SIM Virtual Professional Learning: Canvas Course
Understanding Academic Language
The writers of academic textbooks often use complex language structures that are very different from the everyday speech patterns that students actually use. Thus, many learners find academic text extremely difficult to understand. In order to improve their understanding, students must understand how words and phrases are arranged to create wellformed sentences. They must also understand the role that active and passive voice play in creating comprehension, how connectives are used to signal relationships between ideas, and the importance of pronouns. Built around the four-step TEXT Strategy, Understanding Academic Language provides a framework that teachers can use to convey this information.
Pretest and posttest research results indicated that students who learned the strategy increased their average performance between 18 - 28% (compared to their peers) when answering questions about word passages.
Register Anytime and Complete the Course at your own pace.
Course Price: $225 (*plus guidebook)
STEP ONE: Fill out the Online Registration Form
STEP TWO: PAYMENT
- To pay by check or purchase order (PO), download the form (.pdf)
- To pay by credit card, visit our online store or call our order desk, 785-864-4780, with your credit card information between 9 am and 4 pm CST.
STEP THREE: Purchase Guidebook (if you haven't already) For this session you will need the following materials:
Participants will receive the following materials as part of their registration: Access to the Understanding Academic Language Professional Development Course on Canvas, access to digital teacher resources, and two one-hour follow-up coaching sessions.
Refund Policy: There will be no refunds issued for this course.
This is a self-paced and self-guided course housed in the Canvas Learning Management System. We estimate that it will take approximately 4.5 hours to complete.
This time estimate includes time to:
- watch the brief videos,
- complete quick experiential activities in the modules, and
- read the accompanying materials (modest estimate).
Among many individual factors, the length of time will vary due to reading and working speed, or if you implement the lessons with students between participating in the modules. Another factor for time variance is whether this is your first SIM Learning Strategy.
This course includes access to a virtual SIM Professional Developer on Zoom. These online coaching sessions include additional time of approximately 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your requested level of support.
We've had great feedback from people who've attended this course with a colleague, so think about attending with someone from your school or district.
An accessible version of the documents on this site will be made available upon request. Please contact the KU CRL Professional Development Research Institute, at simpd@ku.edu to request the document be made available in an accessible format.