Resources for Teaching Reading

The International Reading Association’s 57th Annual Convention, 2012… Virtually

Julie Niles Petersen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:44:33 +0000

If you haven’t ever gone to an International Reading Association convention, I hope you make it there one day–they are phenomenal! Since I began attending them, this is the first one I’ve missed since 2005. Thankfully, I can follow along virtually. If you would like to do the same, the links below will help you.

IRA on Twitter (@Readingtoday). Note: They have several accounts, but this is the one they are officially using to tweet about the convention.

The official Twitter hashtag is #IRA2012. Even if you are not on Twitter, you can read all the tweets about the convention (those that use #IRA2012) by entering the hashtag on www.twitter.com. Click here for a link with this all set up for you.

Some people prefer following all the tweets with the hashtag by going to a tweetchat room. Here’s the link for that: http://tweetchat.com/room/IRA2012

Convention updates are also being posted on these Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/pages/57th-Annual-Convention-Chicago-2012/266420373370415 AND https://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Reading-Association/81491751082.

Finally, two of the general sessions are being recorded via live stream. You can watch them live or after the video has been processed. Here’s a link: http://www.logicalchoice.tv/default.aspx.

If I missed anything, please let me know in the comment section below. Thanks and enjoy this virtual professional development!

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Post tags: International Reading Association (IRA), Reading Conferences & Conventions, Virtual Professional Development

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Using Skype in the Classroom

Julie Niles Petersen — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:00:06 +0000

Photo by Ernst Vikne http://www.flickr.com/photos/42834622@N00/4333362932

Skype… What’s the hype?

Today, I am giving a presentation at California State University, Fullerton’s Community Literacy Festival about using Skype in the classroom. In preparation for this presentation, I did a lot of Googling and ran across many outstanding resources which I bookmarked in Diigo. (See lists below) They made me title my presentation, “Skype… What’s the Hype?” After viewing the videos I plan to share with my audience, I cannot see how they could not get hyped about Skype. The way educators are using it in the classroom is truly amazing–including Skyping with authors, conducting Mystery Skype sessions, and attempting to visit 80 schools around the world via Skype. Although it’s not in my PowerPoint presentation (Whoops!), the Global Read Aloud Project, created by the deep-thinking educator, Pernille Ripp, also known as @pernilleripp on Twitter, is another wonderful example of how Skype can be used in the language arts classroom.

Many of the resources I found that made me so hyped about Skype come from one truly inspiring educator in particular, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, also known as @langwitches on Twitter. In my presentation, I am sharing several of the videos she created with the amazing students at Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Florida. There is one video in particular that I wish I had enough to time to show during my presentation, but it is almost 21 minutes in length and I have so many others I want to show. Again… after watching the video, I cannot see how anyone would not be hyped about using Skype in the language arts classroom. For your viewing pleasure, I will embed it below.

Around the World with Skype from langwitches on Vimeo.

Skype Resources

Resources to help you get started using Skype in the classroom (My Diigo List)
The videos I plan to use in my presentation (about 30 minutes) (My Diigo List)
My Skype PowerPoint Presentation as a .ppt file
Skype Presentation

P.S. Here is another resource that will help you get authors into a school with a limited budget: Achieve Author Visits on a Budget.

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Post tags: Around the World with 80 Schools, Global Read Aloud Project, Mystery Skype Visit, Pernille Ripp, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, Skype, Skype an author, Technology

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Upcoming Literacy Events

Julie Niles Petersen — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:39:25 +0000

I Love to Read.
Photo by Carlos Porto.

Photo Credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/90819592@N00/775089650
There are many exciting literacy events coming up in the next few months and I thought I’d share some with you. I will list them in the order in which they take place.

You can win free books for your school by having students vote on which books they think should win the California Young Reader Medal and then submitting a copy of your ballot to the Orange County Reading Association by April 1, 2012. (This is open to schools in Orange County only). To find out more, visit this post on the Orange County Reading Association’s website.

April is National Poetry Month. To find some activities, you can visit www.poets.org and this post I wrote about some of my favorite poetry resources http://twrctank.com/2010/04/16/looking-for-a-great-way-to-practice-reading-fluency-think-poetry/.

National DEAR Day takes place on April 12th. To learn more about this day and to find some resources, visit http://www.dropeverythingandread.com/NationalDEARday.html.

California State University, Fullerton is holding a free community literacy festival on April 21, 2012. The event takes place on their Irvine campus. To find out more, visit http://www.fullerton.edu/litfestival/. I am presenting about authors who visit classrooms and book clubs via Skype. If you would like to visit during my sessions and you are an author or a teacher who has conducted these visits, please contact me using this contact form or leave me a comment in the comment section below.

The Los Angeles Times is holding its 17th Annual Festival of Books on April 21-22, 2012 at the University of Southern California. For more, see http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/.

