Balanced literacy is more than grouping students, as my colleague Doug Fisher pointed out in his blog. But grouping for instruction is important and, sadly, neglected. If our goal is to ensure that students can read and comprehend texts independently, then we need data about the barriers each student
We know that reading is imperative for building great writers. We also are beginning to discover and practice the ways that writing is a critical component to creating great readers. For instance, we know that children, even in the earliest grades, often write before they read -- and students can read any word they
The term “balanced literacy” has been in use for several decades. School systems just about everywhere say that they use a “balanced literacy” approach. After all, who would want their literacy instruction to be unbalanced? The question is, what is in balance? And the answer to that has changed significantly over the past several
This summer we’re taking a step back, breathing deeply, sipping some lemonade by the pool
Many schools are embarking on a schoolwide professional journey that asks teachers to incorporate discipline-specific literacy practices (reading, writing, viewing, reasoning, and communicating) in ways that mirror the practices of experts. This is disciplinary literacy — a necessary shift in instruction and learning that will help students be more prepared
Often, we combat time constraints by teaching more to the whole class, while interacting less through small groups or one-to-one. Yet doing so creates more teaching-to-the-middle and less individualization. So how do we move toward more individualized learning opportunities within our time constraints? Small-group reading experiences!
Learning to read is laborious. Students’ minds are constantly decoding words, remembering what they have read, and making sense of the text. It’s no wonder so many students decide reading just isn’t for them by the middle grades! This doesn’t have to happen, though. Teachers
A list is a very common and simple text structure (it’s even cited as a text type in many next generation standards documents like the Common Core). But even lists embed other text structures to make them more powerful. Simple lists aren’t organized or categorized;
Throughout my career I’ve taught struggling readers. Here’s one area of struggle I see all the time, and not just among struggling readers—I see it with middle school students and also with university students: how to notice key details. In other words: how to separate the
The most powerful teaching tool I know is listening closely, so I can build a solid understanding of the student sitting beside me. I can know seven different ways to teach students to retell a story or five ways to figure out the main idea