Reading Teachers Chatboard

Sep 25, 2014

Assessing students' progress in reading, writing, math, science and social studies doesn't have to depend upon paper, pencil and bubble sheets!

12 Ways to Motivate Reluctant Readers by Laura Candler

Sep 23, 2014

A dozen strategies to motivate reluctant readers, and none of them involves stickers, certificates, or pizza...

The Eyes and Ears of Writing. Warm-ups & mini-lessons

Sep 2, 2014

Her students came to her hating writing, but these warm-ups and mini-lessons have turned teacher Julie Bey's students on to the process of writing. Take a look, and be sure to share the link with colleagues!

Differentiated Instruction Not Dependent on Ability Grouping

Aug 30, 2014

Cheryl Sigmon wrote: There is no evidence that ability grouping is necessary for Differentiating Instruction. Here’s how teaching all children to read, write and grow in literacy can be accomplished.

12 Surefire Ways to Learn Vocabulary Words by Susan Fitzell

Aug 28, 2014

Click below to read a dozen helpful tips for teaching - and learning - vocabulary words! (Share your vocabulary teaching ideas here or in the Comments section following the article.)

The Teacher Who Couldn't Read - True story

Aug 4, 2014

Difficult to imagine, but a true story! In the just-posted August issue of Teachers.Net Gazette:

The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read - By Owen M. Griffith - an incredible story!

Our current curriculum is just a checklist of standards we need to hit followed by the core writing genres (narrative, informational, argumentative) I struggled to teach LAL last year and looking for some guidance! I am from NJ. I have stumbled upon Louisiana's website and they have a great curriculum. Would anyone mind providing some guidance as t...See More

Overwhelmed Teacher

by Danielle C.

Jul 8, 2014

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Sara On 7/08/14, Danielle C. wrote: > Our current curriculum is just a checklist of standards we > need to hit followed by the core writing genres (narrative, > informational, argumentative) I struggled to teach LAL last > year and looking for some guidance! I am from NJ. I have > stumbled upon Louisiana's website and they have a great &g...See More

Jul 17, 2014

Responses for Reader's Notebook

by Melissa Simmons

Jun 9, 2014

Hi! I am teaching 5th grade reading and using the reader's workshop approach. How do I get my students to write an entry into their notebooks that reflects critical thinking, or an in-depth response to what they read? Last year I got immature, surface level hog-wash! Thanks!

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view previous comments

Sue On 6/09/14, Melissa Simmons wrote: > Hi! > I am teaching 5th grade reading and using the reader's > workshop approach. How do I get my students to write an entry > into their notebooks that reflects critical thinking, or an > in-depth response to what they read? Last year I got immature, > surface level hog-wash! > Thanks!
...See More

Jun 17, 2014

Arlene On 6/17/14, Sue wrote: > On 6/09/14, Melissa Simmons wrote: >> Hi! >> I am teaching 5th grade reading and using the reader's >> workshop approach. How do I get my students to write an > entry >> into their notebooks that reflects critical thinking, or an >> in-depth response to what they read? Last year I got >...See More

Jul 9, 2014

paired poems/passages

by Baileyteacher

Jun 17, 2014

I am looking for a good website that has poems and passages using the same theme. Any ideas?

8th Grade Language Arts - Facilitating Novel Reading

by pearske

Mar 2, 2014

Hi! I am brand new to this forum.

I have taught middle school chorus for six years. Next year, I will be reducing the number of chorus classes I teach and will be embarking on a new adventure that I am very excited about: 8th Grade Language Arts.

I teach in a high-poverty urban school (very diverse, with our largest population g...See MoreHi! I am brand new to this forum.

I have taught middle school chorus for six years. Next year, I will be reducing the number of chorus classes I teach and will be embarking on a new adventure that I am very excited about: 8th Grade Language Arts.

I teach in a high-poverty urban school (very diverse, with our largest population groups being Hispanic and African-American). I am looking ahead to next year and am trying to figure out how I am going to facilitate novel reading (we are supposed to read two during the course of the year, while also focusing a tremendous amount of time on reading). One of the novels must have themes related to the Holocaust.

