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Predictions are not “right” or “wrong”

Recently I watched 60 Seesaw videos of fifth grade students reflecting on a THIEVES lesson. I’d posed these questions for reflection: “Were your predictions on track? How were they helpful (or not) to you as a reader?” What I noticed was that many students commented about whether their predictions were “right” or “wrong.” This made …Read more

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Conferring Tip #4: Check for Higher-Level Thinking

If I know a reader understands what has been explicitly stated in a section of an informational text, then I check for inferential or interpretive understanding. This includes asking questions like: “Why do you think the author included these key details?” “What do you think the author’s main idea in this section is?” Sample Conference …Read more

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Conferring Tip #1: When readers get stuck on a word, teach for cross-checking.

Our students may need a reminder to use multiple sources of information to figure out a word – meaning cues (context & pic clues), visual cues (the letters in a word), and syntax cues (how the language sounds). They may need to learn to ask questions like: Does that make sense? Does that look right? …Read more

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How do we know what to teach? Start with an easy assessment

You know your objectives for teaching as far as curriculum, but you also need to know what your students know how to do in relation to those objectives, right? If you are teaching for identifying main ideas and explaining textual evidence–what can your students already do to identify main idea and explain supporting details? If …Read more

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