Comprehension Strategy Instruction… What Do You Think?

Dear TWRCrs,

Some of you may know that I have just begun teaching an online course in the master’s program in teaching reading/language arts. Familiarizing myself with the university’s website and all the new tools has kept me extremely busy this week.

I even made my first screencast video using Jing. (That was really exciting!) If you are interested in learning more about it, take a look at these great video tutorials from Russell Stannard.
The other instructor of the course uses Screencast-O-Matic and we have been trying to figure out which one is better. If you use any screencast video software, I would love to hear your thoughts about pros and cons.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because I don’t have the energy to write a new post this week. Fortunately, I ran across a comment I wrote way back on November 1, 2009 in response to reading comprehension strategy instruction. It was probably one of the first comments I posted on the Internet. Although my reply is a bit off topic, I put a lot of effort into it and think it is worthy of reposting to this blog. It was originally posted in the “All About Teaching Reading” group on “The Educator’s PLN” Ning.

I would love to dialogue with you about the TWRCs I shared in this comment. They definitely deserve further exploration. Here is my comment in its entirety:

Hi Melanie,

It’s so nice to hear about successes and excitement in the classrooms from both you and Dodie. I must admit that teaching comprehension is the area in reading where I am the least confident. I have heard and read about strategy instruction misuse and it shaped my thinking. I will admit that when I first began teaching strategies, I was on strategy overload. Here is an article from Choice Literacy that talks about this point: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/853.cfm. By no means am I trying to deter anyone from using strategy instruction, but I think it is an important read.

P. David Pearson, a leader in the comprehension field, said at our local reading association conference that clarifying is the most important strategy. I agree and I think kids who struggle have the most difficulty with this because they are not used to reading making sense to begin with. In addition, I’ve found they don’t even understand the word “clarify.” To get them to understand that, I always taught them that “clarify” means “to make clear”. To exemplify, I would say a sentence such as, “Go get it.” Then I would ask my students, “Is that clear?” They would say, “No,” and I would ask, “Why not?” They should reply, “It’s not clear because we don’t know what ‘it’ is.” Obviously, this is clarifying at the sentence level, but I think it is best to start small.

I have read a lot about how students struggle with anaphoric references (like in my previous example with “it”) and I really trained students to look out for when writing did not make sense. Strugglers need to know that sometimes writing does not make sense because the writing itself is unclear. In other words, it’s not them; it’s the author. My students delighted in sharing how they could make the writing clearer than the author could in some cases. Making things clearer also transferred over to their writing (to some degree) which was a treat to see. I would so love to see more research on anaphoric references. Maybe I spent too much time with it, but watching the changes in their comprehension makes me think it was time well spent.

Another thing I did which I think was successful was teaching my students that good readers “TWRC” (think, wonder, reflect, and connect). For the most part, kids understand these words–reflection being the hardest. The “wonder” is really the questioning in strategy instruction and I think it is also another important part of comprehension because when we wonder, we think deeper and those wonders lead to better learning. After reading a passage with the group, I would make them all share a wonder. In the beginning, their wonders were things like, “I wonder if he has a brother,” “I wonder when is his birthday.” In other words, their wonders were very superficial. I would model deeper wonders and let them know that good wonders do not usually have answers. When sharing mine, I would have to remind them in the beginning that I was not looking for an answer, but that I was just wondering. After much modeling, it was such a delight to hear their well-thought out wonders. It was also a delight when their peers would say, “Oooooh! That’s a great wonder!”

In regards to activating background knowledge, I also found it necessary to remind students that we all have knowledge in our head that is accurate and inaccurate and that when we read about new things, we must decide if what we read confirms our existing knowledge, or if we need to refine our existing knowledge. Struggling kids seem to believe that everything they “know” is true. We also discuss considering the source when altering existing knowledge.

Making inferences is another thing strugglers have a lot of difficulty with and I wish there was more research on this. One thing that stands out in my learning path was when I heard that, “Authors imply, therefore readers have to infer.” It is a continuous thing we do in everything we read. Anaphoric referents require it. Young kids do it with body language. It is everywhere! Taffy Raphael’s work really influenced me here. She said that a discovery she made was that many struggling readers either thought that answers to questions about what they read came from the book, or from their head. They did not seem to realize that they could come from both (inferential thinking). I love her Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR) and I often used this with them. I think this positively affected their comprehension in a big way. It took me a while to get the hang of how to teach it, but boy once I did; I saw a huge difference in their ability to answer questions correctly. I will upload the chart I used.

Lastly, I plan to attend the International Reading Association convention this year and I plan to take the comprehension strand, because as I’ve said, I do feel this is my weakest area in teaching reading, which is sad since comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading! Oh, and to get them to understand what “comprehension” meant, I would refer to the Spanish equivalent, “Comprende?” They loved it and it seemed to sink in. It amazed me that 4th, 5th, and 6th graders did not understand the word “comprehension” before this.

Note: I hope you read the Choice Literacy article. I think it is a very important read.

My questions for you: How do you feel about comprehension strategy instruction? Have you noticed that teachers are spending too much/too little time teaching comprehension strategies? If you had to pick four words to remind students of the most import things they need to do in order to comprehend what they read, what would they be?

As always, I would appreciate it if you could take a second to rate this article on a scale of one to ten using the stars below.

TWRC on!

Presenter Handouts from the United States Department of Education’s Reading Institute in Anaheim, 2010

I attended the United States Department of Education’s Reading Institute in Anaheim, California July 19-21, 2010. It was the first institute I attended from the United States Department of Education and it was phenomenal! I wrote a little bit about it in a previous post.

The presenter handouts from this institute are now available online at http://www.mikogroup.com/2010ReadingInstitute. At this link, you will find close to ninety presenter handouts and a handful of webinars on topics such as:

• The big five areas of reading instruction (i.e. phonemic awareness, phonics/decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.)
• Early learning and literacy
• Engaging and empowering parents
• Title I
• Literacy coaching and literacy coaches
• Reading in the content areas
• Professional development
• The common core standards
• Response to intervention (RtI)
• Informational text
• Enhancing oral language
• Differentiating instruction
• Working with English language learners (ELLs)

I originally thought writing a post about the link to the presentation handouts would be easy, but then I began perusing the handouts from the sessions I did not attend because I wanted to highlight a few for you. Well, let’s just say I ended up spending hours reading them. They have to be some of the best handouts I have ever seen from a reading convention. Not only are they from top notch presenters, but most of them can be easily understood without having attended the session.

I am breaking the highlighted handouts into two sections–sessions attended and sessions not attended. In the section on sessions I attended, I am including a few notes, pictures, and a favorite quote or two from each session. I hope to do a more thorough write-up of the sessions at a later time.

SESSIONS I ATTENDED & ENJOYED

#509 – Questioning Skills for Coaches by Stephen Barkley. Stephen is on Twitter as stevebarkley. Favorite quote? “If you read without asking questions while you read, you don’t get insights.” Here is a photo I took of this very funny and energetic presenter:

#538 – “There’s More than One Research-Based Approach to Teaching Decoding.” by Irene W. Gaskins I have been a fan of Gaskins’ work for a long time. This is the second time I heard her speak in person, and she did not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed being able to speak with her one on one before the session began. We spoke about why she created the Benchmark School and decoding by analogy–including important research and researchers in this area. My favorite quote from my notes? “You will never hear Benchmark teachers say, ‘Sound it out.’ We say, ‘What have you already tried?’” Here is a photo I took of her before the session:

#571 – Keynote Speech – Common Core Standards: Implications for Instruction by Michael Kamil. Lately, I have been reading bits and pieces about the common core standards. I felt this was a nice overview. Instead of a favorite quote, I like that he pointed out an unfamiliar website to me: Doing What Works: Research-based Education Practices Online (not to be confused with “What Works Clearing House.”) At http://dww.ed.gov/, there are three sections: 1) Learning what to do, 2) Seeing what to do, and 3) Doing what to do.

