Activity Posters in English and Spanish. According to the paper, vocabulary is key to reading comprehension and a top predictor of intelligence and success in life. Numerous instructional strategies abound to help students acquire a larger vocabulary. Tim Shanahan, director of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Literacy, said the only vocabulary technique that doesn't work is writing out definitions. Independent reading is another way to increase vocabulary because students learn the meaning of unknown words indirectly from context.
Students have to be able to write articulate and coherent essays.
Yet many students and employees cannot write in a coherent fashion, reports the paper. Kay Phillips, head of the journalism school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, blames poor writing skills on a decline in reading literature and teaching grammar. Pesche Kurilof, director of the Mellon Writing Project at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that low standards are the culprit. Many writing teachers hope an emphasis on revising and editing first draft work will put an end to sloppy writing, notes the paper. Many attorneys who represent and advocate for children and students are dismayed with what they consider to be the lack of common sense that underlies many zero tolerance policies.