Life Long Learner

It is snowing outside - the most snow I have ever seen in my lifetime! My poor husband has made numerous trips outside to shovel, and I have spent the time inside curled up with Janet Allen's Yellow Brick Roads (2000). I have used ideas from this book in the past, but have never really taken the time to read the book in its entirety. WOW! This book is incredible. There are so many ideas and resources in this book that I can't wait to share with the teachers in my school. Here are some of my highlights... Chapter 1 - Looking for the Wizard "I like to remind myself of T'sai Ken Tan's words: ""Water that is too pure has no fish it in."" I hope my words provide a path, not a program - a path that gives support while still leaving room for the strengths and challenges unique to you and the students in your care" (p8) Janet Allen is real. She spent many years in the classroom, and only offers suggestions, not a complete overhaul to what is alre...

Successful Teaching: De-stress Your Class

I find that reading aloud to students is a great way to model so many qualities of a good reader. Fluency - students can hear your voice, and your expression as you read the text Adjusting reading rate - slowing or speeding my voice so it fits with the story Rereading - emphasizing an important part or clarifying a part that was confusing Monitoring Comprehension - stopping to think about how well you understand the story Predicting & Adjusting Predictions - confirming predictions and adjusting as you read Making connections - with previous text & with background knowledge Drawing conclusions - have the kids see your "AHA" moments Summarizing & Paraphrasing - what was this about/put it in your own words Voicing confusion - letting students know that you don't understand Questioning - These are just some of the many strategies we use when we read aloud. Try to point out to your students what strategy you are using as you use it during a read aloud, so they reme...

I am trying to build my wiki page so the teachers in my school can easily access reading strategy materials anywhere...I still have a ton of info to add to it, but check it out so far! http://birkheadreading.wikispaces.com

I read a ton of blogs every night, but I rarely comment on them. Now that I am trying hook more readers onto my blog I decided I would start leaving comments on blogs. So, last week I was fascinated by Tim Shanahan's post http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2009/08/why-purposes-of-testing-matter.html I left a comment WOW quite an interesting post...I have not read up on this, but I do believe this will better our education system nationally. My main concern with this, (and all state tests) is when we test students who are not on grade level with a grade level test. I really do believe if an IEP states the child is not on grade level he/she should take the state test that is on their academic level, not on their age level. Thank you for this information. I am interested in learning more about this movement. And, low and behold, his next blog post answered my comments with great detail. Thank you Tim Shanahan! You are an inspiration to me.

No doubt I believe picture books unlock meaning of abstract topics for all learners, especially reluctant readers. Tonight I found a few websites that will help me encourage other teachers to use picture books in their instruction http://www.squidoo.com/teachingwithpicturebooks http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/ http://6traits.wordpress.com/

I accepted a new job last week as a Reading Specialist/Instructional Coach at the high school level. I am very excited about my job, and, of course, turned to Barnes and Noble for some new resources about content area reading, and the role of a literacy coach. I sat on the rug in BN for over 2 hours yesterday, and read/took notes on several different resources. Finally, I decided it was time to leave. I chose 2 books and made my way to the register. I happily pulled out my educator card only to hear the cashier say, "Sorry, neither of these books are approved for the educator discount." "WHAT?!? Clearly, they are educator books, what is the problem?" "The publishers deny the discount." Too embarrassed to put the books back, I bought them at full price. I was not happy. So, when I came home I searched for a cheaper price online (amazon.com, half.com, ebay even) and found that the prices on them weren't even worth it. What is the point of offering an edu...