Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category

I was fortunate enough to be working with some amazing educators and students at Jamboree Heights State School last term. I began by delivering demonstration Guided Reading lessons to all year levels. Many of the teachers then volunteered to teach a Guided Reading lesson, giving me the privilege of coaching them. Whilst these teachers did not believe they had all the answers, they enjoyed an open culture where …

Shared Reading is a valuable approach for teaching reading skills, strategies and knowledge. Most classrooms feature shared reading lessons, but does this guarantee explicit teaching occurs. Many teaching resources support teachers to facilitate reading instruction, but effective practitioners shift between reading approaches most of the day, delivering explicit reading instruction across subject areas and incorporating a broad range of text types. Literacy instruction, where ever …

Take advantage of more difficult texts in English and across the curriculum. We know that frequent, short bursts of explicit instruction produce powerful outcomes. We also know that students’ literacy skills and knowledge underpin the synthesis of new content across other key learning areas. Add to this, that the bulk of the texts students will be required to read, respond to and craft in secondary …

Many Teachers use components of Shared and Guided Reading as an approach to intervention. This strategy is a form of structured reading and can produce positive outcomes for students struggling with standard classroom teaching methods.

Structured Reading is a teaching approach for educators working with individuals or small groups of students. The approach blends shared reading and guided reading and also features some aspects of …

Aiden and his older brother, Jack, sit together to eat. Aiden lifts his banana, it slides from his fingers and drops to the concrete. Jack quickly comments, “Better eat that now; don’t save it for later.”

“Why?” asks Aiden.
“The bruise will make it go brown and squishy. Then it won’t be as good to eat.”
“How do you know?” enquires Aiden.
“I’ve dropped apples before. Trust me.”

Why does …

A literacy block should provide a balanced program of literacy instruction including the following teaching/learning approaches to support reading and writing.

Essential Reading Components:
Modelled Reading

occurs when an expert reader reads a difficult text to less experienced readers, enabling the experienced reader to model how effective readers sound, solve and think about texts when reading
The “think aloud” strategy is used strategically by the expert reader to model …

A limiting factor in the development of reading skills in students and an impediment to classroom management for teachers is the ability of children to read independently for significant periods of time. A valuable strategy to deal with both issues is increasing reading stamina.

Building reading stamina supports students to read for an extended time, trains muscle memory and supports an increased attention.

Teaching a procedure for …

Would you agree that a love of reading is developed, not innate? If so, you are likely to actively nurture a love and appreciation of literature, knowing that it is advantageous to the learner and an integral part of successful literacy instruction.

Have you ever observed students as they listen to a practiced author or storyteller read aloud, ever engaging the audience, beckoning active engagement by …

Is our purpose clear?

A secondary student recently asked me why he needed to read novels at school, as he had no plans to ever read another one once he left.

I acknowledged his feelings, but explained that he’d probably view lots of narratives as films, plays or television shows. Therefore, it’s important to build knowledge of different ways ideas can be presented and may be …

Reading Strategy bookmark for younger readers.

Thank you for your comments and emails about the recent prompt card and bookmark. In response to early years’ teachers, we are happy to offer the Reading Strategy bookmarks for younger readers (PDF 342 kB). To limit the quantity of text, two different bookmarks have been created; one bookmark supports word solving, the other comprehension. Both bookmarks have prompts …