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
Poems Facing Art: Ekphrasis
Shirl McPhillips considers ekphrasis (poetry inspired by art) in her own poetry and reflection.
Value-Added: Moving Assessments from “Inflicted” to “Student-Owned”
Gretchen Taylor looks closely at the superficial reading responses of one student, and then uses a mid-year assessment to challenge all of her middle school readers to think, talk, and write more deeply about their reading.
Poetry All Year Long
Ann Williams shares how she builds a love of poetry in her fourth-grade classroom all year long.
Quick Sketch Practice
Linda Karamatic uses quick sketches to teach her second graders about sensory images in reading. This is the second installment in a two-part series.
Quick Sketch Sensory Images Read Aloud: Introduction
Linda Karamatic uses quick sketches to teach her second graders about sensory images in reading. This is the first installment in a two-part series.
Tracking Thinking While Reading
Melissa Styger confers with a fourth-grade student using a template to help students track thinking and comprehension.
Creating Anchor Charts with Multiple Classes
It’s a dilemma many middle school teachers face. How do you construct anchor charts with multiple groups of students, when only one chart will be hung in the room? Katherine Sokolowski explains how she ensures all classes have input and a “clean slate” in constructing charts.
Book Matchmaker: Read Aloud Versions of Old Favorites
Franki Sibberson presents some delightful versions of classic tales perfect for read alouds with youngsters.
Reading as Reward
Principal Jennifer Schwanke finds herself on a mad dash to buy a baked potato for a struggling reader, and this is the moment that crystallizes for her everything that is wrong with most reading rewards (especially those involving food).
Ten Classic Ideas That Still Work
Teachers are always on the hunt for something new, even as we cherish what works well year after year. Franki Sibberson lists the activities that have stood the test of time in her classroom.
What Anchor Charts Are Essential?
Katherine Sokolowski considers what anchor charts are essential in her fifth-grade classroom, and where they work best for posting.
Conferring, Rereading, and Comprehension
Aimee Buckner confers with Brendan, who is rereading Hoot and needs some strategies for holding his thinking.
Book Memories
Jennifer Schwanke finds connections between her childhood, teaching, and school leadership in this heartwarming essay.
From Reading to Writing Informational Texts
Aimee Buckner makes some surprising discoveries about what types of texts support writers working in nonfiction genres.
Unpacking the Kindergarten Common Core Standards
Mandy Robek shares five tips that can help teachers at any grade level develop strategies for tackling the Common Core.
Supporting Young Writers with Opinion Texts
Katie DiCesare considers how different texts at the primary level can support student understanding of standards for opinion and argumentative writing.
Chronology in Nonfiction (Common Core Booklist)
Franki Sibberson's latest Common Core booklist includes texts to help students master chronology in nonfiction.
Enlisting a Student as Coteacher
In this second video in a two-part series, Sean Moore invites second grader Isaiah to present his learning to the class.
Do They Care? Empathy Book Clubs
Do they care? That’s the question Karen Terlecky asks herself as she sets up book clubs in her fifth-grade classroom with a focus on empathy.
Conferring to Coteaching
In this first video in a two-part series, Sean Moore confers with second grader Isaiah. Sean prepares Isaiah to share what he is learning later in the writing workshop.
The Joys and Challenges of Co-Teaching
Katherine Sokolowski explores the challenges and joys of co-teaching with special education colleagues.
Appealing Book Displays for Boys
Are your book displays enticing to the boys in your classroom? Tony Keefer has suggestions for making classroom libraries more appealing.
Enhancing Read Aloud and Eliminating Notebook Clutter
Melissa Styger has some simple suggestions for streamlining and improving student-written responses to read alouds.
Interactive Read Alouds to Support Struggling Readers
Shari Frost explains how interactive read alouds are the “kickboards” of reading instruction, especially for struggling readers. She explains how one teacher used them to support a struggling reader in 3rd grade.
More Conferring and Fewer Groups in Kindergarten
Mandy Robek finds she needs fewer reading groups and more conferring with the emergent readers in her kindergarten class. She shares how she structures her brief time with students and a conferring form.
Helping Middle School Readers Set Goals
In the final installment of a two-part series, Gretchen Taylor explains how to help middle school readers set goals.
Field Experience: Craft Moves for Elementary Writers
This field experience invites us to consider a handful of craft moves to teach young writers in minilessons, conferences and share sessions.
Field Experience: Classroom Tours
Spend time noticing the details that reflect beliefs and influence instruction. Ruth Ayres set up room tours for a field experience focused on more than trendy spaces.
Field Experience: Small Group Reading Instruction
Small group reading instruction is an important part of elementary literacy. This field experience is a sampling of a variety of examples.
Field Experience: General Workshop Routines
This field experience invites us to consider the routines of opening the day, workshop norms, meeting areas and transitions to make workshop run smoothly.
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