CallingAllCoachesTeachersAnd LiteracyPeopleToo

What good books are out there to help us grow our Literacy Teaching Practice?? 

There are so many to choose from, and some great places to start searching to find exactly what you are looking for by topic, popularity, programs, or author(s), or for any other category are below:

http://www.fountasandpinnell.com/default

https://www.stenhouse.com/

https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FWW/Results?filters=,Literacy

https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/Wwc/

https://www.literacyfootprints.com/

https://dianesweeney.com/

https://www.burkinsandyaris.com/

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/six-ts-effective-elementary-literacy-instruction

   

Here are some examples of books I have already read, am reading or want to read to help grow my practice and other ideas to help support literacy growth across the curriculum and across learning styles:

Checking up on HOW we read (because it matters that we have misrepresented to students why we read and how we ought to approach any text whether fiction or nonfiction)

Kylene Beers and Bob Probst have written many a gifted text for those of us seeking answers to questions we as educators carry around with us in angst, day after day, about how to solve inadequacies we see in student comprehension, in bridging gaps in reading achievement and so on.  But this one is a particularly noteworthy one, as it “busts through all the bull” that students face as they approach upper elementary into middle school years and run straight into fake news; Beers and Probst provide strategies to help students find their voice in social justice and all else they read while feeling their way through, to help themselves understand why how they read is so important. Students begin to approach text as critical thinkers:  thinking — in which the student improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinkers self-direct, self-discipline, self-monitor, and self-correct thinking.

Whoa.  For students to get to that point through strategies learned, that really is disrupting thinking…theirs and ours.

Paying It Forward: The Liebster Award

As if we were all little children at the knee of our very favorite teacher while growing up, listening to one of the best tales told only in the most animated way our teacher could tell, let me share with you a Special Sauce Secret, a Blogger’s Dream, especially for those of us who are new to blogging because we only have “so many followers” yet:  it’s called The Liebster Award.  I am honored to have been nominated.

Needless to say (but I shall say it), I am flabbergasted.  Yes, flabbergasted.  I really could have used a plethora of other adjectives to describe my excitement and enthusiasm, but no, flabbergasted is the right word, believe me.

Mainly I am flabbergasted because when I did some self-reflection, as I usually do, (plus I am currently working on a new Vision Board, which is All. About. Self. Reflection. ) I realized I was feeling this way because how awesome is it to get recognition for something one tremendously enjoys doing!!!

So, you may ask…what is The Liebster Award??  It is the recognition by Bloggers of Other Bloggers, my Friends. The name is derived from German, which means “Beloved, or Dear” in English.  And in recognition of my nomination, I would love to give a hearty shout-out to

Rhonda & Gen at http://literacypages.wordpress.com.  

Below is a link to one of their recent posts.  I have found as a Literacy/Instructional Coach who works a lot with Early Childhood Teachers, this Dynamic Duo packs a One-Two Punch that can’t be beat!

via Kindergarten Letter Knowledge: Predictor of Future At-Risk Readers 

 

♦Showcasing A Favorite Blog♦

LIT BITS AND PIECES

  Snippets of learning and life

by Fran Haley

Fran Haley is not someone I know personally; she does, however, somehow make me feel as though I really do have a personal, innate connection–through her use of literary voice, as it weaves through unfolding drama, tumbles out of one character and just as quickly rolls into another, making me live (or relive) the experience she so vividly writes.

There are more than a few reasons I find myself being drawn to Fran Haley’s blog.  I will try to name a couple of them here.

One of the most important reasons I am drawn is because of the connections she is able to make between people, subjects, across categories and over time. She makes these connections seemingly without even trying; it’s as if they just make themselves known as part of an interwoven theme.

Which brings me to the next reason I am so drawn–recurring themes from one writing to another, yet packaging themselves quite differently from one story to the next.  What this does is cause me to go deep, really deep, with my thinking.  (Just what lots of our students need, huh?)

Here is a bodacious example of what my words cannot adequately portray via Calling The Roll.  Please sit in a comfy chair and drink it in.  Thanks, Fran Haley, for sharing your wonderful gift through LIT BITS AND PIECES♥.  And here is a link to Fran’s website:

https://litbitsandpieces.com/

 

10 Random Facts About Me…

1. I’m not an “early” morning person, yet I have gotten up at 5 a.m. for the last 15 or so years.  Go figure.  Thank God for coffee.
2. I love just about all genres of music and have studied music theory.
3. I used to love to talk about me.  Now, not so much.  Life is too short.
4. I have studied martial arts in depth.
5. The hardest part of having been a lifeguard was treading deep water in combat clothing holding a 25-pound weight for 10 minutes.  I’ll never forget those moments.
6. My family is my heart and my life.
7. I love God.
8. Literacy coaching, early and elementary teachers’ and children’s academic needs drive my professional achievement.
9. Yet I am self-driven.
10.  As hard as #5 was, life can be so much harder, that’s why I need #6 and #7.

 

And finally, I would like to take the opportunity to nominate 5 Blogs for the Liebster Award:

 

itsallaboutkidsandliteracy                                                                         

litcoachlady

Reading Teacher Writes

Literacy Coach Musings

Teaching Authors