Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Launching Teacher Study Groups: Guidelines and Resources
Teacher study groups are becoming more popular in schools, fueled in part by the surge of interest in adult book clubs in the U.S. over the last decade. In study...
Comprehending Graphic Novels: A Primer for Teachers
Some year ago I discovered a whole new "room" in the library, one I'd never visited before. Likewise, I have found shelves in the bookstore that I've only ever walked...
Numbering and Arranging Classroom Library Bins
In this video, "The Sisters" (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help experienced teacher Kelly create a numbering system for her classroom library. They talk together about strategies for teaching children...
The Sisters Redesign a New Teacher’s Storage Area
The Sisters help a new teacher, Amy, sort through junk she inherited from previous occupants of her classroom. They use the "piles" method to sort through materials, separating books and...
Literacy Coach Confidential: What Can I Do About Poor Attendance at My Study Group?
I lead a study group once a month for interested colleagues after school, and attendance is pathetic. What am I doing wrong? Answer: There may be many reasons why you're...
Writing to Reflect: Quotes for Quick Writing, Reflection, and Discussion (Download)
Educator Parker Palmer talks about the importance of "third things" for teacher renewal and growth—poems, images, or ideas outside our immediate learning community that we can look at together, discuss,...
What Are the Seven Reading Comprehension Strategies?
A "strategy" is a plan developed by a reader to assist in comprehending and thinking about texts, when reading the words alone does not give the reader a sense of...
Two-Column Notes (E-GUIDE)
It's hard to know who to credit for the incredibly useful two-column note tool. While two-column notes are definitely a kissing cousin to the Cornell Note-Taking System (Pauk, 1974), in...
The Read-Around: Raising Writers
The read-around is the classroom equivalent to quilt making or barn raising. It is the public space -- the zocolo or town square -- of my room. During our read-arounds,...
Word Choice Lesson: A Collaborative Coaching Session with a New Teacher
When I work with a new teacher in his or her classroom, it's a collaborative experience. We design and teach together over time, sharing what works and what doesn't. In...
Boosting Attendance at Study Groups
Many study group leaders find themselves facing two demographic challenges in coordinating study groups that meet before or after school. Middle-aged faculty are often in the "sandwich" generation, caring for...
The Dog Ate My Study Group Plans! Four Instant (and Fun and Reflective) No-Prep Teacher Workshops (E-GUIDE)
Okay, so maybe it wasn't the dog that ate your plans. Maybe leading today's study group is the 45th item on your "To Do" list, and you just didn't get...
Above the Fold: Creating Individual Professional Development Plans (E-GUIDE)
Educators need their own books of important stuff. We can't learn everything. We can't take every course, read every book, attend every conference. We must have priorities. We must be...
We Are All Shamu: What Literacy Leaders Can Learn from Exotic Animal Trainers
In the education crowd I run with, training is a dirty word. We're literacy educators, and "training" brings to mind all the crazy operant conditioning programs from the 70s and...
Poetry Friday! Poetry Books That Are Fun to Read Aloud
Early in my career, I taught at a school that had doughnuts and coffee for teachers each Friday in the teachers' lounge. It was a great way to start our...
Fonts Lesson: A Revision Strategy for Transitional Writers
I recently added a nonfiction reading time at the start of the day, and I've found this time has changed many of the conversations about reading and writing with the...
Literacy Coach Confidential: Teachers Resent Me – What Can I Do?
I am the new literacy coach at our school, and the teachers resent me. I was hired at a time when budgets are down. Class size is up, money for...
Inviting Students to Organize Books and Materials
Are you always looking for something in your classroom? Maybe it's that special pair of scissors, your attendance/grade book, or the long overdue library copy of Cynthia Rylant's The Journey: Stories...
Charting the Course: A Yearlong Professional Development Plan for New Teachers (SCHEDULE)
My first task in thinking through how to work with new teachers was to design a professional development plan for the entire year. Only then could I be sure the...
The Other Buddy: How Partnership Programs Help Older Readers
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" shouted a well-groomed, confident-looking boy. "Sorry," muttered his assailant. The third graders were entering the classroom to read with their first-grade reading buddies. The "assailant"...
Writing Workshop Share: Talking About Revision Tools
In this video of a discussion after writing workshop in Franki Sibberson's classroom, intermediate students share the tools they used in revision.
