resource includes:

• Early Reading Success, Edward Kame'enui focuses on four principles for early reading success and the cultures of school and districts needed to support these. This module stresses the factors that contribute to early school success.
• Comprehension and Vocabulary Development, Isabel Beck uses the Text Talk project to illustrate ways teachers can use children's literature to help the youngsters make sense of the text. This module emphasizes the use of both contextualized and decontextualized language to promote comprehension.
• Effective Comprehension Instruction, Michael Pressley examines the key components of effective literacy instruction and the research base for these. This module emphasizes structures in reading programs that help support he development of comprehension.
• Methods to Teach Children to Read, Sally Shaywitz focuses on the work of the National Reading Panel and their report Teaching Children to Read. This module emphasizes research-based strategies that define effective instruction.
• Preventing Reading Failures, Reid Lyon poses reading failure as a public health issues and examines strategies to prevent reading failure in students. This module emphasizes the importance of well-trained teachers in preventing reading failure.
• Reading Instruction and the Importance of Teacher Preparation, Louisa Cook Moats examines the connection between teacher professional development and effective reading and language arts instruction. This module emphasizes how effective instruction is informed by deep understanding of reading development.

Part III: Evidence-Based Practices in Teaching Reading (National Reading Panel)

Evidence-Based Practices in Teaching Reading: Reading First focuses on the essential elements (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension) and proven, research-based strategies for effective reading instruction promoted by the National Reading Panel in their landmark study, Teaching Children to Read (2000). The online modules include:

• Phonemic Awareness and Phonics promotes the critical nature of helping children manipulate phonemes through activities such as blending and segmentation, to support development of spelling and reading. This module stresses the research that shows small group instruction in phonemic awareness is more effective than whole group or individual instruction. The phonics section of this module focuses on letter/sound correspondence, word patterns, word-building and blending. The module stresses the importance of these foundational skills in scaffolding reading, spelling and writing skills.
• Letter-Sound Correspondences offers teachers a range of effective strategies for teaching letter-sound correspondences for consonants, short vowels, and consonant digraphs and letter-sound correspondences in Spanish. This module emphasizes engaging and effective ways to teach this aspect of phonics.
• Word-Building offers teachers a way to help students decode text by building, decoding and changing words made from 3–4 consonants and 1–2 vowels. This module emphasizes the application pf letter-sound correspondences to promote decoding.
• Vocabulary Development focuses on developing both oral and print (reading and writing) vocabulary that is taught both directly and indirectly, in age-appropriate ways. This module stresses developing vocabulary in authentic ways, using literature as a base.
• Fluency focuses on reading fluency, an often-neglected area of reading instruction, which is seen as the bridge between word recognition and comprehension. This module focuses on developing accuracy, speed, reading with expression and automaticity.
• Talking About Texts is one of the two included modules that focus on comprehension. This module examines effective strategies teachers can use to frame discussions that help students construct meaning from text. This module emphasizes comprehension as an active process that builds on phonics, fluency and vocabulary development.
• Comprehension Strategies is the second module that focuses on comprehension by promoting the construction of meaning through strategies to improve text comprehension. This module focuses on comprehension strategies educators can use before, during and after instruction.

Part IV: Best Practices in Writing

Best Practices in Teaching Writing presents effective strategies for implementing the writing process with elementary students. Together, the three online modules that follow offer a comprehensive overview of how teachers can develop the critical structures that support effective writing, improve student writing through conferencing and celebrate the final writing products by sharing and publishing the student text.

• Organizing for Writing promotes developing and implementing structures to support student writing, including systematic instruction, modeling, focus lessons, pre-writing and connecting to literature. Writing as a recursive process is stressed in this module.
• Writing Conferences encourages students to improve their writing through focused feedback in student-student or teacher-student writing conferences during every phase of the wring process. This module emphasizes the different purposes for writing conferences and how these map to the prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing phases of the writing process.
• Sharing and Publishing provides a structure for helping students revise and celebrate their writing. This module emphasizes the multiple purposes for sharing writing and specific strategies to encourage student to share their writing with others

Part V: Effective Instructional Practices in Literacy

Effective Literacy Practices highlights two critical instructional strategies proven to improve reading practice and outcomes—scaffolding and differentiation. These practices are at the core of helping teachers target appropriate instruction to address student learning needs and provide the support the students need to become capable and confident readers. The online modules include:

• Scaffolding in Action promotes the idea that effective scaffolding is more than simply offering students support as they learn challenging content, it includes nine common features that help students along the continuum to become independent learners. This module emphasizes the common features of effective scaffolding strategies and the knowledge and skills teachers need to scaffold children's learning effectively.
• Differentiating Instruction uses the three principles of the Universal Design (UDL) to inform instruction that addresses student learning needs: (1) representing information in multiple ways (representation); (2) providing multiple pathways for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills (expression); and (3) using multiple methods to engage and motivate students (engagement). This module emphasizes UDL as a guiding principle to differentiate instruction and provide access to learning for students.

