Children, Teens, and Reading. Do Teens Read Seriously Anymore? We Have a National Reading Crisis. Books and Articles by Stephen D Krashen. Jason Reynolds for School Libraries. Using thinking strategies to help kids move beyond basic reading skills. Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation.
Subscribe today! Once students learn how to sound out words, reading is easy. They can speak the words they see. But whether they understand them is a different question entirely. Reading comprehension is complicated. Marianne Stewart teaches eighth grade English at Lexington Junior High near Anaheim, California. This process of questioning while reading is one of a number of “cognitive strategies” Stewart teaches her students. And it’s incredibly effective at improving their reading comprehension. Carol Booth Olson, a professor at the University of California-Irvine School of Education, developed a program called the Pathway to Academic Success Project that teaches cognitive strategies to improve student performance, in both reading and writing.
Now, with support from the U.S. Stop literacy shaming! Engaging the so-called "non-readers" Do YOU literacy shame? I can’t believe that a single educator would ever admit to shaming a child for being literate. One of the main goals of the education profession is to encourage students to improve their literacy skills.
13 ways educators can transform literacy. The Best Social Media Activities for ELA. Authentically engaging students in literacy activities is tough these days.
Literacy Tips for Parents: What One Teacher Wishes We All Knew. I learned exactly how important reading was from my parents.
They showed me with frequent trips to the library, always scrounging up money for the Scholastic book order, and, most importantly, ignoring me when they were caught up in a good book. Their “just one more chapter, and then we’ll go” or “let me finish this article before we start dinner” showed me that reading was a world that you could get wrapped up in and not want to leave. These days, the pressure of reading levels, words per minute, and standardized testing has put a tremendous pressure on not only teachers and students, but also parents.
Here are five literacy tips for parents that I wish I could share with all families: 1. Reading is making meaning not word recognition. P.S. 2. Oh, reading levels. Tag - Literacy Page 1. Motivating Middle School Students to Read More. A MiddleWeb Blog “I don’t read.”
“Why do I need to read this?” “I haven’t read a book since 3rd grade.” If you’re an English teacher in the middle level today, you’ve heard students utter statements and questions like these. Probably quite often. Realistic Ideas to Get Teens Reading. Who has time to read?
With so many entertainment options and educational demands competing for time, reading for fun may not be high on a teenager’s list. But as the adage goes, kids need to “use it or lose it.” To become good readers who are prepared for the future, they should read often and widely. So this Teen Read Week, turn your library into a place that gets teens excited about books! 25 Ways to Build Your School's Reading Culture.
The story that went viral earlier this year about the teacher who had the genius idea of installing a basket of books on her school’s bus has a crucial message behind it: Small acts can have a big impact when it comes to fostering a culture of reading in your school and community.
When we let students know that reading is worthwhile and empower them to experience it joyfully, it creates a chain reaction of literacy learning. Here are 25 of our favorite strategies for fostering a reading culture. Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves! 1. Whether it’s on your classroom bulletin board, or in the hallway, or even on the wall clock, dropping not-so subtle hints about great books gets students’ attention. 5 Reasons To Start a Podcast in Your High School Library. March Book Madness: A Library Tournament. One of the most frustrating aspects of being a high school librarian is failing to increase the level of leisure reading among the teenagers who frequent my library.
There are a handful of dedicated readers who are as enthusiastic as I am about books; these students, mostly 9th and 10th graders, immediately notice when I change a book display and often linger by my desk openly chatting with me about their latest reads. But the majority of students–and there are dozens of them in the library each period throughout the day–are too tied down with school work to even think about taking a break to read something unrelated to their academic life.
The month of March presents an exciting opportunity, one that gives me hope for the future of readers. I am a huge fan of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament and love creating a bracket and competing with family members and friends as we watch the college players perform their magic. Home. Planning Story Characters Using Interactive Trading Cards. Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans Lesson Plan Overview Featured Resources From Theory to Practice The boundaries of literacy are expanding to include many different popular culture texts.
This Murder Mystery Activity Works for Any Book. Teaching strategies come in and out of favor, but ever since I learned about the murder mystery or the murder hunt, it’s been one of my go-to pre-reading activities.
I learned about the idea from Paul Ginnis, author of The Teacher’s Toolkit, but have since adapted it to suit my needs. I teach English, but I imagine it could be used in drama, history, or social studies, too. The idea is simple and can be adapted (oddly!) To texts where there is no murder. The three I regularly use are Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” and “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” 1. The first step is to take the story of the text and create a series of clue cards. A Book Tasting is a Fun & Fresh Way to Introduce Students to New Reads. When it comes to reading, just like eating, some kids have pickier palates than others. The perfect way to pique their appetites for a good read is to have a book tasting!
It’s a great way to let young readers sample different authors, genres, and series. SOURCE: Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching Very similar to the popular read-dating activity, book tasting gives students the opportunity to sample some juicy reads in a short period of time and come away with a wish list of titles. 11 Classic Hip-Hop Songs You Can Teach With - 11 Classic Hip-Hop Songs You Can Teach With.
How to Write Slam Poetry - Writing Spoken Word Poems. Poetry Slam Inc. Stage a Poetry Slam! Poetry Foundation. Teaching Contemporary Poets to Update the Canon. When I announced our poetry unit to my high school freshmen, I was met with loud sighs and groans. While I was disheartened by the reaction, I was not surprised. I remember feeling similarly about poetry when I was their age. Poetry was difficult, boring, coded, dated, and not relatable. When I look at the literary canon—Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, and others—that reaction makes sense. The poets that students are so often exposed to are overwhelmingly male, white, straight, and, well, dead. We shouldn’t necessarily stop teaching these poets, but we also shouldn’t let this canon limit how we define poetry, nor should we automatically make these poets the default.
Teaching ninth grade English language arts at a public high school in Los Angeles, I was looking for ways to better help students connect and engage with the magic of poetry. Lakeland teacher launches Comics in the Classroom program to help struggling students learn to read. LAKELAND, Fla. — Like most superheroes, Nicole Jobin is needed now more than ever. Should Students Read Graphic Novels in the Classroom? Yes! Ask educators their opinions on graphic novels in the classroom and you’ll get a range of responses. “They’re so engaging! Home Page - Drawing Words Writing Pictures. More Support for Ending School Library Fines. A couple of blog posts ago I wrote that I was evaluating my stance on school library fines. 20 Ways to Bring More Equity to Your Literacy Instruction. 8 Must-Read Diverse YA Historical Fiction Books. This list of diverse YA historical fiction books is sponsored by THE CASSANDRA, the new novel by Sharma Shields, winner of the Washington State Book Award.
Published by Henry Holt & Co. Gifted and cursed with the ability to see the future, Mildred Groves takes a position at the Hanford Research Center in the early 1940s. Hanford tests and manufactures a mysterious product to aid the war effort. Only the top officials know that this product is processed plutonium, to make the first atomic bombs. Inspired by the classic Greek myth, this 20th-century reimagining is based on a real WWII compound. We Need Diverse Books – weneeddiversebooks.org.