#645 – Keynote Speech – Implications of Reading Next for Primary Reading Instruction by Catherine Snow. I have heard her speak several times and she always makes me TWRC. I think she is the one who originally led me to the Hart & Risley study which I wrote about at length in this post. I was pleased that she talked about it once again and that so many other presenters did, too. Favorite quote? “Increase the kinds of books that encourage deep reflection.”

#649 – Generative Vocabulary Instruction: Teaching Core Academic and Content-Specific Academic Vocabulary to Native-Speaking and English Learners by Shane Templeton. I really enjoyed speaking with Dr. Templeton one on one before the session began. You can find him on Twitter as WordsTheirWay and on Facebook as Words Their Way. Favorite quote? This is not word for word, but he said we need to let kids know that we learn how to spell by meaning, rather than by sound. (ex. sign/signature) His handout is probably my favorite out of all of them. It is fabulous! Here is a photo I took of him:

#651 – Increasing Reading Comprehension with Higher Order Thinking Skills by Alice Thomas. I do not recall ever reading Thomas’ work before, but the title of her session and a little bit of Internet research made me think that the TWRCr in me would love her. I was right. She was phenomenal and I will now seek her out at reading conferences. She pointed out that the amount of information in the handout could be used for a two-day session, but that the slides on the end should stand alone. Favorite quote? “You’re teaching them there’s more than one acceptable answer. That’s how you get thinkers. If you tell them, ‘You’re wrong,’ you kill the thinker.” A favorite quote from the handout? “The important thing is not to stop questioning.” ~ Albert Einstein. Here is a photo I took:

#670 – Implications of the Evolving Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf. I loved that when I was taking her photo, she said, “Someone is taking my picture!” Then she looked at my name tag and teasingly said, “Oh, Julie!” In general, her session was a bit over my head, but her humor was very much appreciated! Favorite quote? “The heart of expert reading is time to think new thoughts.” Here is the picture I took:

GREAT HANDOUTS FROM SESSIONS I DID NOT ATTEND

#504 – Dynamic Vocabulary Instruction by Anita Archer. If you click on her name, you will find six literacy related videos. I have heard teachers rave about her, but have not yet heard her in person. People at the institute raved about her sessions, too.

#521 – Verbalized Vocabulary (Grades K-4) by Susan Ebbers. I mentioned that Susan has an outstanding blog about vocabulary in another post, but I will mention it again here. Be sure to check out her blog, Vocabulogic.

#522 – Outside-In Strategy: Morphemic Analysis in Context (Grades 2-12) by Susan Ebbers.

#578 – Collaborative Strategic Reading by Janette Klingner. The wonderful website, Reading Rockets, has a great post on the Collaborative Strategic Reading strategy by Janette Klingner and Sharon Vaughn. Click here to read it.

#614 – Effective Teaching of Fluency: The Neglected Reading Goal by Timothy Rasinski. You might want to click on his name and then “Presentation Material” to see some more great handouts.

#652 – Neuroscience Approach to Differentiating Instruction by Alice Thomas.

I hope you looked at the entire list of handouts, not just the ones I highlighted. To make it easier, think about a topic you have a lot of interest in and hit the “Control” button while also hitting the “F” button. Then, type your topic in the “Find” box. Since I did not look through them all, I would love to hear about any handouts you found particularly interesting.

Note: I love shared knowledge and shared reflection. If you have something to share or something that pushes thinking in any way, I would love to hear about it. If you do not have time to do that, can you spare a second to click on the stars below to rate this post on a scale of 1 to 10? Thanks a bunch and happy TWRCing!

Presenter Handouts from the Revisiting Silent Reading Institute & Information on the Summer Slide

Back in May, I wrote a six part series about the institute I attended at the International Reading Association’s 55th annual convention in Chicago, 2010, Revisiting Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers. I promised I would include a link to the handouts once Elfrieda H. Hiebert posted them in her library on her website, www.textproject.org. Although I am a little late, I am now following through on that promise (Freddy posted them in June).

Click here to go to the 51 page pdf document of presenter handouts from that institute.
In the document, you will find the following presentations:

1. “Silent Reading Pedagogy: An historical perspective” by Susie Goodin and P. David Pearson. I discussed this part of the institute in part one of my six-part post.




2. “Silent Reading for Special Populations: Supporting Struggling Adolescent Readers in Digital Contexts” by Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Katherine Bach. I discussed this part of the institute in part six.




3. “A Comparison of Oral and Silent Reading Development” by Kathleen Wilson, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, and Guy Trainin. I did not discuss this part of the institute in my posts.




4. “Eye-Movements and Reading: Without them you cannot read” by S. Jay Samuels. I discussed this part of the institute in part two.




5. “Increasing Eyes on Text in High Impact Schools” by Devon Brenner. I discussed this part of the institute in part three.




6. “Silent Reading and Online Reading Comprehension” by Jacquelynn A. Malloy, Jill M. Castek, and Donald J. Leu. I did not discuss this part of the institute in my posts.




7. “Why So Much Oral Reading” by Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen. I discussed this part of the institute in part four.




8. “R5: A Sustained Silent Reading Makeover” by Michelle J. Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace. You can find my discussion of this part of the institute in part five.




9. “Assessing English Language Learners’ Silent Reading: Problems, Perils, and Promising Directions” by Gary J. Ockey and D. Ray Reutzel. I did not discuss this part of the institute in my posts.




10. “Silent Reading for Struggling Readers: Pitfalls and Potential” by Sharon Vaughn, Nicole Pyle, and Colleen Reutebuch. I did not discuss this part of the institute in my posts.

In addition to this handout, Freddy also posted a pdf copy of chapter five that will appear in the book, Revisiting Silent Reading, edited by E.H. Hiebert & D.R. Reutzel and published by the International Reading Association. It is due to be published in September, 2010. I found this to be a very interesting read about how to stop the summer slide for poor children. Click here to access, “Can Silent Reading in the Summer Reduce Socioeconomic Differences in Reading Achievement?” (White & Kim).

In response to that chapter, Freddy created a webinar about the summer slide. Click here to access the webinar, “Stopping the Summer Slide with SummerReads™” and the SummerReads™ text she created for children for these purposes. The materials for children are free!

I wish I had posted this earlier because the summer is almost over for American students. However, perhaps you can use them on a holiday break during the school year or remember them for next summer. If you have used the texts with your own children or recommended them to your students, I would love to hear about it! If you have not heard Freddy speak before, I think you will find interesting tidbits about reading instruction throughout the webinar.

Note: I love shared knowledge and shared reflection. If you have something to share or something that pushes thinking in any way, I would love to hear about it. If you do not have time to do that, can you spare a second to click on the stars below to rate this post on a scale of 1 to 10? Thanks a bunch and happy TWRCing!

Why and How to Motivate a Reluctant Reader (2 of 2)

I think children who do not struggle with decoding the words can find reading boring for many reasons. Here are three of them:

1. They have not found the right book. The right book would be one that interests them for some reason. Some reasons may be they like the topic, author, genre, or need to find an answer to a problem. Reading about things of no interest is boring.




2. Their limited word and world knowledge makes many texts too difficult to understand because they cannot connect the dots (i.e. the necessary inferences required to understand). Reading without comprehension is boring!




3. They are so used to reading not making sense, that they do not put much energy into making it make sense. Without TWRCing (thinking, wondering, reflecting, and making connections) while you read, reading is boring.

Suggestions for Children Who Do Not Struggle with Decoding, But Think Reading Is Boring

• Be sure to TWRC with your children as much as possible and not just when you are reading. (“TWRC” rhymes with “work” and stands for think, wonder, reflect, and connect.) The more you model good TWRCs, the more your child will see how dots are connected. Further, great TWRCs lead to great thinking and more engagement.




• Help your children improve their vocabulary. This topic is beyond the scope of this blog. However, if you look on the right-hand side of my blog and scroll down, you will find the heading, “External Link Categories.” Then, you can find some more information about vocabulary under the subheading, “Vocabulary.” A sure way to help improve their vocabulary is by discussing the meanings of unfamiliar books while you read aloud to your child. As mentioned in part one of this post, be sure your children have student-friendly dictionaries close to them when they read.