The International Reading Association is holding its 57th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois on April 29 through May 2, 2012. I’ve been to seven of the last eight conventions and loved every minute of them. For more, see http://reading.org/convention.aspx. To find out why you should attend, visit this post I wrote http://twrctank.com/2010/04/19/why-you-should-attend-an-international-reading-association-convention/.

On May 19, 2012, the Orange County Department of Education is holding a Young Author’s Faire. To find out more, visit http://ocde.us/yaf/Pages/default.aspx.

The United States Department of Education is holding a National Comprehensive Literacy Institute in Anaheim, California on July 30-August 1, 2012. I attended their Reading Institute in 2010 and it was phenomenal. I wrote about it here http://twrctank.com/2010/08/21/presenter-handouts-fro-the-united-states-department-of-educations-reading-institute-in-anaheim-2010/. The institute is FREE! To find out more, visit http://www.mikogroup.com/sr2012/sr2012default.aspx.

If you know of other literacy events, I’d love to hear about them in the comment section.

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Post tags: Author's Faire, book festivals, literacy events, National DEAR Day, National Poetry Month, Reading Conferences & Conventions

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Reading for a World Record & to Support Early Literacy

Julie Niles Petersen — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:01:26 +0000

We Give Books & Read for the Record

Are you familiar with We Give Books–a Pearson Foundation Initiative? If not, let me tell you a little bit about it. We Give Books has several literacy campaigns and they have several high-quality books on their website for you to read. What do you do? Select a book from their growing library and read it. Once you finish reading the book, select a literacy campaign you would like to support. A book will be donated for every book you read online. Yes, it’s as easy as that to support literacy around the world!

To learn more about We Give Books and Jumpstart’s Read for the Record (which happens today, October 6, 2011), click here: http://www.wegivebooks.org/. The book that millions around the world are pledging to read today is “Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney.

Because I am not currently teaching little ones, I thought I would videotape myself reading it and share it with you. Perhaps you have some little ones that might like to hear it. Here is my reading:

Being a lover of comedy and sign language, I will also share this video of comedian, Keith Wann, reading the book in American Sign Language:

Llama Llama Red Pajama – ASL Version with Keith Wann from Keith Wann

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Post tags: Jumpstart's Read for the Record, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Read Alouds, sign language, Videos, We Give Books

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A Review of Social Bookmarking & Other Link Curation Tools

Julie Niles Petersen — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:00:41 +0000

What I Wanted

If you have followed the TWRCtank for awhile, you know that I had a long list of resources in the sidebars on the right-hand side of this blog. Several people mentioned they did not like all the scrolling and they wished there was a way to indicate that I added new resources to the list. Over the past few months, I’ve played around with many technology tools trying to figure out the best way to share resources for teaching reading/language arts with you.

Many of these these tools are called social bookmarking tools. By social, I mean that you are able to easily see other people’s public bookmarks and they can see yours. (Most of the sites I tried allow private and public bookmarking, but some force all your bookmarks to be public.) Social bookmarking tools also usually allow you to follow and be followed by people with similar interests.

The tools I tested are Delicious, Diigo, Pinterest, PortaPortal, Scoop.It, Sqworl, Symbaloo, WordPress pages, and the WP-Table Reloader plugin. Obviously, there are pros and cons with each tool and they will vary depending on your wants and needs. I wanted a technology tool that:

Created a visually attractive end-product
Was not intimidating to non-users
Allowed me to annotate each link
Was relatively easy to use
Could easily be shared with others
Did not require a lot of scrolling
Had some capability of indicating when I added new resources

Why Social Bookmarking?

It is impossible for one person to find all the great resources on the Internet. Luckily, social bookmarking is an easy way to share and keep up with the latest and greatest, as well as with the golden oldies. (I am a big fan of shared knowledge.) Until this point, I’ve been collecting and storing my links to literacy resources in an almost unmanageable number of folders in my email account. Now that I have found the tools I want to use, I can start going through them again and bookmarking them publicly. I also look forward to finding out what others are bookmarking about teaching reading/language arts.

In case you haven’t tried these tools yourself, but you are interested in social bookmarking, I created a table of pros and cons. Keep in mind that my research was not extremely thorough and some of my information may be inaccurate. That said, if you are ready to venture out into the social bookmarking world to start sharing your knowledge, I hope the table will help you select the tool that best matches your wants and needs.

My Evaluation of Each Tool

I tried to bookmark the same ten links so I could better compare the end product of each tool. In doing this, I sadly discovered that some tools would not allow me to bookmark all ten links. I will share the end product for each tool below the table of pros and cons. The ten links I tried to bookmark are about reading comprehension.

