Fast ForWord is a game-based, reading intervention program that strives to improve reading brain functions in the areas of attention and sequencing, as well as guided reading in the areas of fluency and vocabulary. The program is responsible for many success stories and helping at-risk schools improve their standardized test scores.
My sixth graders recently demoed the program, and their concentration was amazing. We plan to use this program in the second semester with our students as a means of remediation and intervention. Coupled with Read 180, the program is proven to help students, especially those who are “on the bubble” of passing our state ISTEP+ test. I am looking forward to using this program more in the upcoming year, and I think it is worth checking out for anyone interested in helping readers succeed!
Check out some of the following sites for more information:
Fast ForWord
Video Testimonials
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Inspiration
Inspiration software is a wonderful tool teachers and students can use in many ways, such as creating webs and other graphic organizers. This software program allows you to organize information in any content area, including reading. For example, a student can create a character web or story map after reading a book as an assessment piece rather than writing a dull book report. Inspiration and its companion programs allow students to develop 21st Century Literacy Skills by analyzing and interpreting information, as well as communicating clearly. The Inspiration website provides many more research-based reasons, as well as information for those interested in trying out this wonderful program.
http://www.inspiration.com/Educators
Here are just a few of the benefits cited on the above website.
• Teach and reinforce writing and critical thinking skills
• Engage students with collaborative learning
• Extend learning time and facilitate student-teacher interaction
Here are a few templates my district uses for Language Arts:
Inspiration Templates
http://www.inspiration.com/Educators
Here are just a few of the benefits cited on the above website.
• Teach and reinforce writing and critical thinking skills
• Engage students with collaborative learning
• Extend learning time and facilitate student-teacher interaction
Here are a few templates my district uses for Language Arts:
Inspiration Templates
Monday, December 13, 2010
Digital Book Talks
Motivating adolescent readers can often feel like an insurmountable obstacle. However with all of the new technology available to both teachers and students, learning about new, great reads is easier than ever. Digital book talks allow students to browse books they may be interested in reading and hear/watch a brief plot synopsis. I think this is a great idea to not only interest students, but to include them in making their own digital media creations. I just briefly showed my class one book talk last week, and they were very interested in making their own. For more information, visit any of the sites below:
The following link takes you to a research paper on digital book talks influence on reluctant readers: the file will open in a pdf document
Looking for a certain book? Just try your favorite search engine; I was surprised by the number of digital book talks I could find for common books and books I would love my students to read. Scholastic (a teacher's best friend) even has many online resources!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Lester Laminack
On October 6th, I was lucky enough to attend a conference at Valparaiso University. The subject was read alouds, and the speaker was author Lester Laminack. He really altered my thinking on read alouds, not that I didn't find them important before, but his words really hit home as to just how important quality read alouds are for nurturing readers and writers. Here are some snippets of the things that I learned that day. Some of them may repeat, but he drove some things home throughout the day and I figure if I wrote them more than once because I head them more than once... then I can share more than once!
Reading is a gourmet experience- slow down and enjoy it. I really feel like with all of the things I have to find into my day, that I did rush through books sometimes. It seems like something obvious, but I hadn't really thought enough about it I guess.
No one writes well until they've heard good language. Lester talked about "luscious language" and how much hearing stories that use this language helps developing writers flourish. It isn't just enough to read aloud to children- you have to be very selective in the books you choose because they are going to learn from the writing style of these authors. After his conference, I still kept some of my fun read alouds, but also brought in books with language that I used to deem above my students' heads, like some Patricia Polacco books with more in depth plots and sophisticated language. Well, thanks to the Fancy Nancy and brave word charts, my kids ate these books up! When they came back from library the next week, over half of my class had books written by Polacco checked out! I also noticed a shift in the vocabulary they used in their writing. Of course, they still write like first graders, as they should, but they attempted to use more sophisticated vocabulary and I noticed a change in the voice of their writing.
Don't ask a question if you don't intend for them to answer.