• Ask your children, “If you could be an expert at anything, what would it be?” I heard somewhere that if you study a topic for 10-15 minutes each day, it will help you become an expert. I have read about teaching reading for more than 10 – 15 minutes almost every day since I began the master’s program in reading. Although I wouldn’t really call myself an expert, I feel confident in talking with those who are (and I really enjoy it, too!)
  
  

  My point? The drive to become an expert on something is pure self-motivation. If your children want to be experts on dinosaurs, ask teachers, librarians, and those who work in bookstores to help you find a lot of reading material on dinosaurs. Look for great websites and blogs on the topic, too. Be sure to keep abreast with what your children learn and celebrate their new-found knowledge. Let them know when they start teaching you things, too! You may also want to introduce them to friends and family by something like, “This is my son, Bob. He is/is becoming an expert on dinosaurs.” That should invite conversation about what he reads, associating more positive feelings with reading.
  
  

  Here are two great quotations that are somewhat related to self-teaching:
  
  

  The true university these days is a collection of books. ~Thomas Carlyle
  
  
  If we encounter a man of great intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
  

  You may also want to check out these links: Self-Education Resource List and 100 Amazing How-To Sites to Teach Yourself Anything.




• Let your child watch book trailers and listen to booktalks in order to discover good books. Book trailers and booktalks are similar to movie trailers and friendly recommendations because they try to entice you to check out the product. Think about it. How do you decide what movie you want to see? Are you more likely to go to the movie theater without knowing what you want to watch, or knowing what you want to watch? I would guess most people go to the theater knowing exactly what they want to watch and that they learned about it from a movie trailer or a friend’s recommendation. Thinking about reluctant readers, I would guess that many who do not have difficulty reading, are reluctant simply because they are not aware of good books. I know I was saddened by how many great books were unfamiliar to the struggling readers with whom I worked. My point here? We need to be sure reluctant readers know about good books–especially those that would be of interest to them.
  
  

  I first discovered book trailers from @KeithSchoch on Twitter when he shared this great post, “Coming Attractions: Book Trailers.” Since he shares so many good resources, I will not share any more. Let me just say that after reading his post, I thought, “Wow! Whoever began creating book trailers was a genius! They should benefit reluctant readers tremendously!”
  
  

  M. Dahms, another person I follow on Twitter, is passionate about booktalks, as am I, and she shared this post full of booktalk resources, “Reader’s Workshop Links: Booktalks.” Again, since she shared so many links I will not share anymore.
  
  

  I first learned about booktalks by Linda Gambrell at an International Reading Association convention. I am not sure why I hadn’t thought about giving them before, but I hadn’t. Instead of calling them booktalks, she calls them, “book blessings.” She mentioned that once you “blessed” a book, it usually flew off the bookshelf before the end of the day. I returned to the classroom and tried it out. She was right–they flew off the shelves.
  
  

  If you are a teacher, I beg you to give booktalks in your classroom as often as possible. In addition, set aside some time for your students to give booktalks. The books my students “blessed” also became hot-ticket items.




• Find some great book review blogs and read them thinking about your child’s abilities and interests. If you do a Google search of “book review blogs” or “children’s book review blogs,” you will find many from which you can choose.




• Be sure to ask your librarian for recommendations. A knowledgeable librarian who knows your child’s interests and reading level is invaluable. (Teachers, this includes you, too!) I thought I knew a lot about what books were popular with students until I spoke with one librarian in particular, Barbara. Not only did she pay attention to what books were checked out the most frequently, but she considered it her mission to keep up with all the new books being published that she thought would be popular with our students. She was a real powerhouse of knowledge and the books she recommended for my struggling readers were always a big hit. I also really enjoyed reading what she recommended.




• Here are some websites that should help you find great books your children will enjoy:
  
  
  
  
  1. www.kidsreads.com This site also helped me learn about books that are popular with children. It is a fabulous website for students, parents, teachers, and librarians! Be sure to check out their about page which lists other websites in their network, such as www.teenreads.com.

  
  

  2. The Series Binder. According to the site, it was “Created by the Webster Public Library Children’s department staff members, and maintained by users from all over the globe in order to help librarians, teachers, parents, and kids find the chronological and publication order of series books. The Children’s Series Binder seeks to create a comprehensive listing of series books for children ranging from toddlers to tweens.”
     
     

     After going to the Webster Public Library, I went to the “Parent’s Corner” page and then to, the “Books, Books, Books” page and I found a book search tool called NoveList. Although the website says, “NoveList will let you search for books by subject, grade level, and even number of pages,” I found so much more. The website also says that NoveList can only be used from computers at the library. It seemed to work just fine for me.

  
  

  3. www.guysread.com. This website was created by the very funny author, Jon Scieszka. According to the website, its mission is “to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers.” It is a great website with a great mission! Jon is on Twitter.

  
  

  4. Lexile.com’s Find a Book Feature. According to the website, you “Enter your Lexile measure, select your interests, and find books you’d like to read! Whether you’re reading for school or for pleasure, you can use this site to build a custom reading list on the subjects that interest you the most.” You actually do not need to know your child’ Lexile (a number that indicates an approximate reading level). You can search by your grade level (K-12). Even better, you can indicate whether your child finds grade level material, difficult, challenging, or easy.

  
  

  5. Reading Is Fundamental’s Book Search Feature. This is what the website says, “Whether you’re looking for a book for yourself or for children, you’ve come to the right place. Browse our booklists, or use the tool below to search our book database by title, author, category, age level, or keyword.”

  
  

  6. Mid-Continent Public Library’s Reading Advisory. Some of the things you can do on this website are: 1) Search their databases for movies based on books, 2) Search their databases for series books for kids and teens, 3) Read lists of award winning titles for kids, teens, and adults, 4) Read suggested reading lists for kids, teens, and adults, and 4) Discover useful links from other libraries.

  
  

  7. Scholastic’s Teacher Book Wizard Although this is designed for teachers, I think it could also be very helpful to parents. There is so much you can do here. Luckily, they have a video tour.

  
  

  8. The International Reading Associations’ Book Choices Lists According to the website, “Each year, thousands of children, young adults, teachers, and librarians around the United States select their favorite recently published books for the “Choices” reading lists.” The lists are annotated, meaning they give you a brief summary of the book. You can find the lists for the current year’s choices, as well as lists from previous years.

  
  

  9. StorySnoops. This website was recently started by four moms in California. Here is their description of how it works, “Created by moms, StorySnoops offers children’s book reviews from a parent’s perspective. Want to find fiction that interests your 9-18 year old? Curious about its content? Find it on our site and we’ll give you the scoop! We read it so you know what’s in it.” Some things I particularly like about this site are, 1) You can search by the gender of the main character–boys often do not like reading books where the main characters are girls, 2) You can search by suggested reading (ex. Books about Kids like Yours, Noteworthy Books, Our Absolute Faves, Thought-Provoking Books, etc.) and 3) Content Type (ex. Tolerance, Body Image, Teen Issues, Death, Race Ethnicity, and Prejudice, etc.)

  
  

  10. What Should I Read Next? According to the website, “Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our database of real readers’ favorite books (nearly 70,000 different titles so far, and more than a million reader recommendations) to suggest what you could read next. (You can register on the results page and build your own favorites list.)”

  
  

  11. The Book Seer. Enter the title and author of a book you liked and it will give you book recommendations from Amazon and LibraryThing.

  
  

  Finally, here are some books you might like to read to learn more about great read alouds and helping your children find books that will keep their interest:
  
  

  • The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

  
  

  • Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox

  
  

  • The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller aka @donalynbooks on Twitter

  
  

  • Reading Ladders: Leading Students from Where They Are to Where We’d Like Them to Be by Teri S. Lesesne aka @ProfessorNana on Twitter

  
  

  You can find part one of this post here.
  
  

  How do you encourage reluctant readers?
  
  

  Note: I love shared knowledge and shared reflection. If you have something to share or something that pushes thinking in any way, I would love to hear about it. If you do not have time to do that, can you spare a second to click on the stars below to rate this post on a scale of 1 to 10? Thanks a bunch and happy TWRCing!
  
