Fountas & Pinnell Supporting Materials Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality This article was published in The Reading Teacher Vol. 66 Issue 4 Dec 2012 / Jan 2013. Read Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality The Critical Role of Text Complexity in Teaching Children to Read In this downloadable white paper by Fountas and Pinnell they examine several factors that, according to research, make a difference in students' literacy learning. Recently text complexity has gained more attention. Read The Critical Role of Text Complexity in Teaching Children to Read Instructional Level Expectations for Reading The F&P Text Level Gradient™—Revision to Recommended Grade-Level Goals This downloadable white paper lays out the rationale behind our recent decision to make minor adjustments to the recommended grade-level goals on the F&P Text Level Gradient™. Fountas and Pinnell have designed a general Instructional Level Expectations for Reading chart to demonstrate the recommended goals for each grade level.
Persuasive Picture Books « Read… Write… Talk… This week we have been working on persuasive writing and speaking skills. Some of the picture books I use are explained below. I read to my students are Earrings! We also read Hey Little Ant by Phillip Hoose . Another picture book that you can have students write persuasively is Old Henry. I talked about this book in an older post ( to see that click here). My student’s favorite activity we do with persuasion is I have them create a product and then create a persuasive commercial to sell it using two of the techniques we study in class. Like this: Like Loading...
POGIL | Home 3 Strategies to Give Students Authentic Audience @lindayollis Building authentic audience is an essential technique for 21st century teachers. Linda Yollis, a 27 year elementary teacher shares with us how she uses social media in the classroom. Using their class blog and teacher’s social media connections, Linda’s students write for the world. Let’s learn as Linda Yollis @lindayollis, classroom blogging extraordinaire, shares how she engages her students using blogging. Listen to Linda Yollis – Every Classroom Matters Show #49 Listen on iTunes: Trial and Error episode Add @lindayollis to your PLN: Mrs. Linda Yollis, 3rd grade teacher, finds using social media with students can be incorporated into many content areas. Teaching with Twitter In one instance, she posted out a question on Twitter asking what the weather was like for other people. Classroom Blogging Linda is excited about learning and finds this is contagious and has spread to her students.
Common Core in Practice: Great Teachers Demonstrate Moving to Deeper Learning In states across the country, teachers and school leaders are working to implement the new Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. When implemented well, the standards can empower and guide educators to work much more deeply with students and help improve their critical-thinking and real-world problem-solving skills while mastering core content. We set out to look for examples of teachers who have made the transition and can help show the way. The following videos show how five teachers with a proven track record, several of whom are America Achieves fellows, are putting the new standards into practice in their classrooms and how enthusiastically their students are responding. Monica Sims: Reading to inform Chicago teacher Monica Sims uses written material to help her 5th graders use their critical-thinking and communications skills. Dwight Davis: Words with friends Across the country, Dwight Davis teaches 5th graders in Washington, DC.
The 2 Sisters 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing Summary: Few sources available today offer writing teachers such succinct, practice-based help—which is one reason why 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing was the winner of the Association of Education Publishers 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Materials. The National Writing Project's 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing offers successful strategies contributed by experienced Writing Project teachers. Since NWP does not promote a single approach to teaching writing, readers will benefit from a variety of eclectic, classroom-tested techniques. These ideas originated as full-length articles in NWP publications (a link to the full article accompanies each idea below). Table of Contents: 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing 1. Debbie Rotkow, a co-director of the Coastal Georgia Writing Project, makes use of the real-life circumstances of her first grade students to help them compose writing that, in Frank Smith's words, is "natural and purposeful." ROTKOW, DEBBIE. 2003. Back to top 2. 3. 4.
Contemplative Pedagogy “Opening the contemplative mind in schools is not a religious issue but a practical epistemic question… Inviting contemplative study simply includes the natural human capacity for knowing through silence, pondering deeply, beholding, witnessing the contents of consciousness and so forth.” ~ Tobin Hart, Opening the Contemplative Mind in the Classroom, Journal of Transformative Education Vol. 2 No. 1, January 2004 The ancient practice of contemplation is being explored by many institutions of higher education as a new means of enhancing liberal education. Research demonstrates that “contemplative pedagogy”-the integration of meditative practices into higher education-facilitates the achievement of traditional educational goals such as improved cognitive and academic performance. Students have experienced it as an aid in focusing attention, improving concentration and accessing self-knowledge. Tags: Contemplative Pedagogy