A Learners Paradise- Richard Wells

Disobedient Teaching Welby Ings

Timeless Learning

Goodbye Clip Charts....

Empower

UnCommon Learning

Future Wise David Perkions

Ed Journeys Grant Lichtman

Non traditional Schools

The Article


The best games are those that can be used in multiple classrooms at all grade levels. 


A school, though, is only as good as its teachers and the vital role they play in education is often forgotten, 


There is an emphasis on producing curriculums which teachers can just follow. For us it has always been about helping teachers become designers of the curriculum and empowering them to create materials that will engage kids in learning and help them become 21st century citizens.”

Why We Teach

Article

....successful teacher is one who places a high value on students' culture, race, language, gender, experiences, families and sense of self. These teachers sustain high expectations of all students, especially for those whom others may have given up on. They stay committed in spite of predictable obstacles and create a safe classroom haven for their students. By being resilient, by challenging the status quo of educational bureaucracy, and by viewing themselves as life-long learners, they come to care about, respect and love their students. 

“To understand your own motivation to teach, you explore your own history of learning.”

The Meaning of Pedagogy-Steve Wheeler

Socrates once said: 'Wisdom begins in wonder.' 

Good pedagogy is about guiding students to learning. It's about posing challenges, asking the right questions, and presenting relevant problems for learners to explore, answer and solve. True pedagogy is where educators transport their students to a place where they will be amazed by the wonders of the world they live within.

Blogpost

8 Tips for Updating Your Teaching to Something Messier

1. Embrace change

It is inevitable that the world will change. Your world will change. Our children will live in a different world than we grew up in. Change happens. 

2. Be a willing collaborator

Your professional practice will improve when you invite the perspectives and expertise of your colleagues into what you do. 

3. Build a toolbox

Don’t limit yourself to what you’ve always known. Build a toolbox of resources and opportunities, both digitally and physically.

4. Invite the kids into the curriculum conversation

 Ask the kids what they think. Students are your partners in education, not just the objects to whom you teach.

5. Let student explore

Look for places in the curriculum where direct instruction can be replaced by deep student-centered inquiry and exploration. 

6. Give students the gift of discernment

 Reflection on learning and reflection on the tools and resources with which we learn are extremely important. We need to know that students “get it” on a conceptual level, rather than just a recognition level.

7. Seek opportunities to extend the classroom

In the 21st century, the teacher should not be the student’s only audience. 

8. Let it go

Be critically aware of the traditional aspects of instruction and what is timeless and what is mindless. 

The Article

Collaborative Teaching Models

Six Approaches to Co-Teaching

One teach, one observe

One teach, one assist

Parallel teaching- two groups divided evenly same content

Station teaching- students rotate to different content by different teachers. All students attend all stations.

Alternative teaching- one teacher with larger group, one teacher with specialised group, different content

Team Teaching- both teachers deliver same content at same time together

These models are all referring to a 2 teacher model- would be interesting to develop some of our own models with larger numbers of teachers for what we are doing.

Collaborative Teaching

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2013/01/5-ways-to-boost-communication-in-a-co-teaching-classroom/


The main points:

• Co-teaching is a partnership that will not grow, develop or thrive without successful communication
• Need to suspend judgment and really take in what co teaching partne is saying before making assumptions or dismissing
• Clarify and confirm what you think is begin said- don't make assumptions
• Ask questions
• Look for common ground
• Remember change is stressful

I've gone back and re-read this article a few times since posting it in the school forums.

Even though Jono and I had done lots of talking and planning together and have a common ground and a trust and a good degree of communication, the fact that we hadn't really taught together before and that I was teaching by myself in the classroom or the first five weeks, has meant that some degree of negotiation and lots of talking has been needed to move forward as a team. I think we've probably moved quite fast given the planning and level of communication we have but it hasn't al been easy and its definitely been stressful t times. But like I said in my blogpost back in February two heads is definitely better than one and the kids are now experiencing much more enhanced leanrign experiences because of that.

Are we Wringing the Creativity Out of Kids?

Are We Wringing the Creativity Out of Kids?

Ask this question of a group of second-graders, and about 95 percent of them will answer “Yes.” Three years later, when the kids are in fifth grade, that proportion will drop to 50 percent—and by the time they’re seniors in high school, it’s down to 5 percent.