  

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How I Lost My Reading Specialist Position & What Makes a Good Literacy Coach?

I taught first grade for five years in a school where the majority of students were second language learners who qualified for free and reduced lunch. After realizing I needed to know more about teaching reading more effectively, I took a leave of absence to pursue my master’s degree in reading/language arts. While finishing coursework for my degree, I tutored students (K-7) in a one-to-one setting. Personally, I believe that all the tutoring I did while getting my master’s was one of the best things I could have done. I think I learned more during that short time than I would have learned in many years in the general classroom.

Shortly after receiving my master’s degree and reading specialist credential, I worked as a reading specialist for four years in an affluent school district. I worked at two different schools. In the first school, the teachers had wanted a reading specialist for many years, but the opportunity never arose. When it finally did, they knew exactly what they wanted. They immediately flew the 50% contract position and began interviewing.

My first interview at that school only consisted of three educators (the principal and two teachers.) My second interview was made up of eight (the principal and one teacher from each grade level). Although it was slightly intimidating, I thoroughly enjoyed it because I could tell how passionate they were about finding the right person for their school and because they really made me TWRC (think, wonder, reflect, and connect). I was overjoyed when they chose me. I was also thankful that the principal had enough trust in me to design a program that I felt would be the most effective for their school. After a few months of working at the school, I was delighted when I was told that the upper grade teachers, who were infamous for complaining about everything, loved having me at their school.

After two years of working in this dream position, I realized I wanted more than a 50% contract. At a nearby school, one of my former university professors was teaching Read 180. When she was asked to work full-time at the district office, she found out that I was looking for another 50% position. She recommended me for the position. A short time later, I interviewed with the principal and she hired me. After my first year there, she retired and a first-year principal took her place. The new principal informed me that she was unfamiliar with the Read 180 program, but was eager to learn more.

Both schools used the Read 180 program. The first school also used the program I designed which consisted of using the QuickReads program in conjunction with a lot of work with Question-Answer-Relationships and the Nifty Thrifty Fifty. If you teach Read 180 with fidelity, students are pulled out of the classroom for 90 minutes, five days a week. In my program, students were pulled out of the classroom for 30 minutes, three days a week.

Although I am not a statistician, I did receive honors in the one statistics class I took for my master’s degree. After careful analysis, it seemed that the students in the QuickReads program consistently outperformed those in the Read 180 program at both schools. I think this is significant because the QuickReads students spent much less time with me per week than the Read 180 students did. More importantly, they were able to spend more time in their general education classes learning all about the content areas, which play a significant role in reading comprehension.

I mentioned this to the new principal at my second school several times and suggested ways I felt the Read 180 program could be improved. I even went so far as to print out spreadsheets so she could see the results herself. It seems that her position was that since I was hired to teach Read 180, I must teach it with fidelity. Keep in mind that I did not want to change everything about the Read 180 program, but I definitely wanted to incorporate the things I used at my first school that seemed so successful. One more thing to consider, is teaching a flawed program with fidelity always what is best for students?

This brand-new principal who admitted that she did not know anything about the Read 180 program observed me just once in the classroom when children were present. I chose to teach a complicated lesson for the Nifty Thrifty Fifty. On her evaluation, I met or exceeded expectations in most areas, but she gave me an unsatisfactory in one because I was not on a certain page in the program. In all my years in the education profession, I had never received an unsatisfactory mark before and it really bothered me.

I wrote a lengthy response to explain my rationale and asked that we meet in the spirit of professional learning. I also invited her to observe me again. She set up several meetings, but most of them were postponed and then canceled. Further, she never attempted to make another classroom observation. We finally met about two days before I was informed I would not receive a contract for the following school year. The reason given was that, “I was not a program match.” I can partly understand that, as I did not fully agree with the Read 180 program. However, I do not see how this decision should have affected my position at the first school, but it did and I lost that one as well.

After word spread around both schools, the teachers with whom I worked were so shocked they thought I was joking. I was shocked, too. I wrote a lengthy letter to the board explaining my thoughts about the Read 180 program, and about what had transpired between the principal and me. The teachers sent a petition to the board requesting that they reverse their decision. Both were to no avail. The decision stood. Ironically, the Read 180 program disappeared from the entire school district the following year. From my understanding, a rationale for this decision was not given to the teachers.

I have been looking for a reading specialist position ever since, especially one where the principal understands that that no program is guaranteed to help every student succeed. I am looking for a school where the educators are true thinkers who do a lot of wondering, reflecting, connecting, and refining–a true Professional Learning Community (PLC.)

I have a master’s degree in reading/language arts and a reading specialist credential. I have served on my local reading council as registrar, vice-president, president elect, and currently as the president. I love to keep up with research in the field of literacy and have been to six International Reading Association conventions (Reno, 2004; Chicago, 2006; Toronto, 2007; Atlanta, 2008, Minneapolis, 2009; and Chicago, 2010); a four day institute at the University of California, Berkeley in July 2006 (Developing Tomorrow’s Thinkers: Comprehension and Beyond); and just recently, the United States Department of Education’s Reading Institute in Anaheim (July 2010). In addition to these conferences, conventions, and institutes I attend many literacy-related webinars, local conferences, and subscribe to “The Reading Teacher” and “Reading Research Quarterly.” While looking for a new position this past year, I created a Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter and Facebook. The educators in my network consistently amaze me by the quality of resources they share, and by the amount of reflection they do together. The value of this new community is immeasurable and I am truly thankful I found them.

Overall, I would consider myself very well read in the field of literacy. I believe I have excellent rapport with students and teachers. I also believe I have had a great rapport with four of the six principals with whom I have worked. (One was taken away in handcuffs.)

So there you have it. That’s my side of the story. Now, I will get to the point of this lengthy post. I just found an opening for a literacy coach position. I have not been a literacy coach before and I know that different schools define the position in many ways. I am not looking for a position where the literacy coach is mostly a program fidelity monitor. From what I can tell, this position is not like that. Here is what it says,”

Under the direction of the Director of the Title I school site administrator, to provide peer coaching (consultation, staff development, and instructional support) to K-6 teachers and school site teams to promote students’ academic literacy.

Here are some of the requirements that I am not sure I meet:

Recent training and experience (minimum 2 years) in coaching/mentoring, such as Support Provider, Master Teacher, Program Specialist, or Resource Teacher.

I was the Title I Representative at my school for three of the four years, so I have a good understanding of how it runs and that should help. I was a master teacher and BTSA mentor when I taught first grade, but that is not recent. I also closely mentored a fabulous teaching assistant throughout my four years as a reading specialist at the first school. I am hopeful that together, they will meet the coaching/mentoring requirement.

Here are my questions for you:

1. If you are a literacy coach, what are your primary responsibilities? What qualities do you think makes a good coach? If it were up to you, what would you do as a literacy coach?




2. If you are a teacher, I would love to hear your experiences with literacy coaches (the good, the bad, and the ugly.) I would also love to hear what you think makes a good literacy coach. If it were up to you, what would they do?




3. Finally, and most importantly, do you think I have the potential to be a good literacy coach? Why or why not? If you choose to answer this one, please be sure to explain how you know me. Generalities can be used (i.e. where you taught first grade, the first school, the second school, Facebook, Twitter, local reading council, etc.)

Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Literacy related job openings here in Southern California are rare these days and time is of the essence on this one.

