Successful Classroom Instruction- What it looks like

In the Frey and Fischer article Identifying Instructional Moves During Guided Learning reiterizes the importance of helping your class, but not too much. It's a tough balance to make, but the article does a great job of offering tips on how to do so. elaboration, clarification, divergent, inventive, and heuristic questions were all discussed as helpful tools when doing a guided reading activity with students. I like how every type of the above-mentioned questioned assessed students in vastly different ways. With these different questioning styles, teachers can asses how their lesson was received and how to expand on it quickly and efficiently. Personally, I feel that I will question individual students in the style they need more practice it. For me, it's a way to keep all my students on their toes and paying attention to the text, because everyone will be asked the same questions, but in different ways. The different ways will require brand new answers, not only testing the student speaking, but also adding to my classroom's understanding of the text.

The next article The schools we have. The schools we need by Allington puts a mirror on the current school system and begs the question, "How do we make things better?" It is important to remember that ALL students have the ability to learn, not just those with great family support or high-tech schools. We teachers are the tools that unlock our students' minds. In order to effectively teach, you must effectively reach your students. For my classroom I will use individualized lesson plans to make sure every student is "getting" the lesson, not just the gifted. It is important to enable EVERYONE the ability to master a lesson, not just the "star students." For me, I want a classroom where everyone knows their strengths, and that everyone has something they're good at, not just the "gifted" students. My job is to inspire all students to learn.

In Chapter 12 of Classrooms that Work solidified everything we've discussed this semester in class very creatively. It modeled what our literary-filled classroom would look like, and the activities that would probably be present throughout the day. As charming as this chapter was, it was also very helpful and made me less apprehensive on how to effectively teach my students literacy skills. Personally, my favorite piece was the end-of-the-day activities, since that's a time so many teachers dread. With fun-filled activities, my classroom will be less likely to get crazy, and my students will squeeze in a little more learning. I love it!


Here are some closing questions for you:

• What sorts of methods would you all use in your classrooms? 
• How would you make your classroom lessons?
• What did you like about Chapter 12?

Teacher book selection

We have all participated in this University and have shared our stories of terribly dense readings that took hours to comprehend. I can say with utmost confidence that these were no one's favorite readings. The struggling through the vocabulary and the bleak word choice, make these readings difficult. Let me ask you this, which sentences to you comprehend better?

• Pontificating on preferred film choice, a macabre film presented itself successfully. Regarding the antipathy, every filament on my arm piloerected in trepidation.

• I thought about what movie I wanted to see, and the scary movies looked the best. While watching it I got goosebumps.  

We all understand the second sentence perfectly, and I'm sure some of us needed to use our dictionaries for some of the vocabulary from the first. The second paragraphs readability is at a level that is easily understood. In other words, it is easy to read, and more enjoyable for the reader as an end result.  The reading I chose for this week was the Fry article Readability versus Leveling. It compared readability with leveling and how the two help in book selection. We've already discussed how readability shows how easy literature is to read. It is objective and is easily quantified. Leveling is more subjective and coincides more with how the book aids in the lesson, how the images inside help the story, and if the word choice is challenging enough, but still understandable. As teachers we have to include books that challenge our students and ones that are enjoyable. We all need to improve our vocabularies, but to do so, we need enjoyable books.

Guided reading

The Ford and Opitz article Looking Back to Move Forward with Guided Reading provided a quick synopsis on the history of guided reading. It started with the grouping strategy we can all remember as kids. This of course being the groups of bluejays, robins, and crows. Or as the students thought of them smart, average, and dumb. As a fellow crow, I can remember hating this grouping and being so embarrassed about my reading skill. For this reason of negative social stigmatization, these groups ended. However, the need for small group instruction was still necessary for accurate guided reading instruction.

While the bird groups based everyone on ability, the new groups do so through strategy-based constructivism. The new focus would be on teaching learners, not merely covering the material. Guided reading is not about teachers telling their students what to learn, but coaching students on what they need to learn. It uses a scaffolding technique that "weens" students' need for constant aid from their teachers. The end result being autonomous readers.

The end of the article shared 11 facts about guided reading that have stood the test of time. Here they are:

1. All children have the ability to become literate
2. All children need to be taught by a skilled teacher in order to maximize their full potential in reading
3. The goal of guided reading is to help students become independent readers
4. Guided reading is but one component of an effective reading program
5. Reading for meaning is the primary goal of guided reading
6. Children learn to read by reading
7. Children need to become meta cognitive; knowing they they know and the how and why of reading
8. Children need to develop a self-extending system I order to be independent readers
9. Al children need to be exposed to higher level thinking activities
10. Children need to experience joy and delight as a result of the reading experience
11. Specific elements characterize the successful guided reading lesson: purpose, scaffolding, independence 

So here is my article on guided reading, please share with ,e if this was helpful or not in furthering the understanding of guided reading .