This is so scary because it rings so true.

Suggests these interventions:

“We have to expand our notion of what productivity means,” said Lehrer. “Right now we are grooming our kids to think in a very particular way, which assumes that the right way to be thinking is to be attentive, to stare straight ahead—which is why we diagnose 20 percent of kids in many classrooms as having attention deficit disorders,

Teach children how to have “grit,” the perseverance and determination that’s required to create something new.

important to give kids a menu of possibilities pretty early on, a menu of things they might fall in love with—maybe it’s painting, maybe it’s drawing, maybe it’s writing, maybe it’s computer science—just a bunch of passions that they could discover

‘OK, so you’ve found something you love, the goal you want to strive for. Now you have to work hard. Now you have to put in your thousands of hours of practice. Now you have to be willing to persevere through failure and frustrations.’”

Learning muscles being used in the Middle Years- particualrly imagination and stickability ring very true to this. 

What Keeps Students Motivated?

What Keeps Students Motivated?

Integrated projects

Interest based and relevant

Make it hands-on

Knowing teachers care

Learning from failure

“Treat students like adults. If the students feel like they’re worth it they’ll act more like adults.”

Teach Like a Pirate. Dave Burgess

Note: So I bought this book ages ago, and read the first part of it and didn't like it very much so didn't keep going. I noticed it on one of the many lists of top books an educator should read lists that came out at the end of 2013 so decided to give it another go. In also thought there might be some good stuff, seen as I'm teaching full time for term 1 at least. My original opinion is pretty much the same. It's very Americanised. And very Focussed on making lessons an event, and content the most important thing, something we have definitely moved away from. However there's gems in anything and more than new stuff this just reminded me of some of the old practices I have used in a classroom to engage and sustain engagement. Using music as a hook was big in my teaching past so I'd really like to try that again with these kids, although there wills be a bit of work to get them to see the difference between music as a learning tool and as entertainment. Wouldn't really recommend the book for any of our staff though, it's a bit too Americanised for my liking!

If you haven’t failed in the classroom lately, you aren’t pushing the envelope far enough. “Safe” lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best.

you notice that your class is not engaged by your presentation, it isn’t helpful or empowering to blame your students. Obviously, if they’re not engaged, they are providing you with some critical feedback: what you are doing is not engaging for this audience, on this day.

Try to evaluate and learn from that feedback, without taking it too personally.

Spend more time on your passions, hobbies, and outside areas of interest and then seek ways to incorporate them into your classroom. Cultivate new hobbies and watch new areas of your brain explode in creative output. Watch your life light up with a new energy as you rekindle the feelings you had for the passions of your younger days. Grow! Try new things and do those bucket-list items. Notice the world around you and treat it like the bountiful supply of creative ideas that it is. It’s not just good for your life…it’s great for your teaching. Exploring the world and your passions allows you to bring a new perspective and energy into the classroom. It allows you to become a powerful role model for your students. We always say we want them to be life-long learners, so we must show them what that looks like.

Note: This is a pretty powerful statement, for me at least.

always have three or four books on my nightstand, a book in my car, one in my school bag, and several more on my phone. I consider it one of the most important parts of my job to constantly expose myself to the high quality thinking of other people.

Note: Really important key to professional learning, especially if we individualise and personalise it like I am trying to. Maybe a discussion of latest professional reading should be an integral part of every personal learning conversation with each etcher each term.

I want my class to stand out in the sea of sameness that is the educational landscape. I want my class to be, as Seth Godin says, a Purple Cow. In his book by the same title, Seth writes, “Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It’s a brown cow.

Note: Don't think I've read this book? Might be worth reading.

You have to have a vision of what your ideal classroom experience looks like if you want to have any hope of creating it.

Note: Newer version of the older class description. Getting teachers to set visions underneath the school vision. Started off doing this last year but didn't follow it up enough.

Proper positioning is one of the key techniques needed to effectively transform your class into a powerful, must-be place.

is no accident that the cornerstones of the Teach Like a PIRATE system are Passion and Enthusiasm.

have a ritual for starting class that puts me in the proper state to be effective (discussed in the Rapport chapter). It includes multiple elements of my physiology including posture, breathing, tonality, and movement.

use music as an anchor.