Sincerely,

Julie

Why and How to Motivate a Reluctant Reader (1 of 2)

A guest post request on motivation from Dawn Little at the Literacy Toolbox inspired me to write the post below. After following her on Twitter for some time, I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her in person at the last International Reading Association convention. It was there that I learned she has a new book coming out in September titled, Teaching Comprehension with Nonfiction Read Alouds. I can’t wait to read it! Dawn is a valued member of my Personal Learning Network (PLN) and I look forward to learning and sharing with her in the future on Twitter, Facebook, and in person. Here is the part one of the post I wrote for her:

Children are usually reluctant to read for two reasons. 1) They struggle with one or more aspects of reading, or 2) because they find it boring. Often, it is a combination of the two. After receiving my reading specialist credential, I began working exclusively with struggling readers. As you would guess, they did not like to read. Getting them motivated to read (and building their reading stamina) was of the utmost importance to me. Why? Because not reading hurts them in many ways. Here are two of the most important:

1. Their vocabulary does not grow as fast or as large as it does for their peers who read. Most of the words we know, we learned by reading. If we do not read much, we will not know many words. Why is that important? Well, the size of a child’s vocabulary is closely linked to reading comprehension and overall academic success. Students with the largest vocabularies do the best on academic tests, get into the best schools, are able to more clearly express their thoughts, and usually make the most money. The size of our vocabulary also influences how others perceive us.
   
   

   Click here to go to the University of Oregon’s Center on Teaching and Learning to see some great charts and a summary of some important vocabulary research. Personally, I wish all parents knew this information. If they did, I think many more children would be read to and talked with in the home. For more on the importance of talk in the home, click here.




2. Their knowledge of the world (or background knowledge) is not as large and varied as it is for their peers who read. The more we read, the more we understand the world around us. Why is that important? Well, people and authors do not tell us everything; we must make inferences in order to figure out the missing parts. An inference is when we come to a logical conclusion by connecting our background knowledge with what we hear or read.
   
   

   For instance, if I told you that I saw my neighbor clutch his left arm and fall to the floor. Most of you will infer that he was having a heart attack because you have background knowledge of heart attack symptoms. Without this knowledge, you would have been left wondering why he fell. Normally, I am a huge fan of wonder because I believe it leads to deeper thinking and better connections. However, I worry about the struggling readers who have very limited world knowledge. I am sure they are left wondering without a way to connect the dots so often that they truly believe reading does not make sense. Unfortunately, they do not realize that their reading is not making sense because of their limited world knowledge.
   
   

   Think about political jokes for a second. If you do not have much political knowledge, you will not get the punch line because you cannot connect the dots. Imagine having to listen to political jokes every day knowing you will rarely understood the punch line. Would you be reluctant to listen? I think so.
   
   

   Reading comprehension requires a large vocabulary, wide and varied world knowledge, and good inference skills. As the famous slogan goes, “The more we read, the more we know.” And the more we know, the better inferences we can make (and the more laughter we will have in our lives.)
   
   

   For an even clearer understanding of the importance of background knowledge, watch this fabulous ten minute video,”Teaching Content Is Teaching Reading” by Daniel Willingham at www.newamerica.net
   
   

Suggestions for Struggling Readers

Since going into all the reasons a child struggles with reading is beyond the scope of this post, let me offer you some suggestions to help motivate struggling readers in general.

• Let them read audio books. Struggling readers are often embarrassed by the fact that they cannot understand the same books their peers read. Giving them audio books help them do so–especially when their main difficulty lies in decoding rather than vocabulary, background knowledge, or ability to reason. You can purchase audio books, but you can also get them free from public libraries. Personally, I loved listening to audio books as I commuted to and from work. Sure, I was not technically reading them, but I was building up my vocabulary and background knowledge as I listened. If I had been carefully looking at the words in the book as it was read aloud to me, I also would have been helping my decoding skills. In case you are wondering… my struggling students loved audio books.




• Closed captioning. Use the closed captioning feature on your television. (It is usually on in my house.) Because of how our brains are wired, we are almost forced to look at the words as they scroll across the screen. My husband is a second language learner and I think it helps him more than he admits. (He grumbled a lot when I began doing this, but I have not heard him grumble about it for a long time.) Although I am not a second language learner, I have been surrounded by people with limited vocabularies my entire life. I read a lot growing up, but I did not hear many people use the rarer words I learned by reading. Thus, I have many words in my reading vocabulary that are not in my speaking vocabulary. I love it when a word comes across the screen that makes me think, “Oh! So, that’s how you pronounce that!” Further, it is fun to spot words on the screen that do not match what the actors say. I imagine children would get a kick out of that, too. Another great thing about closed captioning is that it also includes words that the actors do not say, but that add to the feeling of the moment, such as “ominous music plays.” If you are a hearing person while reading that, you should easily be able to figure out the meaning of that rare word.
  
  

  One more thing about closed captioning… students in Finland often score the highest on international reading tests. Researchers attribute some of their success to the fact that Finland does not produce many of their own television shows; they import them from other countries and use Finnish subtitles. So, Finnish children who watch a lot of television also get a lot of reading practice at the same time.




• Read aloud to them. Read aloud to your children and do not stop once they can read on their own. Like audio books, you can read aloud books at a higher level than your children can read on their own. If you stop and discuss challenging vocabulary with them, you will help build their vocabulary. Further, you can help them build background knowledge by discussing difficult concepts as they arise. If you have difficulty reading aloud, find a designated reader–perhaps an older sibling, a neighbor, or another relative. There are websites where you can find people reading aloud popular children’s books. I have listed several of them in the sidebars on the right-hand side of my blog. Scroll down until you see, “External Link Categories” and then to, “Online Reading Material for Kids.”
  
  

  One of my favorite tips about reading aloud to your children comes from Jim Trelease. I was fortunate to hear him speak on two separate occasions. He recommends that parents read to their children as they do the dishes. Isn’t that great? The chores will get done while your child is improving their vocabulary and background knowledge. Further, a great book makes for great discussion. Great discussion creates interest and leads to positive feelings. Positive feelings lead to intrinsic motivation (wanting to do it for the sake of doing it, not for any type of reward.) It is definitely a win-win situation, don’t you think?
  
  

  A final point is to be sure and ask your child, “What do you wonder after hearing this?” Kids start out in life full of wonder, but schools repeatedly make them believe there is only one correct answer to everything. Thus, children begin to lose their sense of wonder, or they wonder so often as I previously mentioned, that they no longer find joy in doing so. When your children share a wonder, think it through with them. Help them learn to connect the dots.
  
  

  Celebrate wonders that cannot really be answered (ex. Why did slavery exist?) because they lead to deeper thinking and reflection. Discuss possibilities. Talk about whether ideas are probable or improbable. Show them how to find more information that will lead to better thinking. Deeper thinking and reflection leads to better understanding. It also leads to more engagement and an excitement about continuing to read and learn.




• Have plenty of reading material in the home–including fiction books, informational books, magazines, graphic novels, comic books, and a good student-friendly dictionary, such as a Longman or Collins COBUILD dictionaries. The more we read, the better we get–especially when what we read is at our independent level and of interest to us. Keep reading material scattered throughout the house, but especially in the bathroom and near the kitchen table. A lot of reading goes on in both places when we are alone. (That is another Jim Trelease gem.) Keep reading material in your car and be sure to bring it into places where you know you will have to wait, such as the doctor’s office. If you cannot afford to buy reading material, get it from the library. Even if you can afford it, go to the library. Great librarians keep on top of all that is popular with children and they are experts at matching books with a child’s interest and reading ability. If you can afford to purchase books, be sure to take your child to the bookstore and let them decide what to purchase (with your guidance of course). Being able to check out books from the library is great, but having your very own book that you can write your name in is even better.
  
  

  Note: A recent study shows that the amount of books in the home makes a huge difference in a child’s academic career. Click here to read more.




• Help them find some favorite book series, genres, and authors. Let’s think of book series as television sitcoms for a minute. Imagine never having watched “Friends” and then watching an episode from the middle of its run. Do you think you would get as much out of that episode as someone who had watched the show from the beginning of its run? No, you would not because you do not know the characters, their history, their inside jokes, etc. The more familiar you are with the characters and their history, the easier it is to understand their motivations and actions. This is the main reason I often recommend popular book series to struggling readers.
  
  

  Familiarity with genres also helps comprehension. Genres are a way to categorize different things. There are television genres (ex. cartoons, sitcoms, dramas, reality TV, soap operas, talk shows, etc.); movie genres (ex. romantic comedies, documentaries, musicals, westerns, thrillers, etc.); musical genres (ex. rock-n-roll, country, reggae, hip-hop, classical, etc.); and literary genres (ex. poetry, fantasy, mystery, biographies, science fiction, etc.) After repeated experiences within a genre, your familiarity with them helps you understand future encounters because you know what to expect.
  
