Choice Lit Topic: Community Building
It’s one of the big paradoxes of literacy instruction – students best learn how to read and write independently when they have a strong community of support in classrooms. How teachers build those thoughtful, kind, and challenging classroom communities is explained in these resources.
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?...
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...
More Thoughtful Read Alouds
Franki Sibberson shares strategies for deeper reflection from students during read aloud to help them move beyond "like/don't like" responses to books. The strategies include pausing for written reflection, partner...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
Linking Literacy and Community at the Start of the Year
At the start of the school year, teachers everywhere strive to build community. A sense of community is vital to our literacy classrooms, so we search for activities to launch...
Strategies for Sustaining Student Attention
Last October, my family got a puppy. I have extensive experience with dogs from my childhood and pre-parenthood days. I know a few things about training a puppy into a...
Forgetting and Remembering
Mr. Pim, my seventh-grade math teacher, had a trademark phrase he used when a student forgot something—a homework assignment, a parent signature, the required brown-paper-bag textbook cover. “I forgot,” the...
Setting and Using Classroom Norms
The fifth graders are sitting in our meeting area, some sitting cross-legged on the carpet and some perched on surrounding stools and benches. The minilesson is coming to a close...
Homework: I Challenge You!
Excitement filled the air. Through every hallway, in every classroom, students were brimming with joy. It was Fun Run time once again. During this two-week fund-raiser, students remained eager to...
Becoming More Inclusive
We are having more and more conversations in our district and beyond that address the importance of inclusive practices in all aspects of education. At a recent faculty meeting, we...
Whose Point of View Matters? Considering Multiple Perspectives
As the students transitioned from the minilesson to independent reading, I saw one student kick another student’s book. It was a soft kick—basically a tap—but it happened. One student was...
Fewer Books and More Options at the End of the Year
As the end of the year approaches, we all receive that dreaded email. The one that reads something like this: Dear Friend, It’s hard to believe it is already May...
Who Owns the Learning?
Author Gary D. Schmidt visited our school this morning. I have known for a long time through books like Okay for Now, What Came from the Stars, and Trouble that...
Slowing Down
During the rush to retrieve my class after lunch, I saw Olivia crying as she ran to get a spot in line. Her arms were cradling a coat, food containers,...
Secret Reader
I stay modest 'bout it, aye, she elaborate it, aye. —Kendrick Lamar, from “Humble” “I have a secret reader in my class,” Betsy told us at a recent professional development...
Reading Bingo
Every teacher understands the winter slump—the time of year when enthusiasm (both in students and teachers) wanes and established routines begin to feel mechanical and devoid of the life they...
An All-School Writing Project: Six-Word Memoirs
I’ve long heard inspiring stories about schools who adopted a “One Book, One School” experience, exposing all students to a text and then using it to launch conversations and connections....
The Magic That Might Go Down
In her TED Talk, author Susan Conley tells a story about leading writing workshops for students. She explains that during one of her sessions a particularly intense student asked, “Why...
