The Literacy Teacher's Life

New Year, New Goals!

We’re almost halfway through January! Setting new year’s goals is a team effort - click on the link in my bio to read today’s Thursday Thought about reflecting and goal setting with students. There are some ideas to include parents into the process, too!

A new semester is about to begin! This is often an exciting time for college students because they are looking forward to their new classes and more opportunities to learn about teaching and work with and learn from students. Here are a few suggestions to help as you get started with the semester:

• Banish the word ‘study’ from your vocabulary and instead be very specific about the work you need to complete

• Establish a consistent schedule so you know when you will complete the work for each class to avoid working in a reactive state

• Set-up a work space that you like so you have a place to get to work!

Click on the link above to continue reading this week’s Thursday Thought!

It’s a read-aloud week! The Thursday Thought for this week is all about interactive read-alouds for the primary grades! Read-alouds are interactive, meaning that the students and the teacher are actively engaged in thinking about the book. The teacher reads the book to the children, but everyone (teacher and students) are doing the work of understanding the text.

One strategy that I love to include in my interactive read-alouds is “stop-and-think” because it allows the students to think about what we have read so far. By using this strategy in my read-alouds, I am showing the students how to pause and occasionally reflect on or discuss what has been read so far and then make predictions about what may happen next.

Click on the link in my bio to read about other strategies that I include in my interactive read-alouds!

What are some strategies that you enjoy demonstrating through interactive read-alouds?

This week’s Thursday Thought is focused on guided reading and how to plan and implement the first guided reading session. Guided reading is a teaching practice that gives students the opportunity to develop as readers through support from the teacher and peers. Guided reading can really support students as they are reading - both with decoding and comprehension. Head to the link in the profile for the full post!

Fluent reading does not mean reading as quickly as possible. Instead, fluent readers read with accurate and appropriate speed, intonation, and emphasis so they can understand what they are reading. Fluency and meaning- making or comprehension are actually connected and work together.

Today’s blog post features a fluency activity that involves reading in a variety of emotions with student created emojis.

Some questions to ask when implementing this activity: what happens when the text is read in a happy voice? What happens when the text is read in a sad or mad voice? Does the meaning change?

To read more, head to theliteracyteacherslife.com and read the post!

How do children become readers? This was a large focus in my classes last week. Unfortunately, there is not a magic potion that will suddenly make kids read. Instead, it takes doing the work of reading as well as reading to your students. Check out today’s blog post for a few ideas on how to get kids reading!

Life has been hectic this month! Today’s post is about carving out longer stretches of uninterrupted work time in order to create space for deep thinking. Here’s to a less hectic October!

How do you modify a Reading Interest Survey for the early childhood classroom during COVID? Check out how to move to a more open-ended survey that will still help you learn about the readers in your classroom in today’s blog post! 📚

One small change had a BIG impact. Adding a Morning Message into my Zoom class set the tone for the day and sent an overarching message that led to a more active class discussion. Read today’s post and consider including a Morning Message into the mix!

Apple painting on a crisp fall day!

Do you consider yourself to be a good listener? Listening to students is a form of assessment. By carefully listening to the readers and writers in our classroom, we are able to learn about the strategies they use as they engage in reading and writing as well as how the students are making meaning of texts and sharing their thoughts and ideas. Read today’s blog post (link in bio) for strategies to be the best listener possible this year!

New Blog Post Up!!

We are teaching through a time of great uncertainty. But times of difficulty can be times of hope and possibility. Everyday, Getting Better at Getting Better is my motto for my teaching this fall. Find out why in my blog post! What’s your motto for teaching and/or learning this fall?