The things we do to raise test scores cost us the passion of reading. I feel that although I used quality read alouds in my reading workshop minilessons, I wasn't as passionate about them before this conference. Today when I was reading to the class, I said how much I loved the book ( Lester said sometimes we are so busy with a teaching point we don't read a book "just because" or because we love it) and one of my girls said, "You love EVERY book!" My passion was coming through in our new after lunch read aloud routine. During these read alouds I try (though it is hard) not to have a teaching point, not to turn and talk with partners, etc. Of course, I do have to talk about vocabulary once in a while, and I can't stop the kids from noticing fancy words themselves, but we stop as briefly as possible and just enjoy the language.
Revisit a set of 10 books 5 times each. Resist the temptation to teach the book. Introduce books like friends; revisit, not reread with a specific purpose. The first time you read any book, it should be just because. Explain to kids that we watch movies we love over and over, and we play video games we love over and over, too.
We need students to value knowledge, not comply to get it.
The best thing you can do when you read is question, not answer.
People that write a lot, read a lot. If you want them to write it, fill their ears with it.
Sit dow and practice read alouds with colleagues. To be honest, I have only done this once, with Skippyjonjones, by Judy Schachner. I have to admit, my colleague and I laughed pretty hard and we couldn't wait to read it to our kids to get a similar reaction!
Leveled readers are like training wheels, they are practice, not the actual game. Use read alouds to support leveled readers and provide background knowledge. Guided readers do not provide a lot of background knowledge or comprehension opportunities, especially at the lower levels.
Teach by function, not by definition. Learn how and why, not just how.
6 possibilities for read alouds throughout the day
1. Very first act of school- show them this is the most important part of school. It helps build community. Choose books on friends, families, exceptionalities. Choose books that help kids view people of other ethnicities or religions as equal.
2. First transition in the day, from reading to math or writing to math. We lose between 5 and 10 minutes a day in transition. Tell the kids you are going to start reading and be ready for math at the end of the read aloud. Keep in mind that it takes 20 days to change a pattern, so be consistent in using the book as a transition.
3. Right before lunch- read poems for 10 minutes. Read a poem a week and do 5 lessons per poem. He says only 1 by Jack Prelutsky and 1 from Shel Silverstein.
Monday- read the poem 2 or 3 times to find the rhythm, read it different ways.
Tuesday- read it again and find something in it
Poems are great places to find places for inferring.
4. Right after lunch
5. Link read aloud to math, social studies, science, etc.
6. To close the day. Put a basket of books near the door and give them a gift as they leave. He said that often during the day we are testing them and asking them to read to us, or answer questions about what we read to them, but this is a pure and simple gift.
Here are some links to books by Lester Laminack:
Unwrapping the Read Aloud: Making Every Read Aloud Intentional and Instructional (Theory and Practice in Action)
Cracking Open the Author's Craft: Teaching the Art of Writing (Theory and Practice in Action)
Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature: Making the Most of Read-Alouds Across the Day
Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum: How to Build Bridges in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies
Children's books by Laminack:
Reading is a gourmet experience- slow down and enjoy it. I really feel like with all of the things I have to find into my day, that I did rush through books sometimes. It seems like something obvious, but I hadn't really thought enough about it I guess.
No one writes well until they've heard good language. Lester talked about "luscious language" and how much hearing stories that use this language helps developing writers flourish. It isn't just enough to read aloud to children- you have to be very selective in the books you choose because they are going to learn from the writing style of these authors. After his conference, I still kept some of my fun read alouds, but also brought in books with language that I used to deem above my students' heads, like some Patricia Polacco books with more in depth plots and sophisticated language. Well, thanks to the Fancy Nancy and brave word charts, my kids ate these books up! When they came back from library the next week, over half of my class had books written by Polacco checked out! I also noticed a shift in the vocabulary they used in their writing. Of course, they still write like first graders, as they should, but they attempted to use more sophisticated vocabulary and I noticed a change in the voice of their writing.
Don't ask a question if you don't intend for them to answer.