It doesn’t particularly matter what the subject is; our mission is to teach in such a way that who we are as human beings has a more powerful and lasting effect on students than what we say.

Note: There's a pretty good mission statement in itself!

it’s one thing to know you should engage your students. Actually being engaging requires planning, preparation, and presentation.

Note: This is why the middle years hasn't worked yet.There has been passion but not planning. Presentation but not preparation.

Far too many times, teachers capture the attention and engagement of their class and then lose it by adding some unnecessary delay between the hook and the delivery of the content. For example, they tell a powerful story that has the class in the palm of their hand. Then, upon finishing the story, they have the students get a piece of paper out of their notebook before tying it all together with their lesson. They knew that the piece of paper was going to be needed so they should have told the students to get it out before starting the damn story!

Note: How many times I have written this kind of stuff in teacher observations and feedback

Much of your success as an educator has to do with your attitude towards teaching and towards kids. The rest of your success is based on your willingness to relentlessly search for what engages students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it.

containing an element of movement can be extremely effective. The brain and body work best when receiving the flow of oxygen and blood; that doesn’t happen when students spend their days sitting at a desk. If your class is stagnant and energy has reached a low point, it may be time to incorporate more kinesthetic activities.

Sometimes it’s OK to do things in class because it increases the fun factor and fosters positive feelings about school. I want students to leave my class with a love of history, a love of learning,

Taking your class beyond the classroom walls is a shortcut to engagement because it is so novel. Of course, it comes with challenges.

and art can be incredibly powerful ways to engage our students and enhance our lessons. We have unbelievably talented kids sitting in front of us and many are starving for the opportunity to display their creativity. We should do everything we can to provide them the opportunity to hone their artistic skills and create. Even our students who consider themselves inartistic can and will benefit from the chance to explore and create.

Music is an unbelievable state and mood changer. It has the ability to touch our soul like few other mediums. If you want to change the atmosphere in the classroom, sometimes all that is required is a change (or addition) of song. The right selection can bring a serious and meditative tone to the class, or create a rowdy and rambunctious energy fest.

Associating your curriculum with current events not only increases engagement because it shows relevance, it also helps

students become more globally aware and connected. Teaching students how to see events from different perspectives and analyze bias in coverage is also fantastic for teaching media literacy and critical thinking.

the physical space of my room is one of my secret weapons. I am the director, producer, stage manager, and lead actor for the one hundred eighty different performances that will take place in and around my room. It is my stage, and I honor and value it as such. Anything I can do to manipulate and control the environment is fair game.

Note: I don't like this much at all!

THE BOARD MESSAGE HOOK What can I write on my board or have projected on my screen that will immediately spark curiosity and interest as the students enter my room? What type of message will create a buzz and provoke students to point it out and begin to talk to each other about it before the bell even rings? What can I write that will be intriguing and mysterious and compel students to approach me and ask questions before we get started? Can I just put a QR code on the board or screen and see what happens? Can I have an intriguing image projected that will eventually tie into my content?

Note: But I quite like some of this, and have done much of it at some stage in the past

I can think of no higher purpose or calling than teacher. We help shape the minds of future generations. We have the ability

We aren’t just teaching facts to memorize or skills to learn; we’re uplifting lives and helping students fulfill their human potential. We’re shaping the mothers, fathers, world leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists of tomorrow. Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of geometric progression realizes that our students will interact and influence millions. It’s a mighty purpose, indeed.

We all have to find our own personal “drum” and then play it the best we can. For me, I never feel more truly alive than when I’m standing in front of a class of students or a seminar room full of teachers. That’s my drum I’m playing up there and I’m going to play the heck out of it. The line, “I played my best for him,” is a call to arms and a

challenge to meet. Forget about all of things you can’t control and play your drum to the best of your abilities. Play with all the passion, enthusiasm, and heart you can muster. Nothing else really matters. You can offer no finer gift or higher honor to the world than to find out what your “drum” is and then play it for all it’s worth.