Pros & Cons of Link Curation Tools

Technology Tool	Cost	Is It Social?	Pros	Cons
Delicious	Free	Yes	1. Can tag bookmarks. 2. Can see how many times the link has been bookmarked. 3. Can add multiple tags to each link. 3. Can change level of detail on link descriptions (low, med, high) 4. Can display alphabetically or by date bookmarked. 5. Entire link collection is displayed in one place via a list of tags. 6. Can leave/read comments about each link. 7. The date the link was bookmarked is given. 8. Easy to bookmark.	1. It looks intimidating to the non-user.
Diigo	Free, but can pay to have ads removed.	Yes	1. Can tag bookmarks. 2. Can save links to lists. 3. Can set up account so it cross-posts links to Delicious. 4. Can add multiple tags to each link. 5. Entire link collection is displayed in one place via tags or list titles. 6. Can get a free educator account. 7. Can leave/read comments about each link. 8. The date the link was bookmarked is given. 9. Easy to bookmark. 10. Can highlight & put sticky notes on text on pages you bookmark. (Note: I think only certain people can use the sticky notes & using the highlighter made my list of links look horrible at the advanced detail level because it included all the HTML code from the selection I highlighted.) 11. Can join Diigo groups.	1. It looks intimidating to the non-user.
Pinterest	Free	Yes	1. Visually pleasing (if the images at the link are good). 2. Easy to pin. 3. Can leave/read comments about each bookmark.	1. Can't bookmark links that do not have large images (ex. pdfs & podcasts) 2. Number of characters allowed in description is limited. 3. You MUST pin an image for each link you want to save & available images at links are not always what you want. 4. Cannot pin link to multiple boards. Must pin each one separately. 5. Can't leave/read comments about each link. 6. No clear way to show when links are new.
Portaportal	Free, but can pay to have advertising removed. This also gives you the ability to upload your own files for download.	No	1. Number of characters allowed in description is limited, but sufficient. 2. Entire link collection is displayed via category lists. 3. Can easily alphabetize lists & categories. 4. Has a "NEW" icon you can use to indicate new bookmarks. 5. Other available icons: Wow!, :), Thumbs Up!, & Cool!) 6. Not as easy to bookmark as the others, but it's not that difficult either.	1. If you have many items in a category, it will require lots of scrolling. 2. Customization is limited. 3. Cannot copy links from one category to another. Must enter each one manually. 4. Can't leave/read comments about each link.
Scoop.It	Free	Yes	1. It can pre-populate a description for you. 2. The number of characters for your description is sufficient. (It may be unlimited.) 3. Easy to scoop links.	1. Not all links can be scooped. 2. Can scoop a link to only one curated topic at a time. 3. Seems less user-friendly than the others, but I didn't play around with this one much. 4. For the most part, I did not think this was visually appealing. 5. Can't leave/read comments about each link. 6. No clear way to show when links are new.
Sqworl	Free, but can pay to have advertising removed.	No	1. Visually pleasing when an image from the link can be grabbed. 2. Easy to bookmark links. 3. Can move tiles around to alphabetize, but it takes work if you've saved a lot of bookmarks.	1. Number of characters allowed in link title & description is EXTREMELY limited. 2. Can't leave/read comments about each link. 3. No clear way to show when links are new. 4. When images cannot be grabbed from links, a default sqworl icon is used.
Symbaloo	Free	Yes	1. Logos of popular websites will be displayed when you save the URL. 2. Can easily copy links to different webmixes. 3. Visually pleasing when pre-populated link icons are good or when you are good at customizing them yourself. 4. Pretty easy to save links. 5. Can be embedded in a blog or webpage. 6. Can apply for a free educator account. Why? Click here to read a great post about the Symbaloo educator account. 7. Can easily color code the tiles. 8. Can customize the wallpaper. 9. Can use your own images for each tile icon.	1. You are not allowed any characters for a link description & you only have about 30 characters for the link title. 2. Can't leave/read comments about each link. 3. No clear way to show when links are new. 4. More for curating websites than for curating links to articles, videos, and podcasts.
WP-Table Reloaded plugin	Free, but you can donate.	Somewhat - Comments could be left on the webpage below the table. Another possibility is to embed a Google Doc survey asking for feedback on the link curation.	1. Visually pleasing when there aren't a lot of columns. 2. Unlimited number of characters for link title & description. 3. Can easily alphabetize table columns. 4. Can leave/read comments about each link. 5. Many ways to customize if you know a little HTML & CSS. 6. Lots of help on the Internet to help you customize. 7. Could enter & bold "NEW" in the table to indicate new links. Can also make the hyperlink color different to indicate new or visited links. 8. If users dislike scrolling, they can limit the number of rows to display on each page to ten.	1. Requires some HTML & CSS. 2. A blog or website is required to use this plugin. 3. Cannot save links to multiple tables. 4. There is a way to freeze the table header, but I think the javascript is outdated so it did not work for me. If I figure out how to update that, this option will become a pro.