  

  Good readers often have a favorite literary genre. Struggling readers often do not. Usually, they do not even understand the genre concept. Relating literary genres to television, movie, and musical genres helps greatly because most have a favorite in each–especially in music.
  
  

  Although it is important to have a favorite genre, it is best to read from more than one. Why? Because reading from multiple genres helps widen and vary our world knowledge. Our goal is to get reluctant readers familiar with the similarities and differences within each genre and to make sure they sample them all. How can they know if they like something if they never try it?
  
  

  The same goes for authors. Good readers tend to have favorite ones. Struggling ones do not. Why is it important for students to have a favorite author? One reason is that when we really like the way authors write, we look forward to reading more of their work. In other words, we are motivated to read more.
  
  

  I will share some resources at the bottom of part two that should help you find the perfect book for your child. You can search most of them by series, genres, topics, authors, and/or reading abilities.




• Poetry. Funny poetry is enjoyable by just about everyone. I have not yet met a reluctant reader who did not love funny poems. Here is a blog post I wrote that has recommendations for poetry anthologies, resources, and websites. Consider having a family poetry night where all family members read aloud a poem of their choosing. Often when we know we will perform in front of others, we do a lot of practicing so that we will be at our best. Reluctant readers could use a lot of practice with a piece of text they like. Perhaps you might even want to videotape them. Now that would make for some great home movies, don’t you think?

You can find part two here.

How do you encourage reluctant struggling readers?

Note: I love shared knowledge and shared reflection. If you have something to share or something that pushes thinking in any way, I would love to hear about it. If you do not have time to do that, can you spare a second to click on the stars below to rate this post on a scale of 1 to 10? Thanks a bunch and happy TWRCing!

What I’ve Been Doing Since My Last Post (3 of 3)

I have also spent a lot of time working on the appearance and function of this blog. This is what I have done:

• I put the pronunciation and meaning of “TWRC” at the top right of the blog rather than in the first line of each post. By reading blog posts on Google Reader, I realized the importance of the first sentence–it often helps me decide whether to read the post, or mark it as read. Currently, I subscribe to 150 feeds in Google Reader so reading every single post is impossible with so many other things to do. That reminds me; I also spent a lot of time reading all the older posts of the first blogs to which I subscribed. After subscribing to many more, I realized this was not very practical because some blogs have been around for several years. Now when I subscribe to new blogs, I usually scan the blogger’s recent post titles and first sentences looking for those that really catch my interest. I want my readers to be able to do the same.




• For a long time, I could not get the PostRank plugin to work. I finally found out where to get help, so it works now. Yay! PostRank uses some kind of formula to determine which of your posts are most popular. Looking at their selections, I would have to agree that they are the most popular, but not necessarily my favorites.




• While I was in Texas, the accomplished high school graduate looked at my blog and gave me a lot of great feedback. One idea was to make my posts show up as summaries, rather than full posts. I still have not figured out how to do this on the blog, but I figured out how to do it in my feed (what shows up in Google Reader) and did so. Then, while using Google Reader, I realized I do not like when bloggers do this, so I changed it back. I will eventually get around to figuring out how to make my blog posts appear as summaries when you log onto www.TWRCtank.com. Why? Because my posts are typically long. If people are not interested in reading every single post, they are forced to do a lot of unnecessary scrolling the way it is set up now. I would love to hear what you think about this.




• I really want people to be able to find what they are looking for when they stop by, so I felt I needed to clean up my categories and tags in case my readers would like to search that way. I spent a lot of time doing this and am pretty happy with it in general. However, I probably should list people by last name first. If you have a minute or two, I would love it if you tooked at them to see if you think they are helpful or if you have any ideas on how I can make them even more user friendly. I renamed them as “Blog Post Table of Contents” and “Blog Post Index.” and they use drop-down menus rather than tag clouds. I think drop-down menus look cleaner than tag clouds, but I am sure this is a personal choice. On the other hand, if you do not click on the upside down arrow of the drop-down menu, you will never see all the tags like you would in a tag cloud. There are pros and cons to everything, aren’t there? Here is a quick poll about categories and tags. I wonder what you think.








• I changed the way recent comments display on the blog, but I am on the fence about them. I am so appreciative of the people who take the time to comment on this blog and I want to display their hard work. I also know that by reading comment snippets on other blogs, I am sometimes so intrigued I have to read the post that inspired the comment. Since this is a scrolling comment plugin, more comments can be displayed. On the other hand, the fact that it is scrolling can be distracting. I also wish the commenter’s name displayed differently. What do you think?




• I decided to try a poll of the week in the sidebars. So far, it has not received that many votes, so maybe it should be a bi-monthly poll. On the other hand, it could just be the topic of the poll–my external link category area. I am definitely TWRCing on how to use this feature to make this blog a true TWRCtank.




• Several people asked me to write guest posts. Maggie Cary from ClassroomTalk published my first one. You can find it here, “What Good Readers Do.” Actually, it is a shortened version of a post I wrote on April 7, 2010, “That Is Some List!” Currently, that post is my second highest rated one according to PostRank.




• Although this item did not require any work on my part, I do want to share it with you. Jen from FarroutLinks.net wrote a blog post about TWRCing. She even created some bookmarks and posters to remind students to TWRC. In addition, she compiled a list of technology resources to go along with them. I think it is so cool that the mnemonic (memory aid), “TWRC” inspired her to do all this work. (Note: I am trying to stop calling, “TWRC” an acronym. Technically, acronyms make up real words. Since “TWRC” is not a real word…yet, I should call it what it is, a mnemonic.) Here is her post: “Technology that Supports TWRCing.”




• I’ve also added several new links to the “External Link Categories” area in the sidebars. I think I am going to start a mailing list to keep readers updated on new additions. This means I will have to keep better track, doesn’t it? How do I choose what to add? It is mostly random. I add them when something I read reminds me of them, or as I discover them–often via my Twitter PLN. Are there any resources for teaching reading that you think I should add immediately?




• After seeing the LinkWithin plugin on some blogs, I thought I would install it on mine, too. What does it do? It is supposed to display links to blog posts with similar content so readers can discover your older blog posts. How does it display? Below each post, it says, “You might also like:” and then displays a thumbnail image from the post, along with the post’s title. I really like the thumbnail images. Sadly, many of my posts did not include images, so I spent a lot of time adding them. Unfortunately, I did not optimize them, so I think they are slowing down the loading time of my blog. In addition, the images I added to my older posts do not appear. I thought it might just take time, but they are still not displaying properly. After a while, I emailed the plugin creator. They have not responded. It is a free plugin, so I really cannot complain. What do you think of the LinkWithin feature? Have you ever noticed it on other people’s blogs? If so, do you ever click on the links to read their older content? If you are a blogger, do you use a similar plugin?
  
  

  How do you optimize your photos for use on the Internet? I do not have PhotoShop and cannot afford to buy it. I have heard about Gimp, but the first thing I read about was a nasty bug they had, so I hesitate in using it.




• After David Boulton, co-producer and creator of the very resourceful www.childrenofthecode.org, left a comment and shared a great video with me, I decided to create a YouTube channel for “Resources for Teaching Reading” (aka the TWRCtank) in order to share videos I mark as favorites. Having my own YouTube channel reminds me of using Google Reader (which I love). I think it’s a great way to save and organize favorite things. Unlike my Google Reader, I can share my YouTube channel with everyone. I do hope it will become an important part of this blog and a great way to share TWRCs.
  
  

  On the negative side, it doesn’t look like you can attach comments to videos you mark as favorites. You can leave a comment on the original poster’s channel, but it will not be prominent in your own channel. You can also leave comments on the channel itself, but they are not connected to a specific video. Why does that matter? I would love to include some videos in my channel not because I love them, but because I disagree with them. It would be great to be able to let subscribers know why I added each video. I think it would also be great to be able to discuss a video completely separate from the original poster’s YouTube channel.
  