You will be criticized! In fact, the more you step outside the box and reject the culture of conformity, the more of a target you will become. When criticism comes, take a moment to evaluate it. Is the criticism an opportunity for growth? If so, learn from that instruction. But realize, too, that your critic may have no idea what they are talking about! In that case, ignore it. You have to have the intestinal fortitude, self-confidence, and personal power to press on and do what you know is right for your students. Don’t allow misguided and ill-informed

critics to steal your enthusiasm for innovation. If you let them, they will sap you of the strength needed to persist in this brutally tough profession. You have to learn how to take a punch, bob and weave, and keep moving forward. What you do as an educator is too important to let somebody standing on the sidelines prevent you from being the absolutely most powerful teacher you can be. Some people will just never get it! That’s OK, that’s their problem; you can’t let it become yours.

Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

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The Book Whisperer

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

When we have really personalised programmes in our classroom one of the things that can disappear is reading, and developing the love of reading. Many of the points Ive highlighted still refer to a whole class teaching “American” approach. But its one of the things Matt and I always knew was missing from our progamme back in the day- recreational reading and developing a pure joy of reading for recreation. We knew most of our kids got it from home so we never figured out a classroom solution.

 I think we need to at TK. I don’t think this has been done at all well in the middle years in the last three years- and thats mostly coz I haven’t figured out a way to do it authentically on an individual basis. 

This book has really made me start figuring that out. Its important, really important.

When I need to forget the world I lose myself in a book. We need to give these kids that skill too.

 A trail of worksheets from a teacher to their students does not build a connection with readers; only books do.198   

Books are love letters (or apologies) passed between us, adding a layer of conversation beyond our spoken words. 243   

 I could tell they were not emotionally or intellectually getting much from the book. They were robots, trudging through the unit and completing the assigned activities. Reading was work, another job to finish in the daily grind of school.281  

And thats not going to inspire life long reading as a habit.

Even with her extensive knowledge of reading and writing practices, Susie was always searching for methods to improve the literacy instruction in her classroom and still struggling to get it “right.” Susie lives by the credo “If you ever think you have all the answers, it’s time to retire.” 316

So, so true.

I learned that being the best reader and writer in the room is not about power and control. Instead, I must be a source of knowledge that my students access while learning how to read and write. Instead of standing on stage each day, dispensing knowledge to my young charges, I should guide them as they approach their own understandings. Meaning from a text should not flow from my perceptions or, God forbid, the teaching guide; it should flow from my students’ own understandings, under my guidance.333

Which means lots of talking about reading, rather than generic worksheets.

Peeking into my classroom, I see sixty different readers with individual reading preferences and abilities, but I consistently recognize three trends: developing readers, dormant readers, and underground readers.433

Students who don’t read, even if they are capable of completing reading tasks at school, run the risk of falling behind students who read more than they do. 508

Underground readers are gifted readers, but they see the reading they are asked to do in school as completely disconnected from the reading they prefer to do on their own. 523

Ngahuia, Antarge, Te Hurutea, Kirsteen, all come to mind as kids Ive taught like this in the last couple of years.

Is there one of us who is not haunted by the memory of a child we failed? 548

This always makes me think of Sam. I taught her for Year 5-6 and Yr 8, and I was her parents, but I cold never get her reading. I read ot her her whole life, she moved through the colour wheel ahead of her age I bought her books, but from the age of 8 or 9 I oculd never get her into a book. I don’t think she ever finished reading a book right through her teens. But then all of  sudden when she was 19-20 she got into really heavy existential philosophical books and always has one of them she's reading now. But she does not enjoy or do recreational “fiction” reading in any way.

Brian Cambourne identifies the following factors that contribute to successful learning: • Immersion: Students need to be surrounded with books of all kinds and given the opportunity to read them every day. Conversations about reading—what is being read and what students are getting from their books—need to be an ongoing event. In my classroom, students have access to hundreds of books of all genres and reading levels and encouragement to read widely. 

