Any great reading curriculum should be built around books, we think. Reading whole books, cover to cover, helps students develop a deep understanding of an authorial voice. It helps them build deep understanding of ideas and empathy for characters. It helps them sustain interest in a story for an extended period of time. It teaches…
Over the next couple of months, I’m going to be posting some excerpts from Reading Reconsidered here on Field Notes. This is the beginning of Chapter 1, which discusses Text Selection and Text Complexity. Chapter 1: Text Selection One of the most important topics in teaching reading is text selection, the process by which teachers choose…
Teach Like a Champion 2.0 comes out tomorrow. I’m excited and at the same time, I’m a tiny bit distracted as I am “on deadline” writing, with Erica Woolway and Colleen Driggs, our magnum opus (that term is tongue in cheek) on literacy: Reading Reconsidered. Writing, I am reminded every time I am foolish enough to…
I just wrote a post about Turn and Talks here. I hope it was useful. In re-reading it, I was struck by another commonality among the three classrooms I described in the post and wanted to put a bow on it. Not only are the amazing classrooms of Rue Ratray, Maggie Johnson and Eric Snider highly…