Turning Summer Readers into Seasoned Vets!

It's Thor's Day! Time to take a peek at the Reading Lessons in my classrooms...

As the primary conduit between my students and books, it's important to me to know my students, their reading histories, and their personal reading skills and levels of confidence.

In the first quarter, unfortunately, many of my preteen readers are picking up a book for the first time after a three month hiatus. I'm sure you've seen a graphic like the one I'm sharing from Perry Public Schools.

These "summer" students (averaging 0% during the summer) may not have read anything deeper than the description of a double-cheese on a restaurant menu. So it's my job, a daunting task at times, to dig through their interests and backgrounds to find what works and what doesn't for each and everyone of these students.

Today, I worked with a student in my RtI small group. She struggles with fluency but is very motivated to read and she is not afraid to talk about what she likes and doesn't like. Although she started out with Andrew Clements and similar realistic, middle-grade fiction, I could tell that they weren't calling her back for more.

That's when I directed her to scan the backs of ghost stories and mysteries...

There are dozens of great mystery writers and engaging "spooky" series for middle school students available. Mary Downing Hahn appeals primarily to the girl readers in my classes, but Peg Kehret, the 39 Clues series and Patrick Carman attracts all readers!

She choose The Legend of Ghost Dog by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. I'm happy to say; she's hooked on reading!

Of course, there are also a handful of junior high students who know exactly what they want to read and are voracious readers. They have their favorite series, author's they crave and genres that they gravitate towards.
For these readers, I provide a "shopping list" that they can fill out that will help me find new books for them.

I utilize my local libraries (and the lending library systems)! Once you've established a good relationship with them--you've returned books on time, in good condition, and share your knowledge to help the library out too--you will find that your local library can be your best outlet to keep these thirsty readers fed. (They have great library sales too!)

I have plans for the student I worked with today, though. (And she's not aware of it yet!)

As much as every reader struggles with it, we tend become comfortable within that "favorite". In the '80s I remember reading a dozen or so Danielle Steel and Stephen King books. The patterns were predictable and the characters were easy to imagine.

To grow as a reader, students have to get outside of this comfortable space. This is the hardest part of my job. I have to "shake it up" a bit in their comfortable reading world. That's why it is so important to have a plethora of books available.

One of the best ways to "sell" a student on a book that they may not have considered reading before is to let the students "advertise" to each other. Book talks, chats, reviews, "speed dates" etc are valuable ways to get the word out about an interesting book.

Recently, a student in one of my 7th grade classes demonstrated how Odysseus fooled and then stabbed Polymepheus. He learned this from reading Mary Pope Osborne's series. Another student read the chilling moment from Neal Shusterman's Unwind in which the main character, Connor, is asking, pleading, not to be unwound. (Beware teachers! Letting students share what they are reading can create wait-lists!)

Keep these things in mind as you cultivate a class of readers:
    1. Making the right match for the right student takes work. As the "model" reader for your students, they will look to you for reading advice.
    2. Stay current and read books at their levels. Your knowledge is invaluable!
    3. Read aloud and share your feelings about the books you personally enjoy and those that are not the right fit.
    4. Most of all, let students know that you are listening to them. If they like horses and you don't have any horse themed books in your class library, ask around! Find some and share them.

Raising a nation of readers will take time and hard work, but if you stock up on books and share those you love, soon, you'll find that your once "Summer Readers" will become "Seasoned Vets"!

What Worked and What Didn't

Part 1: Reflective Journal
It's that time of the quarter: Unit Tests and large-content quizzes occupied the beginning of the week.  At the same time, in Language Arts (8th grade) we moved forward with writing mysteries. 

This group loves the routines, and like all students, they crave the knowledge of "where is this lesson going". We started with brainstorming three places that they were interested in. Then, we moved on to the "things" that were probably found at these locations. 

