A recent blog posts on Edutopia mentioned Round Robin Reading as “a strategy that doesn’t work.” I read that and was startled. We’re still talking about Round Robin? This was like that moment when you hear a great great aunt had died. And you had forgotten they were alive. Telling us not to do Round …
When did Round Robin Reading Become the Antichrist? Read More »
A teacher once asked me to stop by and talk to them about the work I was doing with my intervention students from their class. This time of the year, I’m doing all the usual differentiated instruction stuff with the students. I’m teaching them syllable patterns, teaching them phonics, sight words, and the ever-critical skill …
How To: Differentiate Instruction with Reading Comprehension Passages Read More »
Big Idea: Teach Letter Name Fluency with a Simple PowerPoint Hi Teacher Friends, How did your students do in their midyear DIBELS 8 kinder tests? Did you feel a great sigh of relief that they got it? Or, did you think, “uh oh I have to do it differently in the winter term.” If you …
Dibels 8 Letter Name Fluency (LNF) Midyear Reboot Read More »
Differentiated Instruction means teaching kids in one classroom with supports and strategies that makes the instruction accessible for all. It’s a fundamental expectation of teachers in the modern school, but how do you do it? Initial Steps to Differentiating Instruction The Most Common Basic Differentiation Strategies in the Modern Public School Are: Behavior Strategies Seatwork …
Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in the K-2 Primary Classroom Read More »
“Bittersweet,” says the Reading Core Specialist as she sorts cards into zip lock bags. This is how her end of year teacher reflection has been going. And it’s not just her. Beginnings are scary, and endings are sad. I know this, and I know you’ve got to stay in the middle. But at the end …
This week was DIBELS sweeps. This ought to be an easy task, but it also leads to DIBELS testing reflections: Musing over all the lessons of the year, and all the worries about testing and the future. First of all, there’s the tension about the scores. Before testing starts, sometimes teachers are on edge. They …
To Shut Down the Reading Wars, we Need A High-Quality, Nationally Normed K-2 Primary Reading Inventory. Last week I was trying to explain why there are so many kids in America that can’t read. This week there’s something else that’s been much on my mind: Part of the reason for the Reading Wars is that …
This last week I have been working to bring the first graders back to their safe-feeling routines while working in the new classroom. They’re unfocused in their new surroundings. There are perhaps few concepts in teaching more difficult than how school children kids need continuity and routine. The students simply can’t really get their intellectual …
This List of Science of Reading articles is designed to be an expanding project. Right now, it covers three topics: Science of Reading, Phonics, and Emily Hanford’s work. Science of Reading: National Reading Panel Report From the National Institute of Child Health. This report is the one that lays out the “Five Pillars of Reading,” …
I’ve been thinking about how phonics and blending instruction centers on the teacher. And how phonics is hard sometimes. This is partly a function of self-directed vs. teacher directed learning. In terms of work, teacher directed learning is harder for both student and teacher. At least much of the time. Teacher directed learning has become …
