Lessons Learned

Expression

Once More With Feeling

Like most little kids, my nephew Taylor loves being read to. But after five times through Curious George Rides a Bike, I’m tired of it, even if he isn’t. So as we go for number six, I’m a little off my game. My voice is flat, my energy’s low, I lack all semblance of what’s-gonna-happen-next enthusiasm. And Taylor can tell. “No. Read it the right way, Uncle Steve,” he insists. At the tender age of four, Taylor is already an expert at reading assessment. He knows that the right way to read is with expression.

Guided Choice

A Responsible Approach to Letting Kids Pick Their Own Books

When I tell people I let kids pick their own books for reading, I get a variety of reactions, almost none of them positive. The assumption is that I let kids read anything they want, and that I am, therefore, an irresponsible person who doesn’t care what kids read, who doesn’t teach the classics, who gets in trouble with parents and school boards, and who may be single-handedly responsible for Global Warming and the decline of Western Civilization. Despite the fact that adults choose their own books to read, few people I know think kids should be able to do this, even under adult supervision.

How Readers Choose Books

Helping Kids Become Strategic Selectors

“What made you pick that one?”

I could walk up to any adult holding any book, ask that question, and as long as I didn’t get punched in the nose, probably get a good answer:

• “I’m a big fan of [insert name of genre].”
• “I’ve read all of [insert name of author]’s books.”
• “I’m fascinated by [insert type of subject matter].”
• “My [insert trusted person] recommended it.”
• “It won the [insert name of prestigious award].”
• “I saw the author interviewed on [insert name of talk show].”
• “I read a review about it.”
• “I read a few pages and got hooked.”
• “I love the quality of the writing.”
• “It’s an Oprah’s Book Club selection.”
• Etc.

In Search of a “Just Right” Book

Getting Kids Started on Picking Books They Can Read and Enjoy

One of the biggest challenges in teaching reading well is making sure kids choose books they like at their independent reading level. If the texts they choose are consistently too easy, they don’t improve as much as they might over time. If the books they choose are too hard, reading is too hard. Kids become frustrated and tire easily. Worse yet, they develop bad habits that arise as coping mechanisms for tackling tough texts. In general, letting kids read easy books on a regular basis is better than letting them read hard ones. But the best thing to do is to teach kids how to find books that are just right.

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.

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.

Speed

It’s not How Fast You Read That Matters, It’s How Well You Read

The way most kids read, you’d think it was a race. Competitive by nature, kids are constantly comparing themselves to each other, and to us, in this regard. In the beginning, reading is slow and laborious. Who wouldn’t want to read faster? But as our skills develop, and we begin to read more fluently, the desire to speed up seems only to increase. As a result, many kids—and many adults, too—read faster than they can accurately decode and comprehend.

Teaching the Model to Kids

Introducing the Six Qualities of Good Reading to Students

I introduce the six qualities of good reading with a question: “How do we know we’re reading well?” Most kids have an answer or two:

• “We can read all the words.”
• “We understand it.”
• “It’s not hard.”
• “We just know!”
• Etc.

But these answers aren’t very useful when it comes to creating a class standard for good reading. That’s why I introduce kids to the six qualities.

Thinking

This is Your Brain on Text. Any Questions?

“What are you thinking?”

My favorite reading conference question absolutely baffles kids. “What do you mean ‘What am I thinking?’” they say. “I’m reading a book!” Yes, that’s true. But what I want to know is what they’re thinking about what they’re reading. And no, I don’t want them to read it to me. I want them to read their own minds and tell me what’s rattling around in there.

Understanding

Knowing What We Read, and Knowing What to Do When We Don’t

As literate adults who’ve been reading for decades, most of us have a well-tuned sense of what we understand and what we don’t. As we glide along line after line, we know intuitively if what we read makes sense to us, or if certain words or ideas are confusing. And we usually know what to do when we’re confused.

But many kids don’t.