Article Content Type: Article
Results
Moving from Interactive Read Alouds to Book Clubs
The first time I met with my neighborhood book club, I was nervous. I wondered, Should I bring notes? Will my ideas be “literary” enough to share with the group?...
Do Students Need to Love the Books We Read Aloud?
I had a lot of trouble deciding on the last read aloud of the year for my class of fifth graders. Nothing felt like the right match. Finally, I decided...
Portfolios for the Coachee
I haven't always liked my note-taking system. It’s always changing, and I'm always moving from one notebook to another. I am continuously searching for different ways to capture my thoughts,...
Read Alouds for Big Kids
My parents had four children in a relatively short period of time. They valued reading and did some reading aloud to us, but by the time we were in elementary...
Introducing Social Studies Concepts with Picture Books
“Are you going to read to us today?” Anise asked when she walked into my classroom and saw a picture book on my desk. “I am, Anise.” “So, are we...
Read Aloud in Middle School
My first 20 years of teaching were spent in elementary school. Over that time period, from a few years at lower elementary to 16 at fourth and fifth grade, one...
Newcomers and Read Aloud Time
I knew it was going to be a great day of learning, discovery, and reflection when I was invited to do an observation in a classroom. This time, I was...
Grand Conversations and Read Aloud
“Wait a minute. Is there a turtle in this book or not? Are you saying that the turtle shell is a way to describe the preacher’s feelings? I completely missed...
Environmental Walks: A Snapshot of a Literacy Culture
In spring, I facilitate a number of parent tours of the school. These building tours are for incoming students who are either new to the district because of open enrollment...
Reading and Thinking Aloud in Middle School
I was walking around my classroom as my eighth-grade students were taking turns reading parts of a secondary-source historical piece on the aftereffects of the French and Indian War. I...
Jane Goodall Inquiry: Introducing Expectations
At the start of the school year I like to ease my students into the type of learning we will do throughout the year. In seventh grade we share text,...
Back-Channel Conversations During Read Alouds
While I was planning a read aloud, a colleague asked me, “What will students be doing while you read aloud?” I paused, hesitant to blurt out my initial response: listening....
Interactive Read Aloud and the Whole-Class Notebook
There are moments during read aloud that feel almost magical: when students lean in as the plot twists and turns, or when they snicker as they understand the author’s play...
Starting with Consensus
The people must have ownership in the vision. They need to be enabled to accomplish it. If there is one investment you should make, it is in people. ...
Charting Mentor Texts
Using mentor texts is one of our favorite things to do with our students in writing workshop, because it pushes them to try things in their writing they wouldn’t have...
A New System for Anchor Charts
The corners of our anchor charts are peeling away from the walls. The once vivid marker strokes are faded and hard to read. If there was ever a cute graphic...
The Curious Incident of Poem in the Stream of Time
—this daydream of meddling with writing. Michel De Montaigne In the nighttime a poem crawls out of a bog, hides trembling behind a tangle of myths, circles the sunrise painting...
Unleveling Classroom Libraries
Over the last two school years, we’ve followed the buzz around the dangers of a leveled classroom library. We’ve read articles and tweets, listened to podcasts, and talked to our...
Young Learners and Self-Talk
“She does a lot of self-talk while she is reading. We don’t want her to do that,” the teacher says. “Why?” I ask. I wonder why the teacher is seeing...
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...
No Pictures Stinks!
All of us teachers have recollections of cringe-worthy moments from the earlier years of our careers. Well, maybe one or two from later in our careers, too. We all painfully...