Here is a helpful guided reading activity

Vocabulary

Most college students hear vocabulary and immediately start sweating about the GRE. Ask a student in kindergarten what vocabulary is and they will most likely look at you with a blank expression until you tell them that it is words they already know. Vocabulary is an extensive, ongoing task students add to during their entire academic career and beyond. We accumulate new words until the day we die. As teachers, we take on the daunting task of teaching vocabulary to students. With the right tools this can be done efficiently and in a way that turns your classroom into a vocabulary hotspot, where words are continually studied and learned.On the right is a great worksheet students can use when exploring vocabulary.  The Blachowitz and fisher article Vocabulary Lessons teachers some very useful tools for implementing usable vocabulary strategies in the classroom. Teacher should create a POSITIVE words learning environment. This can look like:

• puns in conversational lessons
• implementing scrabble/bananagrams as a center in the room
• allowing student to create their own word walls
• using the STAR method in vocabulary
• select, teach, activate, and revisit
• teach correct dictionary usage 

Luckily, The Lane & Allen reading The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom:Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to  Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth added to the strategic maneuvers that allocate efficient vocabulary teaching. One piece from this reading really stuck out to me. This was the teacher that made jobs for her classroom, but as the year progressed, so too, did the job titles. No, the jobs did not change, just their names. For example a weather watcher become a meteorologist and so on. What a great way to teach vocabulary that doesn't outwardly require an outright lesson. I love teaching without the students catching on because the activity is so fun. This is perfect for classroom with low SES students. They are not getting any word conscious teaching at home, so why not go in overload at school? By keeping the lesson fun and permanently scheduled, these students can STILL learn many new words to add to their vocabulary, sometimes with incidental learning. 

On a more technological note, The Dalton and Grisham article eVoc Strategies: 10 Ways to Use  Technology to Build Vocabulary noted the importance of multiple word exposures in different contents. The best content being technology. Teach terminology that goes along with the electronics these students use every day. Vocabulary words like browser, website, and search can all become high frequency words EVEN in younger classrooms. Teacher must use technology to aid in vocab development in this day in age. Power-points made by students FOR students allows them to teach one another and really cement the lesson in their minds. Plus, what a great way to teach autonomy and vocabulary requisition. New words are given through the students' own choosing, letting the class pick the focus point. To the left is a wonderful tool for the classroom that shows a quick look at prefixes and suffixes students can use to help gain meaning with new vocabulary that may uses these "meaning changers."

The final reading I implemented from this week was Classrooms that work Chapter 6. It reiterated the importance of introducing words with real things. Examples include:

• gymnasium for gym
• equipment for playground toys
• hinge for the door connectors

More classroom strategies to implement vocabulary include:

• taking a virtual field trip and studying words we may not know
• rating words on a scale of how difficult they may be a teach accordingly
• allowing students to make their own vocabulary boards and tally words they continually see and choose the "winning word"
• letting students give you IMMEDIATE feedback with new vocabulary
• 5 fingers: I get it, 0 fingers: I'm confused

We had a lot to read this week so what I want to know is what stuck out to you guys and why?

Comprehension- The Full Circle

The Gill article The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction reiterated the importance of pre-reading, reading, post-reading strategies for students. One idea I really enjoyed was the KWL model. Simply stated it is:

• KNOW
• WANT to know
• LEARNED

Students can fill this chart out as they read, making critical thinking just as much of a part of the activity as the act of reading. These students will have a much deeper understanding of the content after this because the KWL model makes them map out their thoughts/knowledge acquisitions. Comprehension is more than understanding the text, it is also connecting it to the bigger picture albeit it the lesson, experiences, or life in general. The chart on the right depicts some great strategies for both readers and teachers to better comprehend the story. This is a great quick tool teacher can post in the classroom or keep on hand, in order to keep comprehension ever-present in the reading lessons. Plus, who doesn't love a little creativity in their lessons? This is a great tool because it offers strategies to help all sorts of different readers. 

The Gregory and Cahill article Kindergartners Can Do It, Too!Comprehension Strategies for Early Readers asserted the importance of teaching comprehension strategies to EVEN THE YOUNG STUDENTS. It is ever too early to start comprehensive strategy connections. The only thing teachers need to keep in mind is keeping the lesson on their level. Here is a great way to help students connect the story:

•  
• CONNECTION - where have I seen this before? 
• VISUALIZE - my mind movie is playing this scene...
• QUESTION - what will happen next?

No, let's not ask students in kindergarten to visualize, let's ask them to tell us their mind movie! It keeps the lesson fun and the objective clear. The same goes