The Threads of Reading Blog » teaching reading

New Book on Coaching the Threads of Reading Released

Professional Development for Teachers is Vital to School Success

Increasing Reading Comprehension

Using Technology to Build Reading Skills

Motivating Readers with Interest Charts

Happy Holidays

The Weaver — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 22:22:45 +0000

I am happy to announce that my newest book for reading coaches, Coaching the Threads of Reading: Strategies for Teacher Success has now been released. This book goes beyond the usual tips found in most literacy coaching books on how to set up a coaching schedule, build rapport and work with teachers. Coaching the Threads of Reading: Helping Teachers Build Reading Success discusses the actual instructional skills and strategies that teachers need to help students of all age levels develop into strong and efficient readers. The book offers specific chapters for working with K-3 primary grades, 4-8 intermediate grades and 9-12 high school content reading. School purchase orders may be sent to Southwest Training Development, 20118 North 67th Avenue, Suite 300-159, Glendale, Arizona 85308. For credit card orders, click her e.

List Price: $28.95

The Weaver — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:52:11 +0000

I was appalled by Arnie Duncan’s recent comment that professional development dollars are being “wasted” in school districts across the country. While there may be districts out there who still use their money for “drive by” professional development which we know is ineffective, most of the districts that I see are using job-embedded coaching and targeted PD to help teachers improve their skills. As a result of these erroneous ideas, the feds have cut Title IIa funds to schools this year. This is a travesty at a time when so many demands are being placed on teachers to help children reach higher and higher levels of performance. The recent cheating scandal in Atlanta Public Schools is a perfect example of what happens when teachers feel pressured to show high scores but are still at a loss as to how to help struggling readers meet the goals. Taking away professional dollars at a time when teachers need targeted and specific support to reach the goals of NCLB is exactly the opposite of what should be happening. Clearly, Arnie Duncan needs to spend more time visiting schools where PD is effective and money used wisely instead of listening to teachers from the” doom and gloom” crowd who resist changing their old ineffective ways to methods that are proven effective.

The Weaver — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:48:17 +0000

A good way to help students think about what they read and increase their comprehension of the text is to use a method called Questions into Paragraphs. Developed by McLaughlin (1987) the QuIP procedure helps students think about text both before they read as well as after reading. Students develop or are given 3 related questions on the topic. They then respond to each question using at least two sources of text using an appropriate graphic organizer. Once information for each question has been gathered, students then synthesize the information and write one coherent paragraph summarizing the information. Once students are used to gathering, synthesizing and summarizing information to questions that the teacher provides, they should then be encouraged to identify their own related questions and complete the research, synthesis and summarization processes on their own. This is a great higher order activity that promotes not only deep understanding but higher level thinking as well.

The Weaver — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:00:04 +0000

Kids love using technology so why not capitalize on technology to build student reading skills especially for English Language Learners and struggling readers? The Lit2Go website (see link below) has some great books that you can download to your classroom computers or iPods. Students can listen to the stories while reading the text or simply listen to build vocabulary and strengthen background knowledge. There are many applications that can be downloaded that can be of benefit too such as Native Language to English Dictionaries, the Buzz Aldrin portal to Science, many books both audio and visual, and tons of other useful aps that can help children improve their reading and learning.

KTankersley — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:45:27 +0000

Get students interested in monitoring their own reactions to text by asking them to rate each chapter of a book they are reading on an “interest level” chart. After reading each chapter, students color in the bar to indicate how interested they were in the text of that chapter. Students can then discuss their reactions and what they liked or didn’t like about the various chapters of the book.

My Interest

Level

Wow – I hate to put it down! This was an exciting and interesting chapter.

Good – An Interesting chapter. I enjoyed it!

Ok – but not the best chapter I’ve ever read

So-So – Gave good info but didn’t interest me much.

Boring – I think this chapter should be left out of the book.

KTankersley — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:07:42 +0000

I recently came upon this incredible video The Family Dinner Video from a website called Dine Without Whine – The Perfect Gift. The video is beautifully done and I hope you will enjoy the thoughts the author provides about how important it is to spend time with one another as a family.

While my blog is about reading with children, this video speaks about how important it is to spend time as a family and to enjoy one another especially at this important time of year. That is also a benefit of reading to your children and spending time exploring books and the many wonderful characters in them. The family dinner table is also a great place to talk about our favorite books and to think back on our favorite stories and characters. Happy holidays to you and your family. May the coming year bring you much joy and happiness.