I am so excited to announce that I was awarded a small community grant that will enable me to offer an online summer book club for my students. I plan to structure the book club in a blog format so that students and parents do not have to struggle with transportation and time issues. This format will allow students to read when they are able and respond once a week. I have chosen two titles by Jacqueline Woodson, Miracle's Boys and Hush. I wanted to have a titles for boys as well as girls. I think sometimes boys get left out of the reading mix. We read another Woodson title this year, Locomotion, and the students really enjoyed her literary style. After we read Locomotion I asked the students to research Ms. Woodson's author site to see if any other titles appealed to their literary senses. I am optimistic about this summer project.
I would like to possibly start a blog with adults (probably teachers) who would be interested in reading and discussing young adult literature. It is time to move away from some of our old stand by titles and explore some new titles. I especially feel this is important with the new Common Core standards. I think there is so much that can be taught through literature besides the obvious reading strategies. If you would be interested in joining me, respond and we will get the ball rolling!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Storey? Does she use spell check?
At first glance, it may appear that I have misspelled Storey more than once on this page. No, for all of you language gurus, it happens to be my last name, and, since I have decided to write about reading, I thought it would be appropriate. So, why write about reading? I have so much in my brain about this subject that I had to get it all out.
I teach intensive reading strategies to middle school students. These students, for what ever reason just didn't click with foundational reading skills and now I am working to fill in the blanks for them. I had a friend ask me recently "how hard could it really be to teach kids to read?" Hard. That was my response. If you already love to read, as I do, then you probably can't imagine a time when you were not reading. Think though of something that you really do not like to do. How hard is it to do what ever that is that you dislike? These are my students. They have realized that they are not great readers and they just don't like it.
I was one of those kids who didn't ever just accept an answer for its face value. I wanted to know more, find out the inner most workings of things, research, I love to research. Knowing this information, you can imagine how my wheels began to turn when I realized that my students do not like to read. I ask my students regularly why they don't like to read. "It's hard." and I ask "What is hard about it?" the students tell me it is the words. So I realize we need to work on decoding strategies, phonics (yes even in middle school), context clues, and many other word clues. I'm trying to give them a life jacket so they don't sink in the ocean of reading.
I thought I was doing a great job plugging along, helping students as they seemed to struggle. Then, this weekend I read a book by Donalyn Miller titled "The Book Whisperer". This book is a serious must-read for any teacher. This is the key that I have been searching for, actually have had in in my pocket, but was afraid to use it to turn the lock. This key is going to open the door to a magical world for me (and for my students!).
Miller's approach to teaching reading is unconventional to say the least, but never in my life have I been accused of being conventional! I am trying her strategy on three of my classes. Stay tuned to find out what it is, and how it works. In the mean time, think about the books you choose? Why do you choose those books?
I teach intensive reading strategies to middle school students. These students, for what ever reason just didn't click with foundational reading skills and now I am working to fill in the blanks for them. I had a friend ask me recently "how hard could it really be to teach kids to read?" Hard. That was my response. If you already love to read, as I do, then you probably can't imagine a time when you were not reading. Think though of something that you really do not like to do. How hard is it to do what ever that is that you dislike? These are my students. They have realized that they are not great readers and they just don't like it.
I was one of those kids who didn't ever just accept an answer for its face value. I wanted to know more, find out the inner most workings of things, research, I love to research. Knowing this information, you can imagine how my wheels began to turn when I realized that my students do not like to read. I ask my students regularly why they don't like to read. "It's hard." and I ask "What is hard about it?" the students tell me it is the words. So I realize we need to work on decoding strategies, phonics (yes even in middle school), context clues, and many other word clues. I'm trying to give them a life jacket so they don't sink in the ocean of reading.
I thought I was doing a great job plugging along, helping students as they seemed to struggle. Then, this weekend I read a book by Donalyn Miller titled "The Book Whisperer". This book is a serious must-read for any teacher. This is the key that I have been searching for, actually have had in in my pocket, but was afraid to use it to turn the lock. This key is going to open the door to a magical world for me (and for my students!).
Miller's approach to teaching reading is unconventional to say the least, but never in my life have I been accused of being conventional! I am trying her strategy on three of my classes. Stay tuned to find out what it is, and how it works. In the mean time, think about the books you choose? Why do you choose those books?
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