The things we do to raise test scores cost us the passion of reading. I feel that although I used quality read alouds in my reading workshop minilessons, I wasn't as passionate about them before this conference. Today when I was reading to the class, I said how much I loved the book ( Lester said sometimes we are so busy with a teaching point we don't read a book "just because" or because we love it) and one of my girls said, "You love EVERY book!" My passion was coming through in our new after lunch read aloud routine. During these read alouds I try (though it is hard) not to have a teaching point, not to turn and talk with partners, etc. Of course, I do have to talk about vocabulary once in a while, and I can't stop the kids from noticing fancy words themselves, but we stop as briefly as possible and just enjoy the language.
Revisit a set of 10 books 5 times each. Resist the temptation to teach the book. Introduce books like friends; revisit, not reread with a specific purpose. The first time you read any book, it should be just because. Explain to kids that we watch movies we love over and over, and we play video games we love over and over, too.
We need students to value knowledge, not comply to get it.
The best thing you can do when you read is question, not answer.
People that write a lot, read a lot. If you want them to write it, fill their ears with it.
Sit dow and practice read alouds with colleagues. To be honest, I have only done this once, with Skippyjonjones, by Judy Schachner. I have to admit, my colleague and I laughed pretty hard and we couldn't wait to read it to our kids to get a similar reaction!
Leveled readers are like training wheels, they are practice, not the actual game. Use read alouds to support leveled readers and provide background knowledge. Guided readers do not provide a lot of background knowledge or comprehension opportunities, especially at the lower levels.
Teach by function, not by definition. Learn how and why, not just how.
6 possibilities for read alouds throughout the day
1. Very first act of school- show them this is the most important part of school. It helps build community. Choose books on friends, families, exceptionalities. Choose books that help kids view people of other ethnicities or religions as equal.
2. First transition in the day, from reading to math or writing to math. We lose between 5 and 10 minutes a day in transition. Tell the kids you are going to start reading and be ready for math at the end of the read aloud. Keep in mind that it takes 20 days to change a pattern, so be consistent in using the book as a transition.
3. Right before lunch- read poems for 10 minutes. Read a poem a week and do 5 lessons per poem. He says only 1 by Jack Prelutsky and 1 from Shel Silverstein.
Monday- read the poem 2 or 3 times to find the rhythm, read it different ways.
Tuesday- read it again and find something in it
Poems are great places to find places for inferring.
4. Right after lunch
5. Link read aloud to math, social studies, science, etc.
6. To close the day. Put a basket of books near the door and give them a gift as they leave. He said that often during the day we are testing them and asking them to read to us, or answer questions about what we read to them, but this is a pure and simple gift.
Here are some links to books by Lester Laminack:
Unwrapping the Read Aloud: Making Every Read Aloud Intentional and Instructional (Theory and Practice in Action)
Cracking Open the Author's Craft: Teaching the Art of Writing (Theory and Practice in Action)
Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature: Making the Most of Read-Alouds Across the Day
Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum: How to Build Bridges in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies
Children's books by Laminack:
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Noticing and Using "Fancy" Words
Last summer I read The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser and started a CAFE wall with reading strategies: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. At the end of the year I was discouraged to see that while we had compiled many strategies under the first three categories, vocabulary was lacking. This became my goal for the next year: teach my students strategies to expand their vocabulary in reading and writing.