Today, a student confessed to me that she was really disappointed because we weren't writing about the "people" until next week. She's excited to continue her writing and so are many other students. They see where we're heading and they are anxious to get there. I'm thrilled! I have high hopes for this project!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm always searching for new and better ways to address the needs of my struggling readers. I'm pushing my older students on vocabulary drills. The most encouraging teacher-moments happened this week when I left one of the students with a stack of vocab. cards and he began, without my direction, to sort, repeat, and use strategies he's used before to learn the words. Anyone who thinks students don't want to learn, hasn't met these kids! Within the next week, I'd like to set some short-term goals with these kiddos.

Part 2: Teaching-Wear (Week 3)

I still have around 20 or more skirts hanging in my closet, but what's left is harder to match to the rest of my closet. I've also come to the conclusion that I need more patterns in my life! (Time to go shopping?) However, there is a plastic tub in the basement that I haven't opened yet...

<= On Monday, I wore boots. That helps me feel better 100%. Shoes are my enemy after breaking my foot but boots always look good with a skirt. I love the comfort of this skirt and it's brown tweed pattern is a good base for any color. It's a keeper!

My rating­: 4(Sadly, no pockets...)

<= Tuesday, I didn't plan ahead. I grabbed the closest skirt I found and matched the top to an accent color in the skirt. Although the skirt was a rayon mix that was super comfortable, it was slightly too big and kept "twisting" throughout the day. It has two side-slits and as a Junior High teacher, the twisting isn't a good thing at all! It's already in the discard pile!

My rating: 3 Even though I hated the slipping due to the size, I liked the pattern and the browns/blues.

<= By Wednesday, I was beginning to realize that I'm subconsciously picking out skirts I definitely "like" to wear to school. This has always been one of my favorites. The grey skirt is stretchy with a random "scrunchy" pattern throughout. It's perfect without tights and will be wonderful with them!

My rating: 5 (Still no pockets though...)

<= Each Thursday, I try to wear pink. (My self-proclaimed "girlie" day.) But in the a.m. when I put on the shirt/skirt combo I had set out, I quickly noticed that this skirt DEMANDED a shirt that was tucked in. Not sure about the top, but I love this skirt. It's a heavier material, a soft cotton. AND IT HAS POCKETS!

My rating--5 Easy style and comfortable.

Thor's Day! "Looking" at Reading in a New Way

It's Thor's Day! 

For those of you who didn't know this little fact, the Thursday, as we know it, evolved from it's namesake, Thor. Thus, a Eureka! moment! (Doesn't the strange spelling make sense now?)

On Thursdays I'll post a peek into the reading lessons and strategies I'm currently using in my classrooms...

At the beginning of the year, a big focus for me is how I will be working with my small groups/RTI class period. These are the students that WANT to read fluently, WANT to understand what it is that makes these books so good, and WANT to be independent readers but for one reason or another, they struggle.

This year, I'm starting with a group of 11-12 students. After conducting one-to-one reading interviews with all the students, I quickly realized that most of them struggle to make that "mini-movie" in their minds as they read. The ability to visualize a text well isn't an instinctual skill; it has to be taught. After I realized this was our greatest need, I decided it was the skill to focus on first.

To help my struggling readers, I borrowed and "leveled-up" (my term for taking what seems to be a lower/middle grade strategy and modifying it for junior high students) an idea I found through my pinterest boards. The original idea can be found here, on the blog, One Extra Degree.

In the past, I've used mini-notebooks with an entire class of students as we read Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. It's the perfect book for middle-grade classrooms to use to practice visualization. The story has great places to stop and reflect on that are actually part of the plot. In the story, Hollis keeps her own sketch book and draws what she feels and interprets around her. I let the students draw what they THOUGHT Hollis's pictures looked like. Then we compared them to the images in the book.

For my RTI group, I had a stash of donated mini-notebooks. First, I printed out directions similar to the Snapshot page found on Amanda's website. I sized these to fit perfectly at the front of the notebook. This first week, I needed the students to begin working so that I could continue to assess individual needs and establish other skill practices. The students have been creating their own "snapshots" each day this week and are really finding it to be helpful.

Next week, we're going to add the covers to the notebooks. For now, I've included an image of my journal's sample cover.