The End Products of Each Technology Tool

Here is a Symbaloo I curated that will show you the end product for each of the of the tools discussed in the above table. However, I did not use the WP-Table Reloaded plugin with the same ten comprehension links because I had already created a simple WordPress page for that. Therefore, I’ve included that in the Symbaloo, along with a tile showing the end product for vocabulary resources compiled using the WP-Table Reloaded plugin. Click on each tile to see the end product for each tool.

In case the Symbaloo does not display properly, here is its URL: http://www.symbaloo.com/embed/socialbookmarkingtest

Your Thoughts & Shares?

What ways do you think you could use these tools? How have you used them already? What end product did you like best? How do you you share great resources you’ve discovered?

If you have already started curating public links related to literacy, please share a link to them in the comments below. I can’t wait to find more people on these social bookmarking sites who share my passion for reading/language arts. And remember… sharing is caring.

*Note: I would like to give a shout out to the folks in the We’re Bloggers group on the WeTeach Ning for helping me think this through. I really appreciate your time and feedback! Another shout out to Tobias Bäthge. I love your WP-Table Reloaded plugin and all the help you give over the Internet.

© TWRCtank for Resources for Teaching Reading, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Delicious, Diigo, Pinterest, PortaPortal, Resources for Teaching Reading/Language Arts, Scoop.It, Social Bookmarking, Sqworl, Symbaloo, WP-Table Reloaded

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How Parents Can Help Children Succeed In School

Julie Niles Petersen — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:56:27 +0000

Reading Aloud + Talking with Children = Off to a Great Start! (photo from Natalie Maynor on Flickr)

Below is my response to a great question posed by Amy (aka @teachmama) on the “We Teach Reading” group in the We Teach Ning. You can find that question here: “Learning During Read Alouds.”

Hi Amy,

If there was one thing I wanted parents to know, it is that the amount of talk that happens in the home is correlated to the size of their children’s vocabulary as they enter school and that the size of their children’s vocabulary is strongly correlated to reading comprehension and overall academic success.

Letting parents know that they need to talk with their children is especially important for those parents who come from a culture where they think it is strange to talk to children and for those parents who grew up in homes without a lot of talk. I would also let them know that reading aloud to children (or discussing pictures for parents who struggle with reading) offers reasons to talk about many things with their children and that it will feel natural once a routine is set in place.

Reading aloud to children also builds knowledge of the world and knowledge of the word (vocabulary) which are necessary to make inferences (or read between the lines) while reading or listening. Not being able to make inferences (or connect-the dots) between what is written (or said) and what is implied (or left unsaid) means that comprehension cannot happen. Authors and speakers imply; therefore good readers and listeners must infer to make sense of the message. The more we know, the more quality inferences we can make.

To say this in another way, if parents do not read and talk a lot with their children before they enter school, their children will be at risk for school failure. It would be difficult for even the best teachers who use the best intervention programs to help these students ever catch up with peers who have had many stories read to them and who have heard a lot of talk in the home.

One thing I would always start with is a picture/text walk and making predictions. As I read, I would discuss whether the predictions should be modified, rejected, confirmed, or if it was still too soon to say. Of course these decisions should be based on evidence in the text and from our background knowledge, or personal experiences. That evidence should be discussed to help promote good thinking skills.

Making predictions may have led to a reason, or purpose, for reading the text. If it didn’t, I would be sure to set one and share it with the child. In other words, “Let’s read to find out _____.” Having a purpose for reading leads to more engaged reading. More engagement with the text leads to better comprehension.

Although it is not necessarily the most difficult “strategy” to tackle, I think one of the most important things we can do is to encourage children to wonder as they read and for us to share our own wonders, too. It is important to teach children that not all wonders can be answered, but that good wonders lead to great (and exciting) thinking. Discussing answers to the wonders in terms of what is possible and plausible helps build critical thinking skills. Discussing where the answers (if any) might be found helps develop research skills which are needed for academic success.

One Sentence Summary: Read to your child often and talk about what you read.

I’ve blogged about the importance of talk before. If you are interested, see What Happens in the Home Before Kids Start School Affects Their Vocabulary & Overall Academic Success for the research behind my thoughts.

If you could only share one thing with parents that you think would really have an impact on their child’s academic success, what would it be?

© TWRCtank for Resources for Teaching Reading, 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Achievement Gap, Background Knowledge, Comprehension Strategies, Early Literacy, Help for Parents, Reading Aloud to Children, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary

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There’s Been a Whole Lot of Learning Going On

Julie Niles Petersen — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:38:44 +0000

Teaching in the Reading/Language Arts Masters Program

Congratulations on the
Outstanding Contribution to Reading Award, Erica!
You are a phenomenal mentor!