Over the summer, I read About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa B. Cleaveland. One of the areas I felt my students always struggled in is word choice... not necessarily because they did not know words other than "good" or "cool," but because I really hadn't found an effective way to teach or inspire them not to use those "boring" words, other than just trying to model it in a few lessons and repeatedly discouraging boring words. It didn't really work! When reading this book, however, I came across an idea. The authors suggested a poster for the use of what my students and I now call "brave" words. Figure 4.4 on page 70 shows a chart entitled "I'm not afraid of my words!" Students are celebrated for attempting a challenging word by getting to put their name and their spelling of the word on the chart. Now comes the interesting part... the teacher lists the conventional spelling next to it. It seems over the years I have heard mixed reviews on this and I could never seem to decide if this would hurt children's feelings or not to see that they had been wrong, but with this approach it is a positive. When showing the conventional spelling, the class will either "celebrate how close the writer came or marvel at how different the spelling is from what the writer thought it would be." (Ray, 2004, p. 70). Ray (2004) also states that "It's a celebration either way because the focus is on not being afraid to try a hard word you know, not on getting the spelling right. " (p. 70)
I thought this was a great idea, but the next question was: How do I get my students to choose "better" words? We had tried in previous years to retire words like nice, good, and cool, but they just got replaced with really cool or awesome, a step up, but not where I wanted to be. I had come across a character named Fancy Nancy, who loved to use fancy words, but until reading the books by Boushey and Moser and Ray, I wasn't quite sure what to do with this. I decided to use these books to kick off our fancy word study, move onto the posters, and see where it led. Kids in previous years had grown attached to Skippyjonjones and the Pigeon, so maybe this could work. I read the book, and even had a little plush Fancy Nancy to show the class. I told them we would be fancy like her and find types of words she would like in our own books and even try to use them in our writing, and showed them some examples as I read another book out loud (one that did not stop and point out fancy words like Fancy Nancy stopped to do for her readers). I put them on a separate chart entitled, "We Use Fancy Words!" This was not for words we used in our writing, but instead for fancy words we found in our reading that were interesting. We periodically stop when we find these words, quickly use the context to discuss what they mean, and I Post-it that page so I can add the words to the chart when we are done. We use these words in our discussions when they are appropriate to give the students multiple exposures to the words. It was a good start.
This vocabulary goal just kept snowballing! In October I was fortunate enough to attend a conference with Lester Laminack. He talked about "luscious language" and reading to students daily just to let them hear this language, not as part of a reading or writing lesson, but just to listen and enjoy the book. He shared that one of his favorite authors was Cynthia Rylant and read one of her books aloud. I realized that while some of my books were great at teaching various reading strategies, some of them were not the best at providing opportunities to hear "luscious language." I started making it a point to read as the children were settling in after lunch each day, which was one of his suggested read aloud times. Sometimes I choose a book that goes along with a science or math theme, or matches what we are working on in reading workshop, but I try 2-3 times a week to pick a book that simply has great word choice. One author that my class has fallen in love with is Patricia Polacco and I am so excited to see that after reading her books together, children more often are walking back with her books in hand from the library rather than Captain Underpants. It seems that every time we turn around, we are noticing an interesting word in a book. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard a child gasp and whisper (ok, or sometimes shout), "That's a fancy word!" during a read aloud...!
Thanks to the professional development presented to me in my master's classes by way of the introduction of the Two Sisters and their CAFE method, Lester Laminack's advice, and the minilesson and chart ideas from Katie Wood Ray, I have been able to feel confident that I am finally providing students with ways to expand their vocabulary not just in reading, but in the even more risky task of writing... and celebrate and enjoy doing it. I am truly proud and amazed by my first graders and recommend these resources to any teacher who is exhausted by the overuse of the words, "good," "bad," "nice," "cool," etc. in their classrooms. I was fortunate to stumble across these resources all within a short time of one another and weave them into my reading and writing lessons, and now it's even spilling into the content areas as well. I hope that others can find these resources useful and inspiring as well! I am now onto 2 more books by Ray and excited to see where they will lead me next!
Resources:
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2009). The cafe book: engaging all students in daily literacy assessment and instruction. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
O'Connor, J. (2006). Fancy nancy. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Ray, K.W., & Cleaveland, L.B. (2004). About the authors: writing workshop with our youngest writers. Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse.
