Topic: Reading

All students, those that gravitate toward nonfiction and those that don’t, need opportunities to engage with nonfiction not just during nonfiction reading units, but all year long.

if you have a good readers workshop going in your classroom I give you a hi-five and say keep it up! There are, though, a few caveats that might cause you to consider the whole class novel approach...

The use of different formats helps authors shape the same information in different ways. As a result, diverse sets of sources promote critical thinking.

In this following video, Kate walks you through what you can expect to find in her new book, A Novel Approach, and shows you how you too can find a student-centered, balanced approach to teaching reading.

I believe we can teach whole class novels in ways that increase independence, ability, and engagement. We can keep our novels, but we may need to change the way we do them.

In the upper grades, students don’t often move up reading levels as quickly as they do when they are younger. But that said, it’s still important to take note when a student has been in the same level for what seems like too long.

Here, Jen has created a handy downloadable chart to illustrate the connections between goals in The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book.

Many students are already social media experts. Tapping into their knowledge to channel them to try new books and to reflect on their work can be powerful.

It may seem strange to think about cultivating focus. Although natural abilities can vary, focus can be improved, cultivated, and taught.

Because of the myriad ways writing workshop and oral language development are linked, it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Readers who read strictly for plot nearly always remain stuck in literal interpretations of text, and typically struggle with more complex reading skills.

New York Times, Best-selling author Jennifer Serravallo talks about her new on-demand course: Strategies in Action: Reading and Writing Methods and Content.

Creating Powerful Book Clubs 4-8

Once we can get past the idea that poems are in their own little word, they open up a world of possibilities in the classroom.

Think of the possibilities as graphic novels provide readers who might not be able to tackle higher-levels of text an inroad for high-level thinking work.

There are two key considerations when planning a curriculum that supports success with ELA exams: time and level of text complexity.

This is part of the beauty of the Units of Study: the specificity and precision of the Unit books juxtaposed with the flexibility of the If…Then…Curriculum book.

For a variety of reasons, expressing understanding is hard for many struggling learners.