My first semester as a professor is quickly coming to a close. The only thing I have left to do is grade my students’ final papers (due by midnight this Saturday). After that, I should be able to invest more time on the TWRCtank until the next semester begins on January 20, 2011.

Teaching next semester is not a guarantee. However, if all goes well, I will continue teaching READ 508 – Teaching Reading in the Elementary Classroom in the spring. I’ve been co-teaching it this semester with Dr. Erica Bowers (pictured above right) and there is a possibility of co-teaching another course with her next semester. (Yes, I’m keeping my fingers crossed–she has been a phenomenal mentor to me over the years and I would love to co-teach with her again.)

Since these are online courses, I really needed to learn some new technology. Thankfully, members in my Twitter PLN have kept me current on the many different technology tools they use in their classrooms. Had it not been for them, I would have been completely overwhelmed. Google Docs is one tool I had heard about for a long time, but never took the time to learn. Finally, I jumped on the Google Docs bandwagon and I am in awe. The collaborative nature of this tool is perfect for online teaching! We only used it for a few projects this semester, but I have already dreamed up more uses for it for next semester. (This was the first semester that courses in this program were offered online.)

I also had to familiarize myself with how to use Blackboard as a teacher. Unfortunately, the university will upgrade to the newest version (or switch over to Moodle) meaning I’ll have some more learning to do. In Blackboard, we had weekly forums to discuss such things as videos we watched, required readings, and teaching reading in general. Students were required to start a thread by Tuesday and respond to two of their peers by Saturday. I stayed out of the conversation (for the most part) until Sunday. Then, I wrote up my TWRCs about the learning unit. Much of what I wrote will eventually show up in future blog posts.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I also learned how to make screen cast videos. They are so much fun to make and are a real asset in the online environment. One assignment also required students to make a Wiki. I hope to incorporate that more in the future, too.

If you have recently taken an online class or you teach online, I would love to hear your thoughts–pros, cons, and suggestions on how to make it more interactive.

The Orange County Reading Association

Dr. Erica Bowers, Julie Niles Petersen,
Dr. Elfrieda H. Hiebert & Megan Sommers
O.C.R.A.'s 47th Annual Fall Conference
October 23, 2010

My presidency for the Orange County Reading Association will also be coming to a close soon (May, 2011). Our fall conference is our largest event and it was a great success. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Elfrieda (aka Freddy) H. Hiebert. I have heard her speak many times and I honestly believe her session at our conference was the best I’ve ever heard. She never fails to push my thinking while making me laugh at the same time. Thanks a million for everything, Freddy!

@teachingwthsoul @TWRCtankcom & @flourishingkids

Not only was I honored to introduce Freddy, but I also had the opportunity to meet two very passionate educators from my Twitter PLN in person–Joan Young and Lisa Dabbs. I was delighted they also presented for us. I just wish I was able to attend their entire sessions and spend time with them after the conference. Being the president, I had to make sure everything ran smoothly which it did thanks to so many of our wonderful OCRA volunteers.

Other people who so graciously volunteered to speak at our fall conference included: Amy Adams, Ron Boren (the inspiration behind my blog title), Dr. Linda Clinard, Kim Hanley, and Karin Foster. Although I did not get to hear their entire sessions either, I heard great things. A big thank you to all of you! Click here to find all available presenter handouts from OCRA’s 47th Annual Fall Conference.

Our second big OCRA event will be held on March 24, 2010. Our keynote speaker will be Kelly Gallagher. I have heard him speak once before and he was amazing. I can’t wait!

After learning all about Google Docs for my online course, I also created an account for OCRA. I spent numerous hours converting and organizing all the Microsoft documents I have compiled for OCRA over the years to Google Docs. Other volunteer members are doing the same. Although this project is nowhere near completion, it has already proved advantageous and I am so excited for the future. It should save us so much work and let us collaborate much more effectively. Thank you, Google Docs!

Attending Dr. P. David Pearson’s Inaugural Webinar

Sharon, P. David Pearson & Julie Niles Petersen by the Golden Gate Bridge
(Photo taken on 06-07-2006 during a Comprehension Institute at the
University of California, Berkeley)

On October 5, 2010, I attended P. David Pearson’s inaugural webinar, “Reading Comprehension: The role of talk, text, task.”* I have learned so much about reading comprehension from Dr. Pearson and have been one of his fans for many years. This webinar didn’t disappoint me, but it disappointed him that his videos wouldn’t play. He informed us that if we wanted to watch the videos, we could watch them in a video of a live presentation he recently gave at the University of Wyoming, “Rich Talk about Text,” because it was basically the same presentation. Although it is over an hour, I highly encourage you to watch one of them because they are fantastic!

You can find more resources from Dr. Pearson on his website at http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/pdavidpearson.

