Choice Lit Topic: 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.
Results
“The Wrath of Guess Jeans”: Debrief
In this third video in a three-part series, Katie Doherty leads her 6th graders through a response activity. The text they are reading was written by a middle school student...
Quick Take: Katie Doherty on Middle School Reading Workshop Choices
In this two-minute Quick Take video, Katie Doherty explains the choices students have in her sixth-grade reading workshop.
A District Film Festival: Giving Kids An Authentic Audience for Their Work
Last spring, students in the Parkway School District in Missouri attended their 2nd Annual Film Festival: "Lights. . .Camera. . .Parkway! Our World Through a Digital Lens." After receiving their...
Preparing for Book Talks
In this first video in a two-part series, Katie Doherty meets with her sixth-grade students who will be sharing their book recommendations with the class. To download the preparation sheet...
Book Matchmaker: Texts to Build Stamina
 Recently Gail Boushey asked me to recommend some books to use with students who are working on building stamina in their reading. Building stamina, or even understanding...
Persuasive Pamphlets
My state and district standards require that seventh grade students should be able to write persuasively. Traditionally, teachers meet this standard by assigning a speech or a paper, and I...
Connecting Students, Wall Charts, and Reading
In this conference with third-grade student Jeffrey, Beth Lawson helps this young reader think through the importance of developing stamina to get through the first 50 pages of a book....
Student Book Talks
In this second video in a two-part series, Katie Doherty's sixth-grade students share their book recommendations with the class. Students work from a template provided by Katie to ensure their...
Family History Inquiry Project: Integrating Technology with Social Studies in First Grade
Room 14 is buzzing with excitement. Cole and Kai are sharing bicycle stories that their fathers told them. Kai's dad wanted a bike so badly when he was in first...
Rethinking the Study of Nonfiction in the 21st Century
I have always found that reflecting on my own literacy helps me to think about how to best meet the needs of my students. As a media specialist, much of...
Using Picture Books to Teach Theme in Grades 3-6
Wikipedia defines theme as "A broad idea, message, or lesson that is conveyed by a work. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless...
The Power of Wonder Questions
"Do you know what I've been thinking and reading about?" asked Will as we settled into an out-of-the-way spot in my grades 3-4 multiage classroom. It was time for reading...
Ready-to-Go Readers’ Theater Books
Are you caught up in the "fluency frenzy"? Since the National Reading Panel's report in 2000, fluency has gotten a lot of attention. The good news is that there has...
What Messages Do We Give Students with Our Classroom Library Design?
In the article Room for Beliefs: Linking Classroom Design and What We Value, Debbie Miller helps us think through the ways that our room design reflects the things we value about...
I Need a Hero: Finding a Place for Comics and Graphic Novels in Our Classrooms
Grab your cape and get ready! One of the most interesting developments in recent literacy history has captured our readers - and it's causing quite a stir. In the past...
Assessment Beyond Levels: The Reading Grid
Assessment systems that work are difficult to find. I've been teaching for just over 20 years now, and I'm quite sure I've tried nearly that many systems for organizing assessment...
Using Student Conferences to Build Book Choice Skills
I went through a phase last January where I just couldn't find a book that I loved. I started lots of books but didn't finish any of them. I tried...
Book Boxes – Voices from the Classroom
Organizing the books that your students are reading independently often presents a challenge for teachers. How can you keep track of what's in the boxes, ensure everyone is making appropriate...
“This Could Be Our Family”: Books for Children with Lesbian and Gay Parents
My daughter Alysa and her other mother snuggled into the recliner, not saying a word. The only sound I could hear was an occasional page turning. I took this as...
Is “Just Right” Still Just Right?: Helping Children Select Appropriate Books
We taught together in an elementary classroom for years. One of the most important things we always talked about with students was the concept of "just-right" books. We used the...
A Thanksgiving Take on Differentiating Instruction
As I've traveled between conferences and classrooms this fall, I've heard a lot of buzz around the concept and practice of "differentiation." When I've asked teachers, literacy coaches, and language...