• Demonstrations: Students require abundant demonstrations on the structure and features of texts, how to use texts for different learning goals, and how to access the information in them. I teach daily reading lessons using authentic texts like books, articles, and textbooks, designing every lesson around the skills that readers really need to develop reading proficiency. 
• Expectations: Students will rise to the level of a teacher’s expectations. I expect my students to read every day and to read a large volume of books. Not only do I have high expectations for reading, I have high expectations for students’ success. They are never given messages, either explicitly or implicitly, that I do not think they can accomplish any reading task. 
• • Responsibility: Students need to make at least some of their own choices when pursuing learning goals. 
• Cambourne states, “Learners who lose the ability to make choices become disempowered.” I set reading requirements for my students at a certain number of books per genre, but students have the freedom to choose which books they will read in order to fulfill the requirements. 
• Employment: Students need time to practice what they are learning in the context of realistic situations. Every single lesson that I teach circles back to students’ own reading, and students are given time daily to apply the skills they acquire to their own books, content-area reading, and research assignments. 
• Approximations: Students need to receive encouragement for the skills and knowledge they do have and be allowed to make mistakes as they work toward mastery. I help students find books that are at their own reading level, even if it is below grade level, and publicly celebrate each reader’s accomplishments as he or she moves toward more mature reading ability. 
• Response: Students need nonthreatening, immediate feedback on their progress. By holding frequent conferences, requiring written response letters about their books, and discussing students’ reading with them daily, I am continually providing encouragement, guidance, and validation for their reading development. 

• Engagement: Even with all of the other

conditions in place, engagement is the most important condition for learning and must exist in a successful classroom.613

used to use these a lot. Had kind of forgotten about them. They are good.

I no longer spend the majority of my planning time crafting those glorious novel units. Instead, I focus my efforts on designing a classroom environment that engages my students, based on Cambourne’s conditions for learning.624

Students must believe that they can read and that reading is worth learning how to do well.627

 if I do not make time for them to read in school, why should they make time for it in their life? 706

I never saw this as that important at Hataitai because the kids all read out of school, but I can see that thinking has come with me and I need to get rid of it, because these kids need to see how important reading is and we need to make time for them to do it in the classroom. Thats quite a change of thinking for me.

Student learning—reading, writing, and thinking—should continue from the first bell until the last.

While we teachers decry the lack of time we have to teach, it seems that we misappropriate a great deal of what we do have on classroom chores and mindless work.806

Hopefully personalising timetables gets rid of a lot of the wasted time. I still  see some of our teachers doing real time wasters though like lining up and having everyone on the mat because one or two kids have done something wrong. Gotta get that practice stopped.

I know that the more time students spend reading each day, the more ingrained it becomes as a daily habit.838

The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practised at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness. —Holbrook Jackson904

Building a trusting relationship with students is easier when you expect them to do the right thing instead of assuming that they are not.972

Really believe this. Struggling to get it through to some staff though!

FORTY-BOOK REQUIREMENT Poetry anthologies 5 Traditional literature 5 Realistic fiction 5 Historical fiction 2 Fantasy 4 Science fiction 2 Mystery 2 Informational 4 Biography, autobiography, 1121

American but we could work on an adaptation

What we must do is give our approval when students make their own reading choices, no matter what books they choose, because this is far preferable to their deciding not to read at all. Especially with boys,

What draws middle school and high school boys to the edgy themes of certain movies and video games, the visceral imagery, the suggestive scenes, the subversive tone can be found in young adult books; they just don’t know it.1241

READ -ALOUD FAVORITES Fiction ELEMENTARY Each Little Bird That Sings, by Deborah Wiles The Sixth Grade Nickname Game, by Gordon Korman The SOS Files, by Betsy Byars The Word Eater, by Mary Amato INTERMEDIATE The Beasties, by William Sleator The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt The Schwa Was Here, by Neal Shusterman Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan 

Memoirs ELEMENTARY Guts, by Gary Paulsen Knots in My Yo-Yo String, by Jerry Spinelli The Tarantula in My Purse, by Jean Craighead George INTERMEDIATE My Life in Dog Years, by Gary Paulsen Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio, by Peg Kehret How Angel Peterson Got His Name, by Gary Paulsen 1280

Because every student in my classroom is reading her or her own book, I must converse with each of them in order to determine their progress toward reading goals and give them the individual support they need. 1370

Individual conferencing the key.

The reader’s notebook we use, a customized version of Fountas and Pinnell’s Guiding Readers and Writers (Grades 3-6), is a seventy-page spiral notebook with photocopies of charts and lists trimmed and glued into the front.