  

  Although I know I will run across several great videos on Twitter and I have several already saved in my email folders, I should probably add, “Go on a great video hunt” to my weekly routine to find more. I think this channel could become a valuable resource. Further, I hope to upload my own someday. Oh, the possibilities!




• After seeing a plugin called, Lejit, on several different blogs, I thought I would try it out for myself. This free plugin creates a search box that will search all content from my social networks. I have it set up to search this blog, my Twitter account, the TWRCtank’s page on Facebook, my YouTube channel, and my comments in Disqus. In order to see these results, you need to click on the “Content” tab. When you are on the “Blog” tab, it will just search this blog.
  
  

  Another great thing about Lejit is that it will also search my network when you are under the “Network” tab. I think that consists of all the people and websites in my sidebars. Originally after installation, it was only pulling information from my blog. I emailed them and they got back to me right away. It is now pulling information from my Twitter account, but it is not pulling from Facebook, YouTube, or Disqus. I just sent another email and I bet they will get right back to me again. Their customer service for a free plugin has surpassed my expectations. Thank you, Lejit! Oh, they also included images in my search results without me even asking. Pretty cool, huh? As I was writing this, I wondered if it can also include results from my YouTube channel and it can, so I added that as well. After I figure out how to use Diigo or Delicious, I can add that, too.




I will greatly appreciate any time you can spend offering me feedback. I want this blog to be very user friendly.



Click here to read Part 1.



Click here to read Part 2.



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What I’ve Been Doing Since My Last Blog Post (2 of 3)

In May, I was installed as the president of the Orange County Reading Association. After being installed as the president, I was given several different binders. As I began going through them, I was excited, yet overwhelmed with the possibilities of what our organization could accomplish in the coming year(s). Although I hope to write a whole post about this asking for your TWRCs, I am including it here because it plays a part in why I have not written a blog post lately. I also got together with several of the area directors for the California Reading Association to help prepare for the upcoming professional development institute on October 15-16, 2010 in Riverside. What a great group of people! I am really looking forward to this institute. Will you be there?

Speaking of institutes, I just attended the United States Department of Education’s Reading Institute in Anaheim. This was the first institute from the United States Department of Education I have attended and I loved it! Not only were the sessions fabulous, but the registration was FREE! I believe the presenter handouts from all sessions will be available on the Internet here. I just checked and do not see them, yet. However, I found handouts from their 2008 institute that you might find resourceful.

During this institute, I asked most of the presenters if I could include the picture I took of them in my blog post and they all agreed. This includes: Irene Gaskins, Maryanne Wolf, Shane Templeton, Alice Thomas, and Stephen Barkley. The three general sessions included: Thelma Mélendez de Santa Ana, Michael Kamil, and Catherine Snow. I look forward to blogging about each of these sessions in the future.

I also went out for drinks and appetizers with the very delightful Susan Ebbers and many of her wonderful blog fans. The time I spent with these folks was absolutely stimulating! It was a real TWRCtank and I treasure our conversation, which mainly focused on vocabulary–the topic of Susan’s phenomenal blog, Vocabulogic. I think we also delighted Joseph Conaty, the Director of Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality, who sat next to us in the restaurant. In his closing remarks on the last day of the institute, he said that one of his favorite parts of the institute was going to dinner and listening to a group of educators still engaged in the topic of the conference–hours after it ended for the day! I admit, it was a favorite part for me, too. I love when people make me TWRC!

Sadly, I did not make it to any of the sessions presented by Susan or the others from this TWRC fest. I am sure they would have given me many more opportunities to TWRC. I also had to miss many other sessions I really wanted to attend. I was limited to six choices, so I had to be choosy. To give you an idea of how outstanding my options were, these are some of the other people who did not make it to my final session choices: Margaret G. McKeown, Nell K. Duke, and Anita Archer. (Note: If you click on Anita Archer’s name, you will find some videos on teaching reading.) I also only chose one of Irene Gaskins and Maryanne Wolf’s sessions (they both presented on two different topics that sounded fascinating.)

**Updated 8/19/2010: Click here for the presenter handouts from the 2010 United States Department of Education’s Reading Institute.

To be continued…

(Part 1 can be found here.)


(Part 3 can be found here.)

What I’ve Been Doing Since My Last Post (1 of 3)

These past months have kept me very busy. Before going to Texas for a very special high school graduation at the end of May, I began learning how to use Google Reader so I could read other blogs on a more regular basis. As I began learning, I discovered several great literacy related blogs (on my own and thanks to my Twitter PLN). I am so thankful I did because on May 26, 2010, the morning I was leaving for Texas, I awoke to this lovely tweet from LeeAnn Moore aka @mom2preteens,

I named yours as a “blog to watch” in my post today. You have taken off like wild fire with your blog!

One of the rules of the award was that you needed to nominate ten other blogs for the same award. Thus, all my time and discoveries helped me write this post, which names my blog nominations. (Click here to read LeeAnn’s other nominations.) In addition, on July 16, 2010, Susan Dee aka @literacydocent surprised (and delighted me) with this:

Hi Julie! I have nominated your blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. Here is the link! http://thebookmavenshaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/versitile-blogger-award.html Thanks for sharing your amazing thinking with all of us!

Again, a rule of this award is that the recipient nominates other blogs. Thankfully, since my last post, I have found several other great literacy blogs. I will share them soon, along with a post about what Google Reader is and why I think it is a valuable tool for educators.

While I was in Texas, I greatly enjoyed my time with family. I also really enjoyed being in an organized and clutter-free home (the opposite of mine). As a teacher, I have spent a large amount of money purchasing resources for the classroom and since I do not currently have a classroom, all those materials must be housed in my home (along with a lot of paperwork).

I have been looking for a reading specialist position on a daily basis. Unfortunately, California is going through a severe education budget crisis and reading specialist positions are extremely rare. Further, when they are available, they are only open to educators who are currently in the district with the opening. To see what I mean, check out this morning’s job search on Edjoin for Orange County (the go-to place for finding education openings in California). Why do I bring this up? Well, if I cannot find a position for the coming year, all my materials and paperwork are going to have to stay here, so I figured it was time to give our home a good decluttering and major organization overhaul. (Having friends come in from Denmark for three weeks probably had a little to do with this, too!)

Although money is tight right now, I just had a major birthday, so I chose to use my gift money to buy two filing cabinets and a hutch to help me get more organized. One filing cabinet is now full (and organized) and my wonderful husband is still building the other one. It made me laugh while I was filling the filing cabinet because as I ran across things I hadn’t seen in years, I kept thinking, “Ooooh! This would make a great post!” The same goes for organizing the garage. Once the second filing cabinet is built, I will organize all the paperwork I am hiding in the garage. I can’t wait to see what treasures are waiting for me in there!

My massive collection of professional and children’s books also lacked a bit in organization, so I spent a lot of time organizing them. I even put the unread books into the order in which I want to read them. I hope to include them in GoodReads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing eventually. (Thank you to my Twitter PLN for offering your thoughts on each system!) I also reorganized my professional journals. Journals subscriptions other than “The Reading Teacher” and “Reading Research Quarterly” went into the garage because I needed more room for these two–I have been subscribing to them for years.

Before going to Texas, I made a new daily to-do-schedule and included time for reading these books and journals. Although I have not gotten around to using this schedule yet, I know that when I do, I will relish that time.

Wait! Let me take that back. I have been reading the children’s books. Can you guess where? It is one of the three “Bs” I learned from Jim Trelease and one that I always reminded students to take advantage of–reading in the bathroom. Sure, maybe this is a bit too personal for this blog, but a lot of reading can happen in the bathroom. Since struggling readers cannot afford to miss any opportunity to read, I highly suggest reminding them to keep reading material there (and any other place where opportunities for reading can be missed). You can read about the other two “Bs” under Trelease’s heading, “Is there something I could buy that would help my child read better?”

