Teaching for Understanding “If I had a nickel …” is the overused phrase I fight the temptation to say out loud when teachers tell me that they just taught something and their students don’t remember. What actually comes out is usually along the lines of “don’t take it personally. Your students are not out to […]
Readers' Workshop
Guided Reading where Everyone Reads
Why every student should read their own book The number one reason that Guided Reading is a successful way to boost students’ independent reading levels is because each student is reading and rereading the bulk of the time. If they are waiting for their turn to read, we’ve lost all that time they could have […]
Reading Strategy: Find the Main Idea
Importance The main idea is the central, or most important, idea in a paragraph or passage. Arguably, being able to identify the main idea is the most important skill for students when reading nonfiction, but it doesn’t stop there! Finding the main idea is only the first step in summarizing a text, and so being […]
Prepping for Workshop Model: Classroom Design
For me, the weeks leading up to an in-service week are the most exciting and the most overwhelming. I am eager to meet my students and make my classroom come alive, but I also know there’s a lot of “boring” work I should be creating as well. For a Workshop Model classroom, there is quite […]
Critical Analysis of a Poem in Middle School
Most middle school students are not thrilled to learn that they will be analyzing one poem over three days.
Teaching Text Evidence Without The Groans!
There are several topics that make students groan when you announce them…proving a point with text evidence is among the top five.
Readers’ Workshop: Managing Student Choice
As a Literacy Coach, I view my main job as getting kids to love reading. Here are some of my tricks!
Activate Schema and Engage Students with an Anticipation Reaction Guide
Why? While activating background knowledge might not be one of the “Super 6” comprehension strategies, I would argue that this is where every reader should start. As a reader, when I pick up a new text, I question what it is going to be about and what I already know about the subject. Sometimes, I might […]