Joy Factor is one of the most popular techniques in Teach Like a Champion. Who doesn’t want to have fun while they (and their kids) work? Who doesn’t want to have their students feel the joy of learning? But while it’s popular and positive, Joy Factor can be a surprisingly tricky thing to get just right. …
Leanne Riordan teaches English Language Learners at Baltimore City Schools’ Holabird Academy. I’ve shared several of her insights previously in this blog and in the new 2.0 version of Teach Like a Champion. She sent me a note recently about using the principles of practice–ideas from Practice Perfect and several of our practice-intensive workshops as adapted…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post about reading aloud to my daughter, and some of the things I realized it did to help her. I’m pretty passionate about reading with my kids, and it’s not the first time I’ve written on the topic. (See some other reflections on reading with them here…
I’ve posted a few times recently about a really productive way to get more non-fiction into your classroom and get MUCH more out if it when it’s there. The idea is called “embedding non-fiction”… pairing non-fiction articles with fiction texts you are reading. Each text becomes a lens on the other and increases the rate at…
As many readers of this blog know, Colleen Driggs, Erica Woolway and I are in the midst of writing a book on reading. Our MO, as always, is to learn what we can by watching teachers in action. Colleen visited a colleague last week to observe her Close Reading lesson and loved what she saw. She…