The quality of a text should never be compromised for students. No matter the instructional reading level or the foundational literacy skills of a student, educators should be incorporating numerous genres, mentor texts, and conducting read-alouds into their daily lessons. The courses over the past two years have highlighted how to incorporate these elements through balanced literacy instruction to help meet students' specific needs.
Wow Books
The WOW Book assignment gave me an opportunity to explore a multitude of genres and opened my eyes to wonderful books that are available if I only take a step out of my comfort zone of fiction to enjoy. I was always encouraging my students to try new things, but I cannot say that I was taking my own advice. I would typically read the same fiction or nonfiction stories to my class from year to year. By doing so I was limiting my students to only enjoying a small part of all of the genres. By exposing my students to a full range of genres I am empowering them with the skills and strategies they need to successfully enjoy those genres independently. I have made it a point to begin to expose my kindergarten students to various genres. One way to ensure I do not revert back to only reading fiction and nonfiction books is to have a poster in my classroom where we can record the books we are reading. Just like a doctor suggests to keep track of the foods you're eating to be aware of your balance of food, this activity will help to ensure a well balanced diet of all genres. My wish for my students is be great readers who have a lifelong love of reading and learning. To do this I must be sure to expose them to as much as a I can and it begins first with me modeling it in my own reading. Click on the books below to visit my www.goodreads.com bookshelf and enjoy some of the reviews I have written on children's picture books from a variety of genres.
Read ALouds
I truly enjoyed participating in the book study on In Defense Read-Aloud. I have always found read-alouds to be beneficial in my classrooms. The author, Steven Layne, did a wonderful job of explaining the positive outcomes that occur when teachers have read-aloud in their classroom. One of the most important results of a student listening to an adult model fluent reading is that it increases students’ own fluency and comprehension skills. Fluency and comprehension are two skills that teachers of most any grade direct their instruction to. If read-alouds are proven to be effective in those two areas then in my opinion it is a no brainer for teachers to incorporate them daily. A multitude of reasons are used as to why teachers do not incorporate read-alouds in their lessons. Some of the teachers in the book stated they did not think they had time to work in reading to their class. Some administrators also feel as though there the instruction time could be used for “more important” things. From this text I was able to learn the steps needed to take to ensure my read-alouds are an effective use of my class time.
We as educators should shift our focus from teaching our students what to think to teaching our students how to think. This is done by modeling how to read which takes place during a read-aloud. Students are able to see how teachers read and how they respond to the reading. Teachers are then though the read-aloud able to assess the comprehension of their students with class discussions. The modeling of reading to students helps to increase their own fluency and comprehension.
We as educators should shift our focus from teaching our students what to think to teaching our students how to think. This is done by modeling how to read which takes place during a read-aloud. Students are able to see how teachers read and how they respond to the reading. Teachers are then though the read-aloud able to assess the comprehension of their students with class discussions. The modeling of reading to students helps to increase their own fluency and comprehension.
Mentor Texts
Study driven: A framework for planning units of study in the writing workshop, written by Katie Ray, was used as my point of reference for my writing lesson. Ray shows how to use unit studies during writing to incorporate writing into all content areas. Using content areas to incorporate writing lessons is the most effective way to teach writing when you do not have a designated writing block in your daily schedule. The text covered a wide range of grade levels and gave numerous examples of teachers using unit studies in their own classrooms. This book was the amount of resources provided for the reader to use when planning.