Another organization issue for me was email because whenever I found an interesting resource, I emailed it to myself. The amount of quality resources I have found on Twitter these past 9 1/2 months is astounding! (If you want to find out how long you have been using Twitter, click here and enter your Twitter username.) I know I should be organizing my resources on Diigo or Delicious, but that is further down my to-do-list. Until I really learn how to use these tools, I will continue using my somewhat effective way of organizing them through my many email folders.

I was not only organizing these resources into categories and topics, but by things I wanted to share on the three Facebook pages I administrate. Figuring out what to share where caused me such grief because some people are fans of multiple pages and I do not want them to have to read about the same resource more than once. While writing this, I made a decision. From now on, this will be the focus of each page:

• The Orange County Reading Association’s Facebook page – local literacy news and news from other reading associations.




• The QuickReads Facebook page – the QuickReads Research-Based Fluency program (which I love), fluency, and Elfrieda H. Hiebert’s work. Note: I think this page has caused (and will still cause) me the most difficulty because so many different areas affect fluency.




• TWRCtank’s Facebook page – all other literacy related resources.

I am going to go through all my email folders of resources once again and force myself to choose one page for each resource. So, depending on your interests, you may want to join all three pages. Then, the only dilemma I will face is deciding on the order in which to post them. (This also caused me much agony.) Should I post the old ones first, the new ones first, or try to mix it up? I think I will go with the old ones first. That way, even if you saw it in the past, it might be a nice reminder. The only exception will be if there is some kind of deadline associated with the resource.

These decisions should help me tremendously and are a welcome relief! I really have been agonizing over what to post where. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you are already a fan of any of the pages, thank you very much! I will start posting regularly once this new reorganization is complete. I wasn’t posting regularly on any of the pages because I was simply overwhelmed by the amount of resources I collected (and by the decision of what to post where). In fact, I had so many resources saved to share that I had to restrain myself from using Twitter for quite a while in order to avoid collecting any more. Sad, but true.

How do you keep track of your resources? Diigo, Delicious, email, something else? What would you recommend for me? Do you subscribe to blogs and websites using a feed reader? Do you use Google Reader or something else? Do you have any helpful hints for me? What about GoodReads, Shelfari, and LibraryThing? I know some teachers have students use them, too. If you do, what are the benefits? What do you think about my new plan for my Facebook pages?

Click here to read part two.

Common Causes of Comprehension Difficulties

While spending time with my family this Memorial Day weekend, a conversation about reading came up. My husband shared his great dislike for reading and told us how he had a very difficult time responding successfully to the teacher’s question, “So, what was this book about?” This is a synopsis of our conversation that followed:

Michael: I would read all the words, but it just didn’t make any sense.

Me: My guess is that you weren’t TWRCing while you read. You expected meaning to come just by reading the words. Many struggling readers do the same thing. I know you know how to TWRC. Why just this morning you realized that my sister’s bushes weren’t growing because the dog was eating them. You knew she wondered why they weren’t growing and you kept thinking about it until you found a reason, didn’t you? When you saw the dog eat them, you connected the two actions and came up with a reason. You are a true nature TWRCr–you see things, wonder about them and think about all you know about the situation until you come up with something that makes sense. That is exactly what good readers do while they read.

Michael: But, I am a good reader when it comes to fixing a car. If I have a problem I can’t fix, I will read and read until I find my answer.

Me: Ah! So, you do TWRC when you read, as long as you know the purpose. While reading about fixing cars, you begin with a wonder (What do I need to do to fix this car) and you read (and think) until you find something that answers your wonder. Having a purpose engages your brain and keeps you focused on what you are reading until you find your answer. Good readers set purposes for reading. In other words, good readers do the same thing you do in nature and what you do when you read about fixing cars–they wonder something and then gather facts until they can come up with a plausible explanation. A purpose in narrative reading might be to determine why characters do what they do, how they got into situations, how they can get out of them, what they will do next, etc.

Michael: Hmmmm….

This conversation reminds me of three things. The first connection is to the phrase, “the pursuit of coherence,” or in literacy layman’s terms, continuing to read until you understand. I cannot remember where I read this, but it was a real aha moment for me. Basically, it was saying that not all readers read with the same pursuit of coherence. This is so simple, but so important to keep in mind. Many struggling readers are so used to reading not making sense that they do not actively do anything to try to make it make sense. Readers who have a strong pursuit of coherence understand that writing usually makes sense, so they actively try many different things when it doesn’t. They also realize that some writing is just not clear and that unless you are able to talk with the author, making it make sense is impossible.

If you think about my conversation with Michael above, it seems clear that Michael’s pursuit of coherence changed dramatically from the first scenario to the second. This is not the first time the concept of “pursuit of coherence” came up in my personal life.

After designing some higher order thinking questions about a short story, I had my sister read the story and try to answer my questions. She quickly became frustrated and said, “Well, I did not put that much into it.”

This conversation and my new understanding of “the pursuit of coherence” was the root of the acronym “TWRC.” I wanted my struggling readers to know that good readers put a lot into it, so I had them chant this daily during my first year as a reading specialist:

The more I put into reading, the more I will get out of it. Good readers think, wonder, reflect, and make connections while they read.

My students loved this. I was surprised that “repeating this mantra” was an answer that came up several times in response to, “Out of all we have done this year, what helped you the most?” I found it very interesting, but wanted to make it even easier to remember.

Once I created the acronym, “TWRC,” I did not think the mantra was necessary anymore because I used “TWRC” so often in natural conversation. Students did the same. My favorite was that they would often enter the classroom saying, “I am here to work hard and TWRC hard!” I loved that they were using it on their own. More importantly, I think they really understood that comprehension is not a given; it requires active pursuit.

The second connection I made was to a book by Cris Tovani, I Read It, but I Don’t Get It. You can read the first chapter, “Fake Reading” by clicking on the book title above. I got a lot out of reading this chapter because I had never considered talking to struggling readers this way. Since reading this chapter, I began talking to students like this more often. I really believe students get a lot out of hearing not just what good readers do, but what struggling readers do, too. I imagine I will love the rest of the book once I get around to finishing it.

I also love the way Tovani talks to students in these videos. I have only had the opportunity to hear her speak in person once–she was phenomenal! I really look forward to hearing her again. If you click on Tovani’s name above, you can hear her part in a fantastic hour-long podcast. She shares some great insight. Cris Tovani is also on Twitter.

My final connection was to Taffy Raphael’s work. I remember reading her reflections on classroom observations with children. These reflections are what caused her to develop the Question-Answer-Relationship Approach (QAR). She said she realized either struggling students seemed to think answers came from the book, or they came from your head. Unfortunately, it was an either or situation for many of them. It is unfortunate because many comprehension questions require readers to combine textual information with their own background knowledge.

I observed the same thing with many struggling readers and found that using the QAR approach helped them tremendously. Teaching QAR took some practice and I plan to write more about it in the future. Until then, this article from FOR-PD helped me tremendously. If you Google “Question-Answer-Relationship,” you will find a plethora of resources. I purchased the book, QAR Now: Question Answer Relationship: A Powerful and Practical Framework That Develops Comprehension and Higher-Level Thinking in All Students (Raphael, Highfield & Au, 2006), and it is in my “To Be Read” pile that I look forward to reading (along with Tovani’s).

On the plane to the last IRA convention, I started reading an article from Essential Readings on Comprehension titled, QAR: Enhancing Comprehension and Test Taking Across Grades and Content Areas (Raphael & Au). I was blown away with all the TWRCing opportunities this article provided. I cannot wait to finish reading it. This book is one of many in an International Reading Association series of books that all begin with “Essential Readings.” I hope to read them all someday. Here is a list of the ones that are already published.

Struggling readers do not understand why they have difficulty comprehending. Unless we share possible reasons with them, I think it is difficult for them to figure it out on their own. By starting sentences with, “Struggling readers often….,” we are letting them hear what struggling readers do without insulting them. After hearing the rest of the sentence, I imagine many struggling readers think, “Hey! That’s what I do/don’t do!” We cannot leave it at that, though. We must make sure they can do what good readers do. They must TWRC while they read to set purposes, and they need to understand question-answer-relationships in order to answer comprehension questions successfully.