I have been told that I cannot ask my students to purchase books (I wouldn't do that with my population anyway) and that we do not have enough to check the novels out to our students (we only have class sets). So - all reading will have to be completed in class. I have heard different schools of thought among my colleagues on how to facilitate this - and frankly, I'm not sold on any of them.

One of our teachers does all of the reading herself to the students aloud (expecting them to follow along). One of our teachers asks the students to do all of the reading silently in class but has told me to expect major discipline problems from the students who do not want to read (or who struggle in that area). And then another one of the teachers does popcorn reading.

And finally - one of my colleagues has suggested that I should just do excerpts of novels instead of the whole thing (but that doesn't sound pleasant, either).

ANY suggestions you could give me would be appreciated. How do I do this well while keeping my students engaged?

Also - suggestions for novels would be great, too. I was considering Alan Lawrence Sitomer's "Homeboyz," but the profanity would make reading aloud nearly impossible. I would like to avoid "The Diary of Anne Frank," and "Night" seems a bit much for that age (these are the two most commonly taught books in our building).

Thanks for your assistance!

Best, Kevin

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Sara On 3/02/14, pearske wrote: > Hi! I am brand new to this forum.

I can get back with some more novel suggestions - I need to recheck some titles but things like Number The Stars and The Devil's Arithmetic are coming to mind as possible Holocaust books and there's another - Stones for Water?

I use tapes/CDs - there's a place/sit...See MoreOn 3/02/14, pearske wrote: > Hi! I am brand new to this forum.

I can get back with some more novel suggestions - I need to recheck some titles but things like Number The Stars and The Devil's Arithmetic are coming to mind as possible Holocaust books and there's another - Stones for Water?

I use tapes/CDs - there's a place/site where you can buy/rent tapes of books and the reading is done by professionals- by actors - so the books are read well. ListeningLibrary.com was a good place to access tapes/CDs - [link removed].

And they don't 'listen' automatically - they don't know how to listen. I work on that skill and we build our endurance, our ability to listen. Some have never been read aloud to and their brains just don't know what to do with it. Listening is a learned skill.

There's no ideal way to do this - there's no perfect way and every class has its own personality. What works for one teacher in one class might not work for the next. Explain the difficulty to them - we can't take the books home so - how do we read this together in class? Try to get some buy-in from them. > I'd rather do short stories than excerpts of novels but it has happened that we start a novel and it just doesn't work out and I end it. NO book is the right book for every class.

The word 'holocaust' in Swahili is 'Maafa'. Africa has over 2,000 languages but the trans-Atlantic slave trade is called 'The Maafa' - Africa has its own Holocaust that involved 200 million lives.

The Underground Railroad saving African-Americans from slavery makes a nice connection to those who tried to save Jews from the Holocaust. Who was the Harriet Tubman of the Holocaust? Oscar Schindler was one but there are others. One many - Vry? - determined he would save as many Jewish artists and writers as he could.

Keeping students engaged is an ongoing challenge from one day to the next, from one activity to the next. There's no easy answer and again what works for one teacher in one class doesn't necessarily work for the next.

You might check out the 'Freedom Writers' film - just because those inner city kids actually brought the woman who tried to save Anne Frank and her family to the U.S. and right to their school. > > And finally - one of my colleagues has suggested that I > should just do excerpts of novels instead of the whole > thing (but that doesn't sound pleasant, either). > > ANY suggestions you could give me would be appreciated. How > do I do this well while keeping my students engaged? > > Also - suggestions for novels would be great, too. I was > considering Alan Lawrence Sitomer's "Homeboyz," but the > profanity would make reading aloud nearly impossible. I > would like to avoid "The Diary of Anne Frank," and "Night" > seems a bit much for that age (these are the two most > commonly taught books in our building). > > Thanks for your assistance! > > Best, Kevin

Mar 10, 2014

Debbie On 3/10/14, Sara wrote: > On 3/02/14, pearske wrote: >> Hi! I am brand new to this forum. > > I can get back with some more novel suggestions - I need to > recheck some titles but things like Number The Stars and The > Devil's Arithmetic are coming to mind as possible Holocaust > books and there's another - Stones for Water?...See More

May 31, 2014