Over the summer, I read About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa B. Cleaveland. One of the areas I felt my students always struggled in is word choice... not necessarily because they did not know words other than "good" or "cool," but because I really hadn't found an effective way to teach or inspire them not to use those "boring" words, other than just trying to model it in a few lessons and repeatedly discouraging boring words. It didn't really work! When reading this book, however, I came across an idea. The authors suggested a poster for the use of what my students and I now call "brave" words. Figure 4.4 on page 70 shows a chart entitled "I'm not afraid of my words!" Students are celebrated for attempting a challenging word by getting to put their name and their spelling of the word on the chart. Now comes the interesting part... the teacher lists the conventional spelling next to it. It seems over the years I have heard mixed reviews on this and I could never seem to decide if this would hurt children's feelings or not to see that they had been wrong, but with this approach it is a positive. When showing the conventional spelling, the class will either "celebrate how close the writer came or marvel at how different the spelling is from what the writer thought it would be." (Ray, 2004, p. 70). Ray (2004) also states that "It's a celebration either way because the focus is on not being afraid to try a hard word you know, not on getting the spelling right. " (p. 70)
I thought this was a great idea, but the next question was: How do I get my students to choose "better" words? We had tried in previous years to retire words like nice, good, and cool, but they just got replaced with really cool or awesome, a step up, but not where I wanted to be. I had come across a character named Fancy Nancy, who loved to use fancy words, but until reading the books by Boushey and Moser and Ray, I wasn't quite sure what to do with this. I decided to use these books to kick off our fancy word study, move onto the posters, and see where it led. Kids in previous years had grown attached to Skippyjonjones and the Pigeon, so maybe this could work. I read the book, and even had a little plush Fancy Nancy to show the class. I told them we would be fancy like her and find types of words she would like in our own books and even try to use them in our writing, and showed them some examples as I read another book out loud (one that did not stop and point out fancy words like Fancy Nancy stopped to do for her readers). I put them on a separate chart entitled, "We Use Fancy Words!" This was not for words we used in our writing, but instead for fancy words we found in our reading that were interesting. We periodically stop when we find these words, quickly use the context to discuss what they mean, and I Post-it that page so I can add the words to the chart when we are done. We use these words in our discussions when they are appropriate to give the students multiple exposures to the words. It was a good start.
This vocabulary goal just kept snowballing! In October I was fortunate enough to attend a conference with Lester Laminack. He talked about "luscious language" and reading to students daily just to let them hear this language, not as part of a reading or writing lesson, but just to listen and enjoy the book. He shared that one of his favorite authors was Cynthia Rylant and read one of her books aloud. I realized that while some of my books were great at teaching various reading strategies, some of them were not the best at providing opportunities to hear "luscious language." I started making it a point to read as the children were settling in after lunch each day, which was one of his suggested read aloud times. Sometimes I choose a book that goes along with a science or math theme, or matches what we are working on in reading workshop, but I try 2-3 times a week to pick a book that simply has great word choice. One author that my class has fallen in love with is Patricia Polacco and I am so excited to see that after reading her books together, children more often are walking back with her books in hand from the library rather than Captain Underpants. It seems that every time we turn around, we are noticing an interesting word in a book. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard a child gasp and whisper (ok, or sometimes shout), "That's a fancy word!" during a read aloud...!
Thanks to the professional development presented to me in my master's classes by way of the introduction of the Two Sisters and their CAFE method, Lester Laminack's advice, and the minilesson and chart ideas from Katie Wood Ray, I have been able to feel confident that I am finally providing students with ways to expand their vocabulary not just in reading, but in the even more risky task of writing... and celebrate and enjoy doing it. I am truly proud and amazed by my first graders and recommend these resources to any teacher who is exhausted by the overuse of the words, "good," "bad," "nice," "cool," etc. in their classrooms. I was fortunate to stumble across these resources all within a short time of one another and weave them into my reading and writing lessons, and now it's even spilling into the content areas as well. I hope that others can find these resources useful and inspiring as well! I am now onto 2 more books by Ray and excited to see where they will lead me next!