*Thank you International Reading Association for making so many great resources available to us! Another thank you to Dr. Pearson for sharing his wealth of knowledge with us!

The California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute

Dr. Donald R. Bear at CRA 2010

On October 15-16, 2010, I attended the California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute. I went to Regie Routman’s keynote speech, “Accelerating Achievement for All Learners: What Does It Take?” I also attended sessions by Lori Oczkus, Dana Grisham, Donald Bear, Shane Templeton, and Elfrieda Hiebert and loved each of them. I may write more about the sessions at a later date.

Wouldn’t you know, I ran into another person from my Twitter PLN, @Cathy_Blackler. What a treat! Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time at CRA. You can click here to access all available presenter handouts from the California Reading Association’s Professional Development Institute.

CRA: Thank you for putting together such an intellectually stimulating PDI and for compiling these great resources!

The TWRCtank and Future Endeavors

First, let me just say that if you emailed me through the TWRCtank or Twitter and I did not get back to you, I apologize. Not only was I overwhelmed with OCRA and learning how to teach online, but I was also going through a cancer scare. I realized I could not do it all and I had to let some things go. I’ve saved your emails and will get back to you once I finish grading my grad students’ final papers. I hope you understand.

Next semester isn’t that far away and I’m guessing I’ll be less active on the TWRCtank during that time, but I hope my absence won’t be as great. However, if I end up co-teaching the second course, I know there will be a lot of learning going on with that one, too.

Overall, I think I really like teaching online–especially since READ 508 was my favorite course when I was in the masters program. On the other hand, I have to admit… I really miss working with struggling readers–especially in one-to-one or small group situations.

I have continued looking for a full-time reading specialist position to no avail. Our nest egg is shrinking rapidly and my health insurance through COBRA is running out so I’ve had to do some serious thinking about my plans for the future. Here are some things I have been considering:

Tutoring via Skype. I really love tutoring and had considered tutoring full-time in the past, but I didn’t like that the hours coincided with the time I normally spend with my husband. If I figured out how to tutor online, that would no longer be a problem because I could tutor English speaking students all over the world during daytime hours. If you have ever tutored online, I would love to hear about it.

Consultations via Skype. This would probably be with people who are concerned with a struggling reader. I know I’ve helped parents by giving them suggestions in parent-teacher meetings, so imagine I could do the same thing via Skype.

Products. I’ve considered selling things like pencils, stickers, and mugs with the TWRC acronym, but I’m not really sure how to go about doing this. If I did this, would you consider buying them?

Sponsors. I’m not sure how I would go about finding people who are willing to sponsor this blog, but it could be a viable option. Are you interested?

Monetizing this blog. I will probably add an Amazon store and Google AdSense ads in the near future.

Donations. I will probably also add a donation button just in case someone is feeling nice.

Any thoughts on my ideas or suggestions for things I haven’t considered would be greatly appreciated. I really love teaching reading and hate to think that due to the economy and education budget crisis, I might end up having to give it all up to go back to the world of business.

Finally, one thing I plan to change on this blog is to add a new page for my resources. I recently attended a webinar on easy technology tools and learned about www.portaportal.com. I think it will be a really nice addition. Have you ever used it?

© TWRCtank for Resources for Teaching Reading, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: California Reading Association, Cathy Blackler, Consulting, Dana Grisham, Donald Bear, Elfrieda "Freddy" H. Hiebert, Erica Bowers, Google Docs, Joan Young, Karin Foster, Kelly Gallagher, Kim Hanley, Linda Clinard, Lisa Dabbs, Lori Oczkus, My Background, My Personal Learning Network (PLN), Orange County Reading Association, P. David Pearson, Presenter Handouts, Reading Comprehension, Reading Conferences & Conventions, Regie Routman, Ron Boren, Shane Templeton, Skype, Struggling Readers, Teaching Online, Technology, Tutoring, Twitter, Webinars

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Versatile Blogger Award

Julie Niles Petersen — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 00:00:18 +0000

The Versatile Blogger Award

Back on July 16, 2010, I was overjoyed to find out that my blog was nominated for another award, “The Versatile Blogger.” What made it even more special was that this award was first given to Susan Dee (aka @literacydocent), who then passed it along to me. Why was that special? Well, Susan and I started blogging around the same time and I am glad her blog received this recognition. I am grateful to her for the support she has given me ever since I began following her on Twitter. I consider her a valuable member of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I believe it is from her that I found one of my new favorite phrases, “pushes/expands my thinking.” (Thanks, Susan!)

Susan blogs about children’s literature and teaching at The Book Maven’s Haven. I have subscribed to her blog feed in Google Reader and I always look forward to reading her posts. Just yesterday, I discovered that she also has a Facebook page and I became a fan.

