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“Why can’t I just highlight? Why do I have to annotate?” Ever heard this from a student? I don’t have to convince you of the value of annotating, but we do need to remind (and even persuade) students that annotating a source can help us monitor for meaning. Annotating can help us make sense of …Read more
Co-written with Dr. Julie Webb and originally published at middleweb.com. Is the term “gradual release of responsibility” misleading? Especially when we explain GRR with phrases like “I DO, WE DO, YOU DO”? Terms like these position the teacher as leader of the learning, in control of the learning process. In truth, though, we want students …Read more
It never fails. With some students, you can have the best time analyzing and talking about an informational source, but when they go to write a short response, they lose their grounding and start to fall. How do we help students bridge the gap between reading and writing? In our practice, making a plan for a written …Read more
If your students struggle with determining what’s important or they think “It’s all important!” make sure they have a clear purpose for reading. A purpose stated as a question is even better. Questions like “What is the author’s point of view? What are details in the sources that make me think so?” or “How did …Read more
BUT. DESPITE. WHEREAS. ALTHOUGH. IN CONTRAST. INSTEAD. HOWEVER. YET. WHILE. NEVERTHELESS. NOTWITHSTANDING. Our students may gloss over these words as they read, not realizing how powerful they are. Words like these signal a causal relationship that is in opposition to what a reader might have expected. These words are a BIG DEAL. Technically they’re called …Read more
It’s frequently true. We have grand conversations about engaging nonfiction and then when our students write in response…well, the struggle is REAL. Here are some approaches I’ve found helpful in grades 2-6 — Just a few thoughts on #1-3. 1) Provide a clear purpose for writing. Students need an audience (other than you). As much …Read more
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
If I’ve leaned in to listen to a transitional stage reader and they do not have any word solving issues (and their fluency is adequate), I start with one of these two questions to check comprehension: What did you just learn in this part? (for non-narrative) What just happened in this part? (for narrative) These …Read more
Three books about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Three different authors. Each shape the facts to reveal distinct insight. Here are two examples of how the authors address the same part of Ginsburg’s life in different ways. 1. As a child, Ruth’s love of reading 2. Ginsburg’s landmark case in front of the Supreme Court for …Read more
When we realize a student does not understand a complex chunk of text, we may need to stop asking questions for understanding and “think aloud” for the student, modeling how to make sense of the text. What follows is an excerpt from a middleweb.com column “Letting Go is Messy” that I co-wrote with Julie Webb …Read more