Resources:
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2009). The cafe book: engaging all students in daily literacy assessment and instruction. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
O'Connor, J. (2006). Fancy nancy. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Ray, K.W., & Cleaveland, L.B. (2004). About the authors: writing workshop with our youngest writers. Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
What Is Right In Education... a Good Pick-Me-Up :)
I came across this post on the Catching Readers Before They Fall blog and wanted to share it. I think that the best thing about blogging is that through blogs you can find so many teachers who share your views and experiences, as well as seeking out advice from expert teachers all over the country. Katie Keier and Pat Johnson are literacy experts from Fairfax, Virginia; Katie is a literacy specialist in Fairfax County, with a Reading Specialist certificate and a master's degree in Literacy Studies, and Pat is a literacy consultant with a background in Reading Recovery and elementary reading. They have a combined total of 43 years experience in the classroom teaching reading! The title of their blog piqued my interest and I went to seek out some advice, but ended up reading this post that just made me feel good. Since we can all use that once in a while, here it is for you to enjoy. Celebrate being a teacher! :)
What’s RIGHT with education? by Katie Keier
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Social Networking for Classrooms
I wanted a way to socialize with students and parents, as well as a way for these groups to be able to socialize with each other, much like Facebook allows us to network with groups of friends and colleagues and share information quickly. Obviously, I am not comfortable setting up a Facebook account for my classroom, nor do I think it is appropriate for my first graders to have accounts! Today I stumbled across something interesting: Edmodo, a "trusted web 2.0 environment" and social network for classrooms. Teachers can give codes to students to allow them to sign up with the classroom, where they can share information and web resources. Parents can even have updates sent to their Android phones! I am going to research this site more and decide which would be more user-friendly to my students and their families: Edmodo or a classroom blog. This may also be a great way for colleagues to share information, and I know many of my colleagues love Facebook, so maybe this would catch on! What do you think?
Edmodo guide From the graphics included, this appears to be a network set up similarly to Facebook, but safe for students!
Monday, November 1, 2010
21st Century Writing
Every year, I (Rhiannon) teach letter writing to my first grade students. What I hadn't considered, however, is teaching students about crafting an e-mail, though I know that in the "real world" adults are more likely to create an electronic letter rather than a handwritten one. Here is a lesson idea shared by my professor with our graduate reading course.
What’s the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare E-mail with Letter Writing
(This is one of many great lessons from the ReadWriteThink website, which also has links for parents!)
I think that while it is still important to teach students what now seems to be the ancient practice of handwritten letter writing, I have to keep pushing to incorporate technology into my writing lessons as well. I have found typing to be an issue, due to the difficulty my students have finding letters on the QWERTY keyboard, but I am guessing that if I practiced this more in class, and also suggested that students practice typing at home when they want to practice word wall words or "write" a story or note, perhaps this would not be as trying as I once thought! I am going to consider this when doing our holiday letter writing, such as letters to Santa, or writing thank-yous to family and friends. Maybe we can send emails instead!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Two Writing Teachers
I know that this blog technically is about reading, but as writing is also a HUGE part of becoming literate, I couldn't pass up sharing this link. Ruth Ayers and Stacey Schubitz have created a blog all about writing workshop. Ruth Ayers is a writing coach from Indiana and Stacey is a reading specialist now living in Pennsylvania. Two Writing Teachers is a blog dedicated to writing, however this is infused with reading, as there are mentor texts to be used that could also be used in reading workshop, and there are also links to reading websites. The first blog entry that caught my eye on was today's entry about the use of flip cameras in the classroom to capture moments in writing workshop... what a way to bring your classroom into the 21st Century! They also have a companion website with resources worth checking out!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Reading Technology for Younger Readers
In today's technology-driven world, it is never too early to get our youngest learners on board! Articles and studies show that our society is embracing e-books and their popularity continues to grow, including with textbooks. Also, students have said that they would be more likely to read for fun if technology were to be incorporated, since they already use devices to text, email, listen to music, etc. As a first grade teacher, I see a huge gap between my students who are most and least skilled on the computer. It takes some students 5 minutes just to log on, while others can type in their own internet addresses and browse the web unassisted! It is important to give our youngest students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the technology they will be using in the future. I have been reading about e-readers, but felt they were too complicated for many first grade students, who are just learning to read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that V-Tech has designed an e-reader for our youngest learner! I think this is a great way to motivate students to 1) read and 2) learn to use technology as a tool to learn! This is an animated interactive reader that uses popular characters in stories, which would be very engaging for first grade students, but still educational with stories, story dictionaries, and reading games.
Links for more information:
VTech presentation on V.Reader
Information on Amazon about VTech Reader This site has videos that allow prospective buyers to watch the reader in action!
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