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Choice Literacy Articles & Videos
The Choice Literacy library contains over 3,000 articles and 900 videos from 150+ contributors. Classic Classroom and Literacy Leadership subscribers have access to the entire library. Content is updated continuously, with five to six new features published each week.
Latest Content
August 30, 2019 Farm Share
We begin a three-week series on read-alouds in this week’s newsletter.
August 23, 2019 Blank Canvas
We explore the use of anchor charts in this week’s newsletter.
Reading and Thinking Aloud in Middle School
Mark Levine combines reading and thinking aloud in a minilesson to help his middle school students grapple with complex texts.
First-Grade Read Alouds During Transitions
This brief video is an excerpt from a read aloud in a first-grade classroom during morning snack break. You’ll notice Bitsy Parks uses a projector so students can eat at tables and desks, and makes quick connections to other books.
Jane Goodall Inquiry: Introducing Expectations
Katherine Sokolowski introduces her students to routines and expectations early in the year with a unit on Jane Goodall, including many short read alouds.
Back-Channel Conversations During Read Alouds
Christy Rush-Levine considers some of the “underground” ways in which she converses about books at conferences and on social media, and decides to set up a back channel for similar conversations about read alouds in her classroom.
Interactive Read Aloud and the Whole-Class Notebook
Tammy Mulligan enhances the quality of the class read aloud and student discussions with the use of a whole-class response notebook.
Charting Mentor Texts
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share many of their favorite anchor charts for helping students connect writer’s craft to mentor texts.
A New System for Anchor Charts
Dana Murphy develops a love-hate relationship with the faded anchor charts peeling away from her classroom walls. She finds a move to anchor charts in a sketchbook and a website for chart images improves the quality of her charts and their usefulness.
August 16, 2019 We Know How
We consider our youngest learners in this week’s newsletter.
The Curious Incident of Poem in the Stream of Time
Shirl McPhillips shares a haunting poem and reflection on creativity, summer’s inspiration, and aging.
Young Learners and Self-Talk
Do you have young readers and writers in your class who constantly talk to themselves? Stella Villalba helps a teacher decode the value of this self-talk for first grader Kayla, using it as a springboard for more learning.
August 9, 2019 Reading the Signs
We look at a favorite tool for teachers in literacy workshops, status of the class, in this week’s newsletter.
Spacing Words: Kindergarten Small Group
Tammy Mulligan uses another kindergartner’s writing as a mentor text for teaching young children how to use spaces in their writing in this demonstration small group.
Drawing and Learning in Kindergarten
Max Brand demonstrates basic drawing strategies early in the year, and then has his kindergartners attempt similar pictures. He explains how the exercise builds basic skills both in literacy and hand/eye coordination.
No Pictures Stinks!
Shari Frost remembers how she inadvertently stifled the creativity of one of her most enthusiastic first-grade writers. Her story has important lessons for all of us about the importance of voice and choice for learners of all ages.
August 2, 2019 Diving into New Roles
We look at how to build classroom communities early in the year in this week’s newsletter.
Student Greeting
Students in the first-grade classroom of Bitsy Parks lead a morning greeting at the start of the day. It’s a quick activity to check attendance, build reading skills, and help students learn the names of classmates in the community.
Status of the Class: Reflecting on Reading Communities
Franki Sibberson uses status of the class each day as a window into her fledgling reading community.
A Better Status of the Class
Dana Murphy finds that adding numbers of pages to her status-of-the-class list for reading makes all the difference in assessing students’ growth and needs as readers.
Linking Literacy and Community at the Start of the Year
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills start with the poem “Where I’m From” to build community through literacy at the start of the year.
Voices Mantra
Christy Rush-Levine’s eighth graders lead their classmates in a “voices” mantra. This shared chant created together starts each class with a sense of community and strength.
July 26, 2019 Death by Banana
We look at reading at home in this week’s newsletter.
July 19, 2019 Data Without Judgment
We look at classroom, coaching, and literacy norms in this week’s newsletter.
Speed Reading
Adolescent learners can face daunting reading loads in high school that they need to tackle at home. Jen Schwanke has tips for how teachers and parents can work together to help teens develop strategies for dealing with a lot of complex reading quickly.
Managing Take-Home Books
Sending books home with young readers is essential. Cathy Mere gives lots of practical tips for designing a take-home books program and communicating with families about what young readers need.
Strategies for Sustaining Student Attention
Jen Schwanke shares some strategies for sustaining student attention beyond just calling out a student’s name over and over and over again.
Forgetting and Remembering
In the end classroom management often comes down to students valuing the same things we do. Jen Schwanke has tips for how high school teachers can create a culture where there is better communication and more shared values.
July 12, 2019 The Most Important Person
We look at the pros and cons of assigning literacy homework in this week’s newsletter.
Setting and Using Classroom Norms
Class promises, rules, and norms—most teachers set them at the start of the year. But how can we make sure students live them? Dana Murphy shares some tips from her fifth-grade classroom.
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