Kids Who Can’t Read Teacher: “I’m looking at this running record for Andrew (5th grade student) and he can’t read words with multiple syllables. When’s he’s stuck and he tries to decode, I notice he doesn’t even really know vowel sounds.” Admin: “Which STAAR practice group is he in?” Teacher: “He meets with Ms. Pratt, …
I’ve been spending a lot of time supporting teachers on elementary campuses in a nearby district this year. Their ELA coordinator is faithful to remind teachers and coaches each time they meet that the work they do this year is aligned to Fountas and Pinnell’s Responsive Teaching Cycle. The cycle: Gather data Observe reading behaviors …
When RtI Seems Lacking We could teach almost every student to read by the end of 1st grade. So why aren’t we doing it?–Dr. Richard Allington I spend most days now on elementary campuses speaking with grade level teams, coaches and campus administrators about their students who are not reading on grade level. I’ve spent …
What do a pro basketball star and a teacher have in common? It sounds like I’m attempting to be witty, but it’s no joke. Several weeks ago, Kelly Gallagher tweeted a link to an article in the New Yorker that begged this very question. In the article, James Surowiecki writes about the transformation of athletic …
This blog post was published here on my site previously. Earlier this week I was with several groups of teachers on different campuses. Those teachers were holding it all together under unbelievable circumstances and honestly, I don’t know how. Resposting this today so educators can remind themselves to focus on self-care. #HUGS Everyone knows that …
Recently, I was invited to a fifth grade classroom to model for a teacher. She wanted to watch me assess several of her students with a new assessment tool her district introduced earlier this year. Each time I sit down to work with students in this type of scenario, I spend about 7-8 minutes getting …
What a great reading summit Scholastic had in Austin, Texas on July 16. Highlights for me: Jenni Holm being interviewed by John Schu. Donalyn Miller’s keynote. Yuyi Morales keynote to close out the summit. This was the highlight of the summit for me. #brilliantartist #beautifulsoul Getting to meet the 130+ educators in the breakout session …
Pamela Koutrakos’s book, Word Study That Sticks: Best Practices, came to me at the perfect moment. I’d been talking that week with some teachers I support and we needed some new ideas to breathe life in to word study. Word Study That Sticks was the resources I needed to facilitate great discussions when collaborating with …
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 2018 was held in Houston, Texas. I was there and on a cloudy Saturday morning I was up bright and early. Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey were leading a session on inquiry. It was of no consequence to me that it was 8:00 AM on the weekend. …
Years ago I met some teacher friends for lunch well into our summer break. I went on a little too long about a professional book I was excited about. After a few minutes, one of my friends slammed her hand down on the table and said, “Damn it, Valinda, it’s summer. Can we please not …
