Read professionally. Read personally. Read. Read. Teach Reading.

Every teacher should read professionally.  Now that I buy books on my ereader, my kindle, the stack does not look as impressive.  I am quite pleased with the amount of reading I still do though.  Are you?

Reading Logs … why or why not?

What is the purpose of a reading log?  Are you for or against?  Do they work?  Here is a thoughtful post…

http://coachingchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/10/reading-logs.html

Why choice is important

Students should choose their own books.  I want to read the books I that I pick.  I want the same for students.  Students need to understand that reading is not a school activity.  Choice helps with this. 

Students should experience many things to be successful with reading:  book choice, talking about books with friends/classmates, reading purposes (why read this book?), and book characteristics (genres, author, characters).

Students are successful with reading when they know how to identify if a book is just right for them.  Children should read lots of books that are easy (child knows all words), and should not read books that have too many words that the child cannot read.   

Children need to identify the reasons to read the book.  Teachers support independence by providing time to read during class and then discuss the books with a friend or classmate.

Sometimes when a student gets stuck choosing a book or sticking with a book these lessons help:  books with repetition, familiar formats, books with picture support, books that are familiar to the student, story structure, and just fun or appeal to the student. 

Picture Support:  Chalk; Carlo likes reading

Familiar to Students: Knuffle Bunny, lots of options

Story Structure: Cookie’s Week

Appeal to Students: I Stink!

Repetition: Pete the Cat; books by Eric Carle

Talking about Books – how to have conversations with our friends about books

- no raising hands

- speaker talks so others can hear, speaker talks in a clear voice (no mumbles)

-if 2 people start to talk at the same time, someone needs to let the other person speak

-look at the person talking.  The person talking should at others in the group too.

-no extra conversations

-pay attention to turns, did you already talk, let someone else talk

-I agree with you… ; I disagree with you… I am thinking the same thing… Here in the text I notice…

30 Book Challenge!

http://readwritetalk.wordpress.com/2010/08/22/30-book-challenge-here-we-come/

This is an awesome idea!  I hope that many schools join in it!

http://www.goodreads.com/

Having students connect through facebook and this site to talk about books is also a great idea!

“Lunch Bunch” or Small Group Intervention or Try Again or “We Do” Group

When the teacher identifies a point for intervention, the teacher pulls a child or a small group of children together for a small intervention.  The teacher is coaching this group at the point of need. 

The top award-winning choir knows what it takes to accomplish greatness!  The choir director holds individual singing lessons for his students.  He also mandates alto, tenor, bass, and soprano lessons each lunch period to reinforce the separate parts to the songs. During the regular choir class, the whole group sings together.  During small group lessons, the singers learn to sing as a section.  During the individual lessons, each singer’s weakness is corrected and tweaked until perfection is reached. 

Once a concept is taught at the whole group level, some children benefit from a small group level, and some benefit from individual instruction. 

Whole group comprehension instruction

Before Reading

Explicit, Clear Teaching Point

Engagement of Students

Today your job is… (finish the sentence)

During Reading

All students read the text (on-grade level and below grade level text, varied depending on the day and the lesson) (How will I support my readers so that all readers will be successful with the text today?)

Format for Reading

Student Engagement

Reading not paper/ not dittoes

Read-Stop-Think-Talk

After Reading

Revisit the teaching point – how do I know that the students were successful today?

Small Group Comprehension Instruction (Lunch Bunch) (Let’s try this again) (We Do Group)

1. Individual children reread familiar books (at least 2, possibly 3) that have been previously read (while the teacher takes a running record on one child possibly)

2. The teacher tells the children to write from memory high frequency words that the teacher dictates.  The words might be one a white board, might be in a notebook, depending if you are tracking their progress

3. Small group of children make words using magnets (or does a Making Words Lesson by Pat Cunningham) Teacher Directed

4. Teacher introduces a new book, children read it.

5. Cut ups with the new book

6. Child takes home old book with cut up strips.

7. Child rereads 2 previously written sentence strip stories and matches the cut-up words.

8. Child writes a new story based on book today – writes those he knows, blends others, teacher support.  Read sentence, teacher writes on strip, and cuts out words.  Child matches twice and puts together twice without matching.

Individual Comprehension Instruction (Independent Reading / Self Selected Reading)

Anything in the small group instruction could be done one-on-one.

During independent reading, sitting one-on-one and conferring with students is effective.

Self Selected Reading (Independent Reading) Looks Like / Sounds Like

Easy Reading Matters

Marie Clay’s wise advice, ” Every time a child reads a sentence… every (single) word in the sentence profits by being used, … moving further towards fluency [to] automatic responding” (Observing Young Readers. Marie Clay 1982, Heinemann, pg.4)

Just Right Books / Keep on Reading

 

Just Right Books

 

To help keep kids’ in seats instead of moving back and forth to picking out books during their self-selected reading time (or independent reading time), book baggies help.  Often, teachers will have their students place books that are at their level or are ‘just-right’ books into the baggies.  Some teachers will include nonfiction books, magazines, fiction books, picture books, even chapter books.

Choice Matters at All Ages

It would be great if all Middle Schools adopted this philosophy.  High Schools too! 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?pagewanted=1&ref=education

Ramblings from Deb Renner Smith: Procedures for Independent Reading

Procedures for Independent Reading

We know that children need to read a lot during independent reading.  As classrooms start up this Fall, how do we ensure that our students are actually reading during reading? 

I wrote a chapter about read aloud in True Stories. 

http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/read-alouds-matter/

Read Alouds:  Each day the teacher includes at least one read aloud.  This allows students to have exposure to great books.  One day the teacher reads a story called, Petunia, by Roger Duvoison.  Petunia a character who does not know the there are words in books or that books should be open.  At the conclusion of the book, she learns, “Now I understand.  It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing.  I must put it in my mind and in my heart.  And to do that I must learn to read.”      http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/self-selected-reading-procedure-books/           http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/read-wisely-like-petunia/        

Another day the teacher might read a book such as Wolf!, by Becky Bloom.        This book is a wonderful example of reading fluently.  As the teacher decides what books to read aloud each day there are different teaching points:  variety of genres, a chapter book series that your students are ready for, a chapter from a chapter book so students will want to read the book, books that you just love, books with specific teaching points, mentor texts related to writing or other topics, an author study, or theme books.  By planning our read alouds and thinking about what books will be read to our students, we make sure that our children will be exposed books throughout the school year. 

Classrooms across America have been unpacked in August.  Teachers think about how to ensure easy access to books.  Many teachers buy or build lots of bookshelves, containers, and labels to organize their books. 

  

Teachers make sure that the students under the organization system in place so that the children can easily find the books they are interested in reading and return them to their proper spots. 

  Students are taught how to pick out a “Just Right” book.  I wear HOPE College t-shirts.  I HOPE you can pick a just-right right book.  http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/just-right-books/ 

Students need to stay in one special place while reading.  The no wandering rule must be reinforced.  http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/where-do-you-read/   

http://writingeverydayworks.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/just-right-books-awesome-lesson/