Here is how this award works:

Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
Share 7 things about yourself.
Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order…)
Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

Part One

Thank you so much for passing the award along to me, Susan. I am honored and it really made my day! I really enjoyed reading the seven things you shared about yourself in your post about the Versatile Blogger award.

Part Two

Deciding on seven things to share about me was challenging. I thought creating a list might help–I am famous for my lists… and spreadsheets, too. On the list, I included things I thought would give you a laugh like my orange chicken fiasco. I also included things about my personality, like that I am a perfectionist procrastinator who after some reflection will answer you honestly if you ask, “So what do you think?” (Trust me, this is not always a good thing!) After looking over the lengthy list, I decided to follow Susan’s lead and share things that led me to where I am today in my career and why I blog. Here they are:

The first time I can remember wanting to be a teacher was in the third grade. My third grade teacher, David Borke, made learning so much fun and I am delighted that he is now one of my Facebook friends. Thank you for the inspiration all those years ago, Mr. Borke. I’ve had many teachers over the years and you remain one of my all-time favorites!

In high school, I enrolled in the secretarial/clerical program at our local vocational school and loved it. I was a great typist and loved learning all the latest technology–including how to use a standalone word processor which was basically a typewriter that displayed your typed words on an LCD screen. It also had a backspace key which eliminated the need for correction tape and allowed you to save your work. It was very high tech at the time! I also learned some computer programming skills and created my very own programs in DOS. My, how times have changed. While enrolled in the secretarial/clerical program, I also took French in high school and loved it. I thought I should combine the two loves and become a secretary in France. Then, I realized that to do so, my grammar would have to be impeccable and since that isn’t even true in English, I realized it was probably not a viable pursuit.

Early Stand Alone Word Processors
Were All the Rage!

Note: Check out the programs currently offered at this vocational school. If teaching had been an option while I was attending, I wonder how my life would have changed. I am such a fan of this school and wish every high school student had the opportunity to take classes of this caliber for free. I know I benefited greatly from attending. Thank you, Mr. Chris Korbel and so many others at TBA Career Tech-Center! By the way, Mr. Korbel… I rarely say “ain’t” anymore. But, when I do, I think of you!

In high school, I also took some sort of community service class where I volunteered at a local elementary school and my passion for being involved in the schools was reignited. At the same time in another high school class, I had to pretend to have a disability for a day. I chose to be mute. Wouldn’t you know that very same night, I ended up running into two people who used sign language to communicate. Because I had not forgotten the sign language alphabet that either Mr. Bourke or Mrs. Craker (my wonderful 5th grade teacher) taught me, I was able to communicate with them through finger spelling and a great friendship developed. Spending time with Harold and Kari led me to want to become a sign language interpreter in the schools. I researched colleges that specialized in this and found Golden West College in California. I moved to Orange County two weeks after graduating from high school, but had to wait one year to enroll to avoid paying out-of-state resident fees.

While waiting to enroll in college, I worked as a clerk typist, putting my secretarial/clerical skills to work. During break times at the “roach coach,” I began speaking with people from the neighboring company who also came out for a mid-morning snack. This included the vice president of the company. He found out I grew up in Michigan and recruited me by saying their company sent trainers all around the United States–including Michigan! I was intrigued and became a medical billing software trainer a short time later. Yes, I went to Michigan and many other places around the United States for this company and loved it. But, all the traveling made going to college difficult, so I dropped out. However, after years of training people how to use our computer software, I realized that teaching was indeed the path meant for me. I left the company and went to school full-time to work on earning my teaching credential.

Knowing I needed to make money to pay for school, but needing a position that was flexible and not too taxing on the old noggin, I took a short bartender’s course and became a bartender at a very friendly neighborhood bar that had its very own Norm. I am so grateful for the owners’ flexibility with my schedule and for all the customers who cheered me on while going to school. After completing the work for my teaching credential, I taught first grade and loved that, too–especially the teaching reading part… and teaching 40 first graders how to do The Riverdance for International Day! After five years, I realized I needed to learn a lot more about teaching reading to really help my students, so I enrolled in a master’s program for teaching reading.

While completing the work for my reading specialist credential, I tutored students in reading. Obviously, part of the reason I did this was to make money to pay for my education. Surprisingly, I think it was one of the best things I could have done. Tutoring students of different ages with different strengths and weaknesses in a one-to-one setting while completing the masters program allowed me time to delve deep into the intricacies of teaching reading. When enrollment at the tutoring center declined, I put my secretarial/clerical skills back to work and worked as an office temp because it gave me the flexibility I needed. This also proved to be another great career move because I learned all about spreadsheets. Keeping track of data and being able to analyze it is very important for a reading specialist. After completing the work for my master’s degree and my reading specialist credential, I worked with struggling readers (K-6) for four years in the public school system. You can read all about how I lost that position here.

