Wonderful teaching in Cabot, Arkansas

One word for the teaching I saw in Cabot… WOW! What wonderful classrooms I visited. It was hard to tell the difference between the special education rooms and those that weren’t. The only difference was smaller class size and more adult support. It was an amazing visit! Photos below tell the story in some of [...]

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Pictures from NCTE

I have lots to write about and catch up on from the past few days – and I will soon! Until then, here are two pictures from NCTE this past weekend. I was at the Stenhouse booth signing books and also ran into a couple of other authors.

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See you at NCTE!

I was at Arkansas Reading yesterday and I am heading to Philadelphia for the annual NCTE convention on Saturday. I will be presenting with Laura Robb and Carol Varsalona on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9:30 until 10:45. The title of our presentation is ”Reading Matters: Strategies and Tools to Engage Young Readers and Teachings in the [...]

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Learning about literacy stations

During my visit in Manchester, PA, I met with teachers in grades 4-6 in Northeastern School District to study literacy work stations. We delved deeply into the differences between stations and centers to find out how to more effectively involve students in meaningful independent practice that they take responsibility for (rather than us doing all [...]

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My week in Missouri

Last week I worked with hundreds of teachers in the fine state of Missouri in two great college towns—Fulton, home of Westminster College and Columbia, land of Mizzou! My trip began at the Stoney Creek Inn, a fun place designed to resemble a lodge. When you drive up, you’re greeted by a life-size moose (felt like [...]

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Guided reading in 6th grade? You bet!

Working with upper grade teachers at Pleasant View, we decided to tackle deeper comprehension with a group of on-grade level 6th graders. The key was, “What text to choose to engage them in deeper thinking?” Text choice is everything in guided reading! A great resource we used is Janet Allen’s Read Aloud Anthology from Scholastic. It is [...]

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More guided reading stories: Inferring about characters

While at Pleasant View Elementary, I also taught a group of 4th graders who were reading on a late 2nd grade/early 3rd grade level. The focus for the lesson was inferring about characters– something these students needed to practice with support. The teachers and I chose the book, The Magic Fish, because it had such strong [...]

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A beautiful day in Pennsylvania

It was a beautiful autumn day in Red Lion, PA, where I had the privilege of working with wonderful teachers and their children in grades 3-6 today. The school was Pleasant View Elementary; the topic was guided reading. It was my favorite kind of day– the kind where I work with kids!  The teachers and [...]

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Literacy stations around the world

I’m noticing that we’re getting quite a few fans from countries around the world, including a number of you from Denmark and Canada. We’d love to hear how you’re using literacy stations and small group instruction in your classrooms! Please post a comment and let us know. I’ve worked in Canada several times and will [...]

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Going batty over math stations

Last week, Mary and I examined her 1st grade math stations closely and made decisions about which to switch out. Some of the things we’d put in them the students have mastered by now, and some just needed to be updated based upon new things she’s teaching. Because her first graders are now learning about [...]

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