The goal of balanced literacy is for students to become independent. In the growing popularity of balanced literacy, teachers are bombarded with so many different methods that need to be implemented that the goal of independence is often lost. The different methods are meaningless if they do not strategically lead to independence. There should be ongoing assessment to measure whether the teaching is leading to a gradual release of responsibility to the individual reader or writer.
Balanced Literacy for English Language Learners, K-2
by Linda Chen and Eugenia Mora-Flores
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Student Centered Classrooms and Accountable Talk
Staff Developer, Shannon Maul, shares the essential components of student centered classroom: (1) Focus on meaning making, (2) Collaboration, (3) Student independence. Emphasis is also placed on Accountable Talk and its role in a student centered classroom.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Review of Past Work
Reviews literacy approaches (i.e. Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Independent Reading) and their purposes in teaching students to read. Participants are provided a list of the big ideas presented in staff development for the past two years. Emphasis is placed on reflecting how the work can be scaffolded for all teachers who will be implementing Balanced Literacy approaches in their classrooms.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Overview of Small Group Instruction and Guided Reading - Part 2
What is the structure of Guided Reading? What do teachers need to know when working with students in Guided Reading groups? Who benefits from Guided Reading? What about text levels and stages of reading development? What types of texts should be used for Guided Reading? Katherine Casey uses current research to broaden participants’ perspectives about Guided Reading. David Hornsby, Fountas & Pinnell are referenced.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Overview of Small Group Instruction and Guided Reading - Part 1
Katherine Casey provides an overview of Small Group Instruction (including Guided Reading) and its role in Balanced Literacy. Participants discuss the benefits of small group instruction, the obstacles teachers in secondary schools face, and develop action plan to remove such obstacles. Katherine asks adults to diversify the ways teachers work with students in small groups.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Overview of Guided Reading - Part 2
What is the structure of Guided Reading? What do teachers need to know when working with students in Guided Reading groups? What about text levels and stages of reading development? Katherine Casey uses current research to broaden participants’ perspectives about Guided Reading.
David Hornsby, Fountas & Pinnell
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Overview of Guided Reading - Part 1
Katherine Casey provides an overview of Guided Reading and its role in Balanced Literacy. Participants discuss the benefits of small group instruction, the obstacles teachers in elementary schools face, and develop action plan to remove such obstacles. Katherine asks adults to diversify the ways teachers work with students in small groups. Guided Experience for emergent readers is also discussed.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Independent Reading in Secondary Schools
What is Independent Reading? How do we get students motivated to read? What kinds of books do students in secondary schools like to read? These are a few of the many questions Professional developers Katherine Casey and Shannon Maul addressed in this staff development. The following professional resource is referenced: Teaching Reading in Middle School by Laura Robb. Stephen Krashen and Kelly Gallagher are also referenced.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Independent Reading in Elementary Schools
What is Independent Reading? What are students doing during Independent Reading? What are students reading? How do teachers get to know students as readers? These are a few of the questions Katherine Casey addresses in this staff development. The following professional resource is referenced: Balancing Reading & Language Learning by Mary Capellini. Stephen Krashen and Laura Robb are also referenced.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Classroom Charting Ideas
Katherine Casey shows examples of and explains uses for charting in the classroom. Since charts should be designed to support students as they work independently, teachers need to reflect on how to use the “prime real estate” in their classrooms to support student learning. Questions to ponder: Which charts do your students look at and use each day? Which charts show and tell students what to do? How often do you add to and revise charts? Additional topics addressed: showcasing student work, parent conferences, student accountability.
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Assessing Students Through Running Records
Literacy Coaches Leya Naulls and Jennifer Richter lead participants through an overview of running records’ components and their associated cueing systems. Katherine Casey models how to analyze the data by focusing student’s strengths and attending to structural, visual, and meaning cues used during the assessment.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Organizing a Classroom Library for Independent Reading
Katherine Casey leads participants through a discussion about classroom libraries. To support all students, especially at risk readers, Katherine addresses the need for libraries to be organized in ways that are attractive and make sense to students. Over time, organized libraries should evolve and continue to support teachers in matching books to readers. When considering library organization, participants are asked to think about genres, authors, themes, topics of students’ interest and reading levels.
Overview of Text Levels
Katherine Casey and Wilma Kozai lead participants in a discussion and analysis of what makes texts more challenging. Participants gain a deeper understanding of how texts are leveled and how this prepares teachers to anticipate the lessons that they need to teach. Resources referenced: Improving Comprehension with Think Aloud Strategies by Jeffrey Wilhelm Ph.d, A Book Is A Present by Margaret Mooney, Matching Books to Readers by Fountas & Pinnell, Guided Reading by Fountas & Pinnell. Leveled Readers 3-6 by Fountas & Pinnell.
Independent Reading Workshop: Overview and Conferring Demonstration
Katherine Casey provides the architecture of conferring during independent reading workshop. The participants view a 5th grade videotaped demonstration of conferring. Katherine leads participants through the components of conferring (research, decide, teach, plan) and models the variety of ways to gather data.
Independent Reading Workshop: Overview and Mini-Lesson Demonstration
Katherine Casey explains what Independent Reading Workshop is and what it isn’t through the lens of balanced literacy. Participants view a demonstration video of the transition from shared reading to independent reading workshop which is followed by a mini-lesson.
Questioning: Overview and Resources
Katherine Casey guides participants through a discussion of how Bloom’s Taxonomy illustrates the range of levels of comprehension form literal to high level. Participants are provided three resources which support effective questioning.Shared Reading for Grades 3 and Beyond by Sue Brown
- Questions that address thinking skills and verbs within standards. Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6 by Fountas & Pinnell
- Questions specific to and/or cross genre. Exploring Informational Text by Hoyt, Mooney, & Parkes
- Questions that students use at different times during the read (before, during, after).
Overview of Guided Reading
Katherine Casey leads participants through an analytical discussion of what guided reading is and what it isn’t. Brian Cambourne’s Conditions of Learning is referenced to support the notion that guided reading is a time for students to practice and approximate the work. Participants read David Hornsby’s A Closer Look at Guided Reading in order to compare guided reading with other forms of small group instruction. Katherine closes by using data to plan small groups based on strengths and/or areas of need.
Overview of Balanced Literacy Components
Balance Literacy provides diverse learners multiple opportunities throughout the day to have success in literacy. Katherine Casey provides an overview of the approaches embedded in balanced literacy: Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Independent Reading with Conferring, Interactive Writing (early primary), Word Study, and Writing.