Phoenix Union

Read Like a Reader, Read Like a Writer

An Organized Approach to Strategic Reading

Like many educators, I was attracted to the idea of strategic reading. Prior to learning about the strategic reading movement, I often felt that what I taught kids about reading never addressed the task of reading itself. I realize now that what I had in my teaching repertoire was a set of reading activities, things kids could do after they read something. By contrast, strategic reading gave me things I could teach kids to do while they read, things that would actually help them read better.

Making Reading Journals Work

Important Things Kids Need to Know About What to Do and Why

For years I never used reading journals. I didn’t keep one myself so I rationalized that kids didn’t need to keep one either. Nobody needs to keep a reading journal, I thought. But I’ve realized since then that this isn’t the point. While readers don’t need to keep journals, those who do can get a lot out of them as long as they get the right guidance.

Reading Journal Prompts

Aligning Questions with Key Strategies

I hate giving kids prompts for their reading journals. In my ideal reading world, kids would spontaneously compose entries of such quality and variety that using prompts would seem silly. However, the reading world is far from ideal, and I’ve discovered a way to use journal prompts to introduce kids to valuable reading strategies and useful ways of reflecting on their books.