Literacy Learning Zone

This summer a  really BIG! group of educators   are reading and learning together online.  I am participating and co-hosting this year's #cyberPD event about digital reading and creating digital readers in our classrooms  with  Cathy Mere  and  Laura Komos .  Don't forget! Next Tuesday, July 28th @ 7 pm CST, we will be participating in a #cyberPD Twitter chat with authors   Franki Sibberson   and   Bill Bass . Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades 3-8  by William L. Bass II and Franki Sibberson Paperback or ebook can be purchased from NCTE *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * My Thoughts and Reflections Chapter 6: Assessment: Keeping Our Eye on the Literacy "Assessment needs to be the vehicle that moves us beyond defining our reade...

Join the challenge and write! Slice of Life Stories hosted by the Two Writing Teachers Kids can be so wise. As an intervention teacher, I'm balancing the expectations of the school and district, yet trying to put into place effective practices and what I know is best for kids. I must progress monitor my students two times a month -- my students read aloud to me for one minute and I record the number of words read correctly and the number of errors.  Quick, easy, and somewhat painless. But this isn't real reading.  No pictures, no choice, no motivation. So, in addition, I also confer with students and scribble some notes.  Conversations tell me so much more about my readers.  Taking time to just listen.          What book are you reading?      Why did you pick this book?      What's it about so far?      I'd love to hear you read a little of it.      Tell me what just...

It has been a great couple weeks conferring with various colleagues across the country about Patrick Allen's book  Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop.   I'm amazed at the "walk-aways" that others share in their reflections and thinking.  Some ideas are similar to my own.  Maybe an additional twist or take on it.  Other ideas dig deeper and make me think beyond the surface.  Thank you for your insights and learning!   PART 3: WHAT EMERGES FROM OUR READING CONFERENCES? "We need to slow down and get back to the business of knowing children, of knowing readers." (Allen, 181) Listening is important.  So is sharing rich conversations and pushing thinking forward.  However, of equal importance, when conferring, is the walk-aways for both the teacher and the student.  What do students walk away with after a conference?  What do I walk away with as their teacher?  This is critical because the learning for both stud...

Friday.  Finally, a moment during the girls afternoon nap, that I can process and think about the insights and knowledge that Patrick Allen shares in his book Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop.  [Ah . . . deep breath.] PART 2: WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF CONFERRING? "As Peter Johnston reminds us, the word assessment derives from the Latin word assidere , meaning "to sit alongside." (Allen, 112) Teacher. (Check.) Student. (Check.) Book. (Check.)  That's all I need, right? I'm all about structure.  I like things in order, lined up, ready to go with a plan.  I feel as though everything Allen says is so obvious that, of course, we should be doing this, but maybe just like kids, we need explicit instructions and scaffolding.  Thank you Patrick for doing just this! Patrick shared his thoughtful structure of his reading conferences, the RIP model.  As I thought about each component of this model, I felt validated in many of ...

My stack of professional to-be-read books is leaning.  I added one more to the top of the pile this last week as I couldn't resist joining a group of educators on a journey through a new forum of #cyberPD . We are reading and responding to Patrick Allen's Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop (Stenhouse, 2009). Whenever I read PD books, I am always thinking about how I can utilize the information learned in my own classroom (a resource classroom where I work with small groups of students).  In addition, I am also thinking about what and how I can share new ideas and strategies with my colleagues.  This may just be a great book study to discuss this year! I still do not have the actual book in hand from Amazon , any day now.  I have read all that I could of the online preview on the Stenhouse website . . . foreword (written by Debbie Miller), prologue, introduction, and chapter one. When I first spotted this book months ago, I thought it was about c...