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What do you do when emergent-early stage readers can’t decode a word because it’s not in their vocabulary? The second tip is to integrate unfamiliar vocabulary into the text introduction, as part of the conversation about what students are noticing as they preview the text. (In a previous entry, I wrote about holding emergent and …Read more
Ever notice a young reader get stuck on decoding a word in a text because the word is not in his or her vocabulary? Or maybe the student has heard the word, but not frequently, and it’s not easily retrievable? This can be a big problem for young readers of nonfiction at the emergent and …Read more
When students at the transitional or fluent stage of reading (Lexile 420L; DRA levels 18+ or alpha levels J+) struggle with a word, there are a few “go to” strategies and prompts I rely on. Is there a part you know? “Is there a part you know?” If it’s a word that has any parts …Read more
“Who will you tell?” This is a conversation I’ve started having with students at the guided reading table before they write in response to an informational source. I usually start by saying something like the following: When you go home tonight and your mom asks about school, you could just say, “It was okay” OR …Read more
Comparing details about similar topics can be a helpful reading strategy. In addition to teaching this, though, we also need to teach students to notice when they need to ask comparison questions. Below is a description of a series of demonstration lessons I gave focused on this issue. Phase One – Meet the Source Phase 2 …Read more
I offer a three-phase guide to teaching students how to effectively engage with informational sources such as texts, videos, and infographics. Phase 1 involves introducing the source, Phase 2 focuses on teaching strategies for understanding, and Phase 3 requires students to create a response, enhancing comprehension.
I’ll never forget the first time I taught students to unpack the information in a video clip. It was in a classroom studying ecosystems. I found the perfect clip. Two minutes! The content answered our essential questions. It was fantastic! Yeah, right 🙁 Videos are dense with info We can say a lot in just …Read more
A few weeks ago I was in a conference with a student reading a book about the sea lizard. When he came to a word he didn’t know, he mumbled the word and kept going. Do you have students that do this? These students are self-monitoring but they lack fix-up strategies. They know when they …Read more
“The spider’s jaws open and close like a pair of pliers” (Simon, 2007). Isn’t that an amazing image to think of? It really helps the reader think about how this spider’s jaw works, right? Comparisons are commonly used by authors of nonfiction to help young readers understand tricky concepts. BUT do our students notice and …Read more
Have you ever asked a reader to tell you about what they learned in a short nonfiction book or article and they do one of the following? Or does the student do one of the following? If you experience the former more than the latter, it may be worth your time to engage the students …Read more