Teaching Reading
Our contributors lead reading workshops in classrooms with creative flair. Over the past 12 years, we've filled our site with loads of suggestions, tools, and tips for using engaging books throughout the curriculum to hook kids on reading. Here is where you will find many stories of successful and not-so-successful workshop days, and what we learned from them. We bring these stories to life through hundreds of video examples.
Latest Content
Picture Walks for Comprehension: Conferring with Dylan
Katrina Edwards confers with first grader Dylan, teaching this young English language learner the value of picture walks for comprehension.
The Power of Group Conferences in Fifth Grade
Katherine Sokolowski explains why group conferences can be a powerful tool for building a reading community. The article includes a video of a group conference in her fifth-grade classroom.
Previewing a Book with Zoe
Andrea Smith uses a reading conference with fourth grader Zoe to preview a book.
“Old Age Sticks”: Poetry Analysis in Eighth Grade
Christy Rush-Levine leads her middle school students in a choral reading and analysis of “Old Age Sticks” by E. E. Cummings. This is the first installment in a two-part series.
Playful Texts for Beginning Readers
Shari Frost uses playful texts to increase interest and stamina in emergent readers. She shares many of her favorites in this booklist.
Loving Books or Reading?
Justin Stygles wonders why a love of books doesn't necessarily translate into a love of reading for his fifth and sixth graders.
Toward More Meaningful Extension Activities
Shari Frost challenges assignments in reading workshop that kill a love of wordplay and vocabulary development.
Replicating or Deepening?
Jennifer Schwanke finds teachers can get territorial about texts, “claiming” them for their grade level. She explores when it is appropriate to repeat the use of a text in subsequent grades.
Beyond the Comfort Zone: Books for Our Times
Christy Rush-Levine explains why she stocks some books in her middle school classroom library that can provoke concerns from families, and how she deals with conflicts.
Charts as Tools, Charts as Teachers
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills give three principles they use to help avoid the “charts as wallpaper” syndrome in their fourth-grade classroom.
Pulling Weeds
Leigh Anne Eck works to overcome years of student reliance on a reading incentives and rewards program by fostering reflection and intrinsic motivation with her sixth graders.
Critical Thinking and Captain Underpants
Christy Rush-Levine and some struggling eighth-grade readers consider misogyny in a popular children’s book.
Embracing the Books My Students Love
Franki Sibberson explains why we need to move beyond our cherished definitions of quality when working with third graders in transition and embrace the books students love.
Superpowers and a Middle School Classroom Library
Christy Rush-Levine explains how she gradually stocked her middle school classroom library, as well as how she uses student librarians to ensure books aren’t lost.
Helping Young Readers Focus on Print
Shari Frost observes a teacher conferring with a first grader who is mystified at the advice to "get your mouth ready," and it leads her to consider what works best in helping young readers.
Thinking About Fluency
Cathy Mere finds that with young learners, not all issues with fluency are created equal—different needs require different strategies.
The Living: Book Talk
Christy Rush-Levine introduces The Living to her eighth graders.
Book Talk: Trouble
Christy Rush-Levine previews the book Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt.
Book Talk: When We Broke Up
Christy Rush-Levine piques the interest of her eighth graders in When We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.
Tweets in the High School Classroom
Gretchen Schroeder finds that tweets are a terrific quick assessment tool for analyzing student understanding of everything from nonfiction texts to character development in classic literature.
Tweeting a Favorite Author
Katherine Sokolowski helps one of her fifth-grade students compose a tweet to a favorite author.
Making Plans for Summer Reading
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills begin a few days before the start of break to help students develop summer reading goals and plans.
A Formula for Great Book Talks
Christy Rush-Levine explains her formula for successful book talks in middle school that grab students' attention. We've also included a sample book talk.
Getting Teens Out of Reading Ruts: The Sampler
Carly Ullmer describes the activity she’s developed for getting her middle school readers out of reading ruts by sampling different authors and genres.
Graphic Novels for Beginning Readers
If you are looking to increase the quantity and quality of graphic novels for your learners in your classroom library, Shari Frost has a new booklist to get you started.
Choosing and Refining Student Goals
Katie DiCesare shares the process of having her first graders choose their literacy goals, and her role in helping them refine goals through observation and conferring.
Deep Reading of Picture Books in Middle School
Christy Rush-Levine shows the power of using picture books with young adolescents to model close reading and deepen comprehension of sophisticated texts.
Modeling Nonfiction Writing for English Language Learners: Part 3
Stella Villaba models nonfiction writing for her first- and second-grade English language learners, and in the process integrates vocabulary instruction into her lesson. This is the final video in a three-part series.
The Case for the Sonnet
Gretchen Schroeder makes a case for teaching the sonnet to teenagers in the age of texts and Twitter.
Character Traits Through Word Sorts
Melanie Swider finds word sorts are a great way to help intermediate students master new vocabulary for describing character traits.
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