Part VI: The Book Review Series

Essential Readings in Literacy promotes seminal ideas that inform teaching and learning of literacy. The three noted researchers featured focus on addressing the challenges that teachers often face in shaping effective literacy instruction:the impact of dyslexia, using the structure of language to promote literacy teaching and learning and both the assets and constraints of teacher-centered and student centered learning. The online modules include:

• Book Review: Overcoming Dyslexia, Sally Shaywitz explores the biological basis for dyslexia and other reading problems, offers concrete ways to diagnose reading problems and offers specific strategies for helping teachers support students with dyslexia and help them become effective readers. This module emphasizes a number of accommodations teachers can make to help students with reading problem.
• Book Review: Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers, Louisa Moats focuses on the key aspects of language structure that teachers can use to inform their work. This Book Review stresses the sound system of speech and language, the structure of words, spelling, the study of meaning in language and syntax.
• Book Review: The Academic Achievement Challenge:What Really Works in Classrooms, Jeanne Chall highlights the debate over teacher-centered and student-centered classrooms by providing an analysis of the benefits and constraints of both and stressing the importance, regardless of approach, of aligning the instructional design of a lesson with the expected student outcomes.

Part VII: The English Language Arts Series

The English Language Arts Series promotes improved student outcomes in secondary Language Arts by providing research-based strategies for teachers to use to improve their practice relative to core high school language arts content. The online modules included are:

• Project CORE: English Language Arts (Providing Text Evidence) focuses on improving instruction in key content that includes improving student performance in making inferences, generalizations, and conclusions with text evidence. This module emphasizes the development of strategies to improve teachers' instructional practice.
• Project CORE: English Language Arts (Teaching Vocabulary highlights specific ways teachers can improve and deepen instruction in vocabulary. This module also offers specific strategies to improve teachers' instructional practice.
• Project CORE: English Language Arts (Analyzing Text Structures) enables teachers to improve their strategies in supporting student analysis of expository text structures. As with the prior CORE modules, this also provides specific strategies to improve teachers' instructional practice.

Other

In addition to the seven Literacy Series resources noted above, Teachscape offers two basal-aligned series that have been customized for California—the Open Court series and the Houghton Mifflin series of online modules.

Teachscape Online Studies: Science

The following Summary Chart provides an overview of the two Online Studies Resources in science that focus on deepening understanding of physical science content and effective strategies for teaching the content to improve student achievement in understanding key concepts of elementary science—magnetism, properties of minerals, density and the impact of natural forces on the earth.

The Online Professional Studies in Science Series
Summary Chart

Studies in Earth Science

The Earth Science Series promotes deep understanding of two key areas in elementary earth science—the impact of erosion and the properties of minerals. The two online modules included promote student engagement and exploration through specific instructional strategies proven to improve student achievement in science and other content areas:

• Investigating Properties of Minerals Using the 5 E's examines two essential properties of minerals—hardness and light transmission—through hands-on studies informed by the 5 E Instructional Model—engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. This module stresses the importance of questioning to guide student understanding of the content.
• Science as Inquiry: Investigating Erosion promotes exploration and understanding the impact of the forces of nature on the earth. The featured teacher uses collaborative learning groups to engage her students in hands-on explorations of the ways in which forces of nature change and re-shape the earth. This module emphasizes ways teachers can develop and support collaborative learning groups to deepen student learning.

Studies in Physical Science

The Physical Science Series highlights two important concepts in elementary physical science—density and magnetism. The two online modules shape student investigations through effective pedagogy proven to improve student achievement in science and other content areas:

• Investigating Density: Why Objects Sink or Float explores the properties of density by investigating why some objects float while others objects sink, covering content that focuses on mass, weight, surface area and density. This module promotes an approach that integrates math and science to design, conduct and report on the investigations.
• Magnetism: Using Students' Questions to Guide Learning features investigations of magnetism that are guided by a consultation with a working scientist, the state learning expectations for students and the questions generated by the students about magnets and magnetism. This module emphasizes the importance of student questioning in guiding scientific inquiries.