Book Love.

While reading though Chapter 5 of Harvey & Goudvis' Strategies That Work, many of my favorite "long text" books and many "short text" favorites popped into my head. The authors provide the advice, "Choose those books that serve your purpose or that you love, and teach with those" (p.61). Many times I will run across a text or a passage and think, I'd love to share this with someone. Due to my lack of personal book club circles, I quickly think to share the beloved reading with my students. Harvey & Goudvis suggest this too, "The next time you read an article, a poem, or a short story that really grabs you, think about why. Don't just toss it away. Clip it and file it even if you don't know exactly how you will use it later. In all likelihood, you will find a place for it in your teaching sooner or later" (p.63). There are an infinite amount of ways to incorporate passages, short texts, or long that we find appealing into our classrooms.

Further into the chapter, the focus turns to picture books. Being in a Kindergarten classroom last year, I encountered numerous picture books, mostly aimed at a young audience. But were they? Picture books could be used for multiple purposes across all grade levels. Jump starting a lesson in an engaging way, creating conversation among students, mini lessons on reading techniques- all these purposes can be considered when deciding whether or not to bring a picture book into an upper elementary or secondary classroom. But going back to the idea of using text that you personally love, Harvey & Goudvis express their opinion. "The best reason of all to read a picture book to a group of students is simply because you love it" (p.69).

An absolute favorite picture book of mine is Oh the Places You'll Go, by the infamous Dr. Seuss. I loved this book so much, that I used my childhood copy as a guestbook at my high school graduation open house. Now it holds extra special meaning, as I can thumb through it at any given moment and read comments from favorite family and friends. If I were to use this book in a classroom, I may even use my very own copy with the comments, to show an insight into my own life, and to open up conversation throughout the class to get to know each other better. In an academic sense, I could incorporate this book into teaching/finding poetic devices (repetition, rhyme). This would also be a good book to end a year, motivating students to keep moving forward. :-)

To weed out what not to use, the authors suggest considering purpose, audience, genre, topic, writing quality and text structure (p.63-4). Having listed these, and thinking back to some favorite readings, do you have any books/picture books/short text/passages that you would consider a favorite and one to share with your classroom? What could you possibly use that reading for?

Spelling

Regie Routman has some great ideas that she shares in Writing Essentials. The topic that stood out the most to me in chapters 7-9 was spelling. According to Routman, “Students who struggle mightily with spelling or worry unnecessarily about perfect spelling do not write fluently or easily.” (p. 161) But in the age of spell check, I feel like spelling has been pushed to the side in many schools.

In my school, the fifth grade teachers decided to forego their usual spelling program this year because they felt they could use their class time in a more productive way. I grew up always having a spelling test at the end of each week, so I was curious to see how my teacher would integrate spelling into her literacy teaching.

I think that even without using a specific spelling program, teachers can help their students become better spellers and Routman gave some great tips on how to do this. Her first tip is to create a learning environment that encourages students to be good spellers. This includes having spelling references available, opportunities to write, talk, and read about words, and time to write everyday. (p. 162) She also says that teachers need to value spelling approximations. When students learn how to spell by rote memorization, they are not necessarily learning how letters and sounds work. But students who are given the opportunity to use invented spelling can gain a better understanding of the spelling system and are likely to write more since they are focused on spelling every word correctly. (p. 162)

Routman cautions not to let invented spellings go too far though. She says that while it is okay for students to misspell unfamiliar words, they should be expected to spell frequently used words. Many spelling errors in a paper can make it difficult for a reader to concentrate on what the author is trying to say. So a final tip from Routman is to tell our students why correct spelling is important. Unless students understand the importance of spelling, they are unlikely to give it the attention it deserves. (p. 164)

Routman’s views on spelling were especially interesting to me since it is a topic that has been discussed at my school recently. How does your teacher approach spelling instruction? Do you think weekly spelling tests are important? What else did you find interesting in Writing Essentials?

Linda Nguyen-Be explicit!

Through the readings I came across one strategy that may sound simple, but is a good platform to build on my philosophy of literacy-be explicit!
 When reading chapter one of Strategies that Work I was challenged to be explicit and model to my students the way good readers read.  Sometimes I forget how much students gain from simply watching the actions of their teacher.  Knowing the influence teachers have on students, I'm more aware of modeling to my students what I'm trying to teach them.  In TE class this past Thursday I remember a student talking about D.E.A.R time and that during this time students and teachers in the classroom would drop everything and read.  I thought this was one great example of how to model reading, but in the book being explicit is taken to a deeper level.  The book gives an example of a teacher that picks out a book to read to the class that she personally connects to.  During the reading the teacher explains what she is thinking while she is reading and how she is connecting to the characters in the book out loud.  She also put in sticky notes in the book as she's reading to help her remember parts where she had a strong connection with what was happening in the book.   So many times in the classrooms I've observed I've seen teachers read aloud to their students, but rarely have I seen teachers share their personal connections and thinking.  Seeing the students reaction in sharing about stories that connected with them showed me the power of leading by example. Do you have any examples of explicit literary teaching?  If so, did it seem to be a good model for your students to follow?