Click here to view the 2 minute video!
Sick of hunting for new YA books?
Want some suggestions of book titles that are based on books you (or your students) LOVE?
Need an easy way to add to "Someday Lists?"
Start an account at GoodReads.com!
It will keep track of books you've read, books you've loved, and books you should read next.
Once you start... you won't be able to stop. This is also a great resource for your own personal reading -- if you ever have time for that!
Check out this new app for classroom library organization. I haven't used it yet, but I heard you can upload your classes, your library books, and check them out to students by using your SmartPhone. If anyone tries it, please let me know how it works!
http://classroom.booksource.com
As we all know, the Common Core Standards focus on close and careful reading of nonfiction texts.
Read, Write, Think posted an article about the 3 best ways to have success with nonfiction reading in the content area classroom, and I couldn't agree more!
- Preview and pre-teach key vocabulary. Make a list of words with which you think students will be unfamiliar. If the list is impossibly long, this may be a sign that this isn’t the right text for your students. It the list is manageable, separate words into two sublists: words that are relevant to your content (perhaps including multi-definition words that have new or surprising definitions in the content) and words that are part of more general vocabulary. Plan on spending time explaining the content-specific words; it’s possible that the entire reading experience hinges on a student’s basic understanding of those words. For other important (but not content-specific) words, consider providing a mini-glossary, a handout with the words and context-appropriate definitions. Tools I have to help: KIM Vocab, Word Wall, Vocabulary Baseball, etc...
- Lead a guided preview of the text. This is hugely important! I have several resources that can help you do this well. Students need to look for ways that the author has structured the text to guide a reader’s meaning. Students need to preview things like subheadings, captions, photos, graphs, images, bold/italics words, and vocabulary. Part of previewing nonfiction is also asking, "What is my purpose for reading this text??" Tools I have to help: Read Around the Text, THIEVES, Text Quest, etc...
- Plan and conduct a think-aloud to model strategies appropriate for the reading. Project the first few paragraphs of the text and read it aloud. Stop occasionally to share your thoughts (connections you’re making, questions the text raises for you, observations about the way the text is structured, or key ideas you’ll want to remember) to demonstrate the way in which an expert in your content area would approach the reading. Then encourage students to use similar thinking when you transfer the responsibility to them. Tools I have to help: Modeling techniques, Think-Pair-Share, Read Around the Text, etc...
In order for all students to be successful with reading nonfiction, important skills like previewing, pre-taught vocabulary, and modeling must happen -- every time! It will lead students into skillful readers who can tackle appropriate nonfiction texts independently.
Article found at Read, Write, Think Article -- edits & highlighted areas are my focus points for teachers!
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