The ELA
Leadership Team (K-12) read the article Every Child, Every Day by Richard Allington about six essential elements of reading and writing instruction. We worked in small groups using a text-based protocol called “Save The Last Word For Me” and shared across groups and schools. The team was engaged in meaningful conversations about the importance of student choice in reading, for students to have ample opportunities to talk about their reading and writing and the importance of children listening to read alouds. We also discussed literature circles, book clubs, and partner work and watched videos of this from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project with students in action. We discussed how book clubs give students ownership over their reading and allow for each other to engage in meaningful conversations possibly around an element or theme of a book. Good conversations around texts allow students to synthesize and internalize comprehension, therefore, lifting the level of their thinking. Teacher leaders also learned some valuable tips to use when meeting with partnerships.
Here’s the link to the article, Every Child, Every Day. If you are unable to access this PDF, please email me at bculot@socsd.org and we can send you a copy.
Written by Joe Onativia, Instructional Literacy Coach and Brian Culot, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction
