What is adaptive teaching?

Adaptive teaching has become a key focus in classrooms, aimed at making learning more inclusive and accessible to all students. This approach enables teachers to tailor their instructions to diverse learning needs without lowering expectations.   

Implementing adaptive strategies can be difficult, especially when trying to balance the diverse needs of students with the constraints of time and resources. With Clicker, teachers can overcome common barriers to adaptive teaching and create an inclusive learning environment where every student can thrive. 

Our three-level Clicker Books and writing grids are designed to support students of all abilities. This means everyone can access the same topic content in a way that suits their reading and writing needs.

The resources are designed to work hand-in-hand, providing a consistent and inclusive approach to learning that encourages students to engage with reading and writing across the curriculum.

Three-level books for adaptive teaching and reading support

Clicker’s three-level books are a fantastic new resource for reading support in the classroom. Each book is available in three distinct reading levels, ensuring every students - whether emergent, struggling, or fluent readers - can dive into the same topic content.

Read It Yourself 📖

Content: One simple sentence per page, designed for students who are just starting to read independently. The focus is on decoding and basic comprehension. 

Support: On each page children are encouraged to attempt reading the sentence for themselves. However, the words can be read aloud by clicking on them, or a speaker button can be added to offer maximum scaffolding.

Purpose: This level is ideal for emergent readers who need support with word recognition but are encouraged to engage independently. 

Read in Steps 📘

Content: Multiple simple sentences on a page. This version is ideal for students who need more support to break down information. 

Support: “Bite-sized” chunks of information in short sentences so students access small pieces of information one bit at a time. Text-to-speech feedback is available throughout.

Purpose: The focus here is on breaking down complex ideas into manageable parts, allowing students to access information at their own pace.

Read a Book 📙

Content: This level offers the most complex text, with longer, in-depth explanations and more challenging vocabulary. So, this book type is perfect for students who are confident readers.

Support: A speaker button is offered to develop reading fluency in longer pieces of text. Students can also click on individual words to hear more complex words read aloud.

Purpose: At this stage, students work with more ambitious content, requiring a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the ability to express their ideas through written responses. 

While the text complexity changes across levels, the topic content stays the same. This means students can explore the same subjects together, no matter their reading ability, encouraging inclusion and shared learning experiences.

Clicker writing grids for adaptive teaching writing support

Clicker’s writing grids have always been a staple for supporting writing development, and a customer favorite.

They offer three levels of support that align perfectly with their Clicker Book counterpart:

Sentence Sets 🖊️

Students recreate exact sentences from the books, reinforcing reading and writing connections. These align with Read It Yourself Clicker Books.

Connect Sets ✍️

Students match sentence fragments (beginnings, middles, and endings) to build their own sentences, combining structure with creativity. Connect Sets match our Read in Steps Clicker Books.

Word Banks 📝

Topic-specific vocabulary banks that help more independent writers express their understanding using key words from the books. Word Banks are organized in tabs to provide access alphabetically or through topic areas. They accompany our Read a Book Clicker Books.

How Clicker’s reading and writing resources work together

Clicker's writing activities mirror the content of the three-level books, ensuring a seamless transition from reading to writing. As a result, students feel more confident as they move between reading and writing tasks, reinforcing their understanding and skills.

The magic of Clicker’s resources lies in how they complement each other. To begin, students can read about a topic at a level that suits them. Then they can move on to writing activities that reinforce what they’ve learned. As a result, students are supported in both reading comprehension and writing skills which helps them engage more deeply with the curriculum.

Clicker’s flexibility also makes it a powerful tool for adaptive teaching. Whether a student needs additional scaffolding or is ready for more independent tasks, Clicker enables teachers to tailor reading and writing activities to suit individual learning needs.

For example, a students might read about the Shang Dynasty at their reading level and then use a matching writing grid to create sentences, connect ideas, or write independently using topic-specific vocabulary.

This method keeps learning cohesive and accessible, no matter where a student is on their learning journey.

What are the benefits of using Clicker’s three-level books and writing grids? 

• Inclusive curriculum 🫶: By offering different levels of content on the same topic, Clicker ensures that every student, no matter their reading level, can engage with the subject matter and demonstrate understanding. 
  

• Scaffolded support 🏗️: The books provide scaffolds - from simple sentences to complex vocabulary - that progressively build students’ skills, ensuring that no one is left behind. 
  
  
• Flexibility in teaching 🔀: Teachers can use the books to support adaptive teaching, modifying the pace, support, and materials to meet the diverse needs of their class. This approach aligns perfectly with the goal of personalized learning - tailoring instruction to the individual needs of each learner. 

Extra activities to reinforce curriculum learning

Beyond reading and writing resources, Clicker offers a range of interactive activities for children to respond to the text and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding:

• Talk Sets 🔊: Students can discuss topics and share ideas aloud, building speaking and listening skills.
  
  
• Clicker Board 🎨: Learners can manipulate and link any combination of words, pictures and sounds as they summarize the text.
  
  
• Make a Book 📕: Students create their own books based on what they’ve learned, encouraging creativity, understanding, and retelling.

These activities provide varied ways for students to interact with content. Consequently, learning is more dynamic, enjoyable, and inclusive as students choose how to show their understanding.

Find out more about Clicker's inclusive learning resources

🔍 The science of reading and Clicker's decodable books

🧮 Early writing – planning and pre-teaching with LearningGrids

📖 How to make reading more accessible in inclusive classrooms

📹 On-demand webinars: Free recordings of our fantastic webinars. Explore how Clicker can support a variety of learners, needs, and settings.