And that brings us to the present time… For the past fourteen months, I have been looking for a reading specialist position. The severe budget cuts and teacher layoffs in California have made finding a position difficult, to say the least. When open positions are advertised, they are usually restricted to applicants who were laid off from the hiring district, making applying for positions nearly impossible. Trying to stave of boredom while looking for a full-time position, I began blogging about teaching reading and learned how to use Twitter and Facebook to push my thinking. I had no idea that this would be another surprising career move. It still amazes me how invaluable Twitter is to educators!

Finally, in August, I was offered a teaching position. Yay! I am now teaching teachers online in the very same masters program from which I graduated. Guess what? I love it–especially learning how to use all the technology I’ve been reading about on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, it is only part-time and does not include health benefits. With my Cobra running out at the end of November and the job market the way it is, I am very concerned. My husband is a Mercedes mechanic and health benefits do not come with the job. Although I may be offered to teach more courses next semester which could lead to health benefits, there are no guarantees. My husband and I are now considering a move to his homeland, Denmark, because having health insurance would not be an issue–all Danish residents are entitled to free health insurance.

So there you have it… seven things about me you may not have known and may wish you did not know. (I bet you have also figured out by now that I am a bit wordy.) If you want to learn even more about me and this blog, please visit my “About” page.

Part Three:

Although the directions state that the blogs are listed in no particular order, everything in my being cringes at such a lack of organization. Therefore, I am listing them in alphabetical order. I am also purposefully not repeating any of the literacy related blogs I listed here, or any that were on Susan’s list even though I really wanted to include, Look At My Happy Rainbow: My Journey as a Male Kindergarten Teacher.

Beginning Reading Help
Blogging through the Fourth Dimension: Education musings, technology, and lessons; my life as a teacher
Chocolate for Teachers: Sweet stuff from funny kinds
Dr. Goodreader: Teaching readers how to diagnose and cure reading “clunks”
First Grader…at Last!: Inspired by Junie B, but created for the real first graders…

Ginger Snaps: Tidbits and treats for teachers
How to Teach a Novel
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…: For Teaching ELL, ESL & EFL
Literacy Builders: for the love of learning”
Lori’s Lessons
NancyTeaches: A Teacher Who Loves to Learn
Steve Barkley Ponders Out Loud
Teach with Picture Books
Teach Mama: learning in the every day
Vocabulogic: Bridging the Verbal Divide

I hope you check out these blogs. I also hope you will share your favorites in the comment section below. Finally, I hope you did not find the “seven” things I shared completely boring. It was really difficult to decide. Although it is clear that I love learning and doing new things, I want you to know that talking about teaching reading is my number one passion and I do not think that will ever change. (Well, talking about blogging is kind of fun, too!)

© TWRCtank for Resources for Teaching Reading, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blog Awards, Blogging, Facebook, Literacy Related Blogs, Master's Program, My Background, My Personal Learning Network (PLN), Susan Dee, Twitter

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Comprehension Strategy Instruction… What Do You Think?

Julie Niles Petersen — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:39:29 +0000

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!

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Post tags: Anaphora, Anaphoric References, Background Knowledge, Choice Literacy, Clarifying, Comprehension Strategies, Existing Knowledge, Inference, International Reading Association (IRA), Jing, Master's Program, My Background, P. David Pearson, Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR), Questioning, Reading Comprehension, Reading Conferences & Conventions, Reflection, Russell Stannard, Screencast Videos, Screencast-O-Matic, Struggling Readers, Taffy Raphael, The Educator's PLN, TWRC, Videos, Wonder, Writing

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

Julie Niles Petersen — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:53:18 +0000

Anaheim Convention Center
One Week after MLB's All-Star Game

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:

Stephen Barkley

#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:

Irene Gaskins

#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.

Michael Kamil

#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.”

Catherine Snow

#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:

Shane Templeton

#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:

Alice Thomas

#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:

Maryanne Wolf

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!

© TWRCtank for Resources for Teaching Reading, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Alice Thomas, Anita Archer, Catherine Snow, Collaborative Strategic Reading, Common Core Standards, Comprehension Strategies, Content Area Reading, Direct Instruction, Early Literacy, Engaging & Empowering Parents, English Language Learners (ELLs), Fluency, Hart & Risley, Higher Order Thinking Skills, Irene Gaskins, Janette Klingner, Literacy Coaches, Literacy Coaching, Literacy Related Blogs, Maryanne Wolf, Michael Kamil, Morphemic Analysis, Non-Fiction/Informational Text, Oral Language Development, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics/Decoding, Presenter Handouts, Professional Development, Reading Comprehension, Reading Conferences & Conventions, Response to Intervention (RtI), Shane Templeton, Sharon Vaughn, Stephen Barkley, Susan Ebbers, The Benchmark School, Timothy Rasinski, Title I, U.S. Department of Education's Reading Institute, Vocabulary, Webinars

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