Gaining Momentum

As educators we do what we can to inspire our students to take ownership of their learning, so that they become life long learners.  This isn’t always easy, it means that we are always changing and learning ourselves.  The teachers of Faribault, MN have had to learn that this past year.  As they move forward into year two of their literacy initiative with the support of Administration, their Literacy Coaches, and Visions for Learning you can feel the excitement for learning across the school communities.

http://faribault.com/content/reader%E2%80%99s-workshop-provides-boost-students

Great Review for Good Readers

http://www0.epinions.com/review/Good_Readers_epi/content_527909424772

As an educator, I am constantly reminding teachers that we must instruct the actions of good readers.  Often students who struggle just do not understand the process readers use to make meaning from text.  Elisa Brente is a tremendous educator and author having spent a number of years training teachers on how to be more effective in literacy instruction.  So much of the process is internalized.  In order to explicitly teach the process to students, teachers must model what is going on inside the head while one is reading.  So her new children’s book Good Readers, published by Author House, and illustrated by Will Cohen, is an additional tool to help explain this process to children.

The story is about a young man who during class one day begins to question what the teacher is saying about “Good readers.”  He doesn’t quite get it.  He loves books, but he doesn’t understand the meaning of being a good reader beyond just a love of books.  So he sets off with his brother to try to uncover the secret meaning of what it means to be a good reader.

The boys go to their tree house to try to discover the secrets of a favored book on a family’s trip to the beach.  They begin to hear the waves crashing, feel the sand between their fingers as they create a sand castle, and hope against hope for its survival as they see the giant wave coming in.  In that magic moment, the young man begins to awaken to what it means to be a good reader.

The 32 page Good Readers is an excellent tool for teachers to help students understand what it means to be a good reader.  It is that point of making connection to the text, when the reader begins to feel the story, that meaning is made.  Elisa’s story is greatly helpful in making that connection for students.  And Will Cohen, a friend of Elisa’s son, has done an excellent job with the illustrations.  Interesting, though, how the mother in the story looks like someone I know.

The feel of this book is inspiring.  It says so much to the student about reading and its purpose.  It helps lift the student gently to a different place.  Good Readers is an excellent book to use at the beginning of the school year as a read aloud for students in intermediate grades, as an independent reader or to start discussions even with primary students about the importance of reading and how the mind functions in the process.  I can see myself using this excellent book in workshops to help teachers understand the process or in classroom demonstrations with students.

To my dear friend Elisa, congratulations on what I trust will be many more children’s books to come.  Thank you for reminding all of us of the importance of the mind in the reading process and for your passion for teaching so found living in this work.  And tell Will, he can illustrate my books anytime. Kudos on an excellent book that I heartily commend to all.  Teachers will find this book engaging for students and the beginning of what will be a very worthwhile conversation in the classroom on the role of the mind in reading.

Recommended:
Yes

Good Readers supports the Launching of Reading Workshop

Good Readers is an excellent resource to guide the Launching Unit of your Reading Workshop.  While reading aloud to students do a think aloud about how the character in the story uses his knowledge of the comprehension strategies.  Read again and highlight the components of the Reading Workshop, mini-lesson,  reading,  sharing and conferring.

Good Reader

Here is an excerpt from Good Readers, a read aloud to support the teaching of comprehension strategies during the Reading Workshop block. “My brother and I sat together, and I said to him, “Reading is thinking.” It is really important that you flip on the small switch on the side of your head so that your reading brain is turned on. We need to be aware of the words the author uses. His words tell a story, and his story carries a message. I told my brother that when you are thinking about the words and the author’s message, a book can lead you to feel emotion or come up with new ideas. The trick is to pause and ask, “Why am I feeling this way?”  I was telling my brother everything I had heard my teacher say, but I had to stop for a minute and ask myself, “Do I do this when I read?”