Tally list: This page is divided into columns for the genres and number of titles I require students to read. Students tally the books they have read as they go, and I sign off on any genre requirements that they complete. • Reading list: This list is where students record all of the books they have read or attempted and abandoned. Each book’s entry includes the title, author, date the book was finished, and the student’s assessment of how difficult the book was to read. • Books-to-read list: This list serves as a shopping list or plan for a student’s future reading. Students record sequels that are yet to be published, books recommended by peers or me, or books that they have previewed and want to read later. • Response entries: The majority of the reader’s notebook is dedicated to response entries. The focus of these letters is aesthetic; students reflect on their personal reactions to the books they read and on the authors’ writing. I write letters that respond back, asking questions and digging into students’ interpretations and appreciation of their books. 1378

When we meet for conferences, I expect students to bring their notebook so we can look at it together and talk about it. 1393

Again American, but we could adapt.

Readers are made, not born. Few students spring out of the ground fully formed as readers. They need help, and we cannot assume that they will get it from home, but they should always get it from us, 1502

So it needs to be a deliberate part of our planning?

When my principal interviews candidates for a teaching position at my school, regardless of whether it’s a language arts position, he always asks them to discuss the last book they read.1525

Hmm, interesing idea

In taking a look at your self-reflection responses, what have you learned about yourself as a reader? Is reading just a tool to access information and be successful in school and work, or is it also a pleasurable escape for you?  1533

SELF-REFLECTION ACTIVITY What were your reading experiences as a child? Were these positive or negative experiences for you? Do you see yourself as a reader

now? How do you share your reading experiences—both current experiences and those from the past—with your students? With which group of readers in your classroom do you most identify—the underground readers, the developing readers, or the dormant readers? Who have been your role models for reading? List the last five books you have read. How long did it take for you to read these books? 1547

Hadnt read in 3 weeks, but when I realised that and just sat down and read Ive read three books in 3 days! As a kid I remember getting in trouble for sneaking off and hiding somewhere to read when we had visitors because it was ‘anti-social” I cant remember ever not reading, usually more than one book at a time. And on my kindle now Ive usually got 2 or 3 books on the go at the same time sand I flick between them.

Standing off to the side and telling students to read doesn’t work for most of them. How are they supposed to become readers if they don’t have any models to emulate? Remember that you are the best reader in the room, the master reader. Embrace that, and wear your reading love proudly in front of your students every day. The reality is that you cannot inspire others to do what you are not inspired to do yourself.1662

We live in a world of standardized testing. My students will eventually be expected to show the concepts and strategies that they have learned during my class on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills at the end of the year. I do not worry about this end goal much because I know that the amount of reading and response that my students do is the best preparation for this assessment. Frankly, the state’s goal is narrower than mine. The state assessment measures only a small number of the standards that the state prescribes that I teach. I want students to become life readers, people who read avidly.1851

What a goal!

BOOK REVIEW CRITERIA • Quotes from the book • Quotes from famous writers and reviewers • Cliffhanger questions • Personal reactions and opinions • Awards the book and author have won • Recommended reading

age • Other books by the same author • Comparisons with other books, 1938

Again American, but some potential possibilities here.

Poor readers dread getting called on to read, and good readers are bored by laboring through the reading of slower, less capable readers than themselves. Round-robin reading does nothing to foster a feeling of reading success in any but the best readers, and it doesn’t build anyone’s oral reading ability or fluency, either.2066

It is important for students to practice reading aloud in order to develop confidence and fluent oral reading ability, so how can we encourage students to read aloud, but avoid the negatives of round-robin and popcorn reading?2070

????

Students will read if we give them the books, the time, and the enthusiastic encouragement to do so. If we make them wait for the one unit a year in which they are allowed to choose their own books to become readers, they may choose never to read at all. To keep our students reading, we have to let them. 

And that is going to need time in class.

Afterword READING IS FUNDAMENTAL. Growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I heard these words on a public-service television spot, squeezed between my favorite TV shows, Bonanza and The Big Valley. Spoken by a young boy of ten or eleven—someone close to my age—those words were a call to action. I got the message that if I ever expected to know more about the world around me, I would need to read. 2419

Wow. I really enjoyed reading this and it has made me re think some things in the classroom, especially for these kids and what some of their goals should be around reading. Great food for thought as we start preparing for next year.