12 Ways to Nurture a Love of Reading
As a classroom teacher, nurturing a love of reading in my students was almost an obsession. This continued when I had a child. Here are twelve ways to nurture a love of reading in kids. 1. Reflect on reading. We will only do things that we enjoy doing or feel are worth it.
5 Free Tools for Creating Book Trailer Videos
The traditional book report that asks students to critique the books that they read is a staple of many classrooms. If you would like to add a new element to book reports try having students add visual and audio components to book reports by having students create book trailers. Book trailers are short videos designed to spark a viewer's interest in a book. A great place to find examples of book trailers is Book Trailers for Readers. If you would like to have your students try to create book trailers, here are five free video tools that are well-suited to that purpose.
Trelease Brochures on Reading
"Do you have a free handout about reading that we can give to parents?" o many teachers and administrators asked Jim Trelease that question, one of his first retirement projects was to create a series of such free handouts. Based on his books, lectures, and films, the tri-fold double-sided brochures are aimed at parents, teachers, librarians—even future teachers and parents.
Heart of the School
Share17 Have a look at some of these reports, all of which stress the importance of reading for pleasure and educational achievement. A well run and professional school library can address these difficulties. (Most recent reports first.) Book ownership, literacy engagement and mental wellbeing National Literacy Trust 2018
Speed Dating Books
I come back from lunch to join my second block of students, whom I always greet with “Did everyone have a good lunch?" There are the usual grumblings about the cafeteria food, brief interjections about someone who got in trouble for throwing food, or who left a mess that caused their whole table to have to stay behind to clean up. But inevitably, there is my ever-so-eloquent Violet, with her daily blotter on who is dating whom, or who just broke up. It’s still mind blowing to me that kids are dating at the ripe age of 12, which I have deduced (in general) to mean that they text each other in the evenings and occasionally hang out in groups on the weekends. Harmless, yes, but for many, this is the center of their social universe, and truly, kids want to feel a connection.
7 Tips for Successful Collaboration
Who We Are and What We Do We are National Board Certified Teachers who have been collaborative partners for almost a decade at Oceanside High School in New York. Our collaboration works because we're working together towards a common goal: helping our students reach their fullest potential. We teach two integrated sections of ninth grade Honors English and Social Studies, where our students move as a cohort between our classes, giving them an experience that illustrates how English and Social Studies are related by providing them with the opportunity to read text deeply, and link themes occurring across both classrooms. In addition, we team teach a Conference class where students delve deeper into the humanities, exploring concepts that link us all in the human experience.
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article
Education has produced a vast population able to read, but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. G. M.
Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article
In her article Room for Beliefs, Debbie Miller says, "Step outside your classroom door and look back in, as if for the first time. What do you see? Do you want to come back inside? Or do you want to run and hide?" I loved this article when I first read it and it helped me to think about the messages my classroom gave to the students who entered.
Book Talks by Katherine Sokolowski
I recently gave my students an end of the quarter survey to see how they felt the year was going. In looking at survey after survey, my seventh graders repeatedly listed our daily book talks as one of their favorite parts of our class. They had positive things to say about finding other kids in class who liked the same books they did, discovering new books to add to their to read list, and the community feel of all of us gathering in the front of the room to begin our day. While I did begin the year with weeks of book talks from me, the students have taken over and manage this routine day to day. Today I asked them to give you some advice from the experts, what makes a great book talk?
S.O.S. for Information Literacy
Collaboration is an evolving process that does not happen overnight. Here are some of our tips for developing successful collaborative relationships. Develop a "collaborative mentality." This means your collaboration "antennae" are always seeking out collaboration opportunities wherever and whenever they arise.Get "up close and personal" with the curricula for each grade level in your school and determine the most likely "payoff points," where you can immediately provide services and resources to meet the needs of both teachers and students.Hang out with teachers; have lunch in the teachers' room, go to team planning meetings, join curriculum and technology committees---whatever it takes to be able to interact and learn what's important to them and their students.Be enthusiastic, approachable, and a good listener.
Top 10 ways to use technology to promote reading
I only steal from the best. So here we go. Johnson's Top Ten... Author and fan websites.
Learning To Read Alone Is Not Enough. Your Students Need A Reading Champion.
I don't know about you, but... I did not become a reader because someone held me accountable for reading. I did not become a reader because someone offered me "points" or other incentives for the quantity of books or pages I read. I did not become a reader because someone limited my reading selections to only to those titles on a certain reading level or within a specific lexile band. And I did not become a reader because someone forced me to complete reading logs, write book reports or create (and then reuse) the occasional diorama.
Scholastic Releases New National Research on Children’s Reading (Kids & Family Reading Report, 6th Ed.)
From Scholastic: Scholastic today released results from the Kids & Family Reading Report: 6th Edition, a biannual national survey of children ages 6–17 and their parents, as well as parents of kids ages 0–5, exploring their attitudes and behaviors around reading. Key findings reveal what kids and parents look for in children’s books—including types of storylines and characters; the importance and increase in reading aloud to children from an early age; views on summer reading; as well as the inequities around access to books in the home. The report also provides data regarding parents’ views on diversity in children’s literature as well as data on books and reading in Hispanic and African-American families.The Kids & Family Reading Report: 6th Edition released today has encouraging news showing that reading aloud to children ages 0–5 is happening in more families than it was just two years ago when the movement for reading from birth began. Direct to International Editions of Report
How to Create Fruitful Co-Teaching Partnerships
A MiddleWeb Bog By now co-teachers around the nation have had a chance to get off on the right foot. I hope you had a flying start!
