Phoenix Union

Take the Pledge for Better Reading

Using The Pledge of Allegiance to Improve Reading Fluency

Every few years, it seems we experience a minor controversy in education around The Pledge of Allegiance. Should kids have to say it? Should it include the words “under God”? And so on. What do I think about this? I think The Pledge of Allegiance is one of the best tools we have in America for teaching kids how to read.

Phrasing

Reading’s Best Kept Secret

Phrasing is the best kept secret in all of reading. In the workshops on reading that I’ve attended over the years, no one has ever talked about it. In the dozens of books I’ve read on reading, it’s hardly mentioned at all. Yet in my teaching of reading, I’ve found it to be one of the most valuable things I teach to young readers.

It Helps to Have a Model

A Practical Way to Organize Reading Instruction and Assessment

One reason reading is hard to learn is because it’s hard to teach. Some people devote their entire lives to understanding what reading is, what good readers do, and how to teach these things effectively to kids. But most of us don’t have that kind of time. So I’ve found something simple that helps me a lot. It’s a model of reading instruction and assessment based on six qualities of good reading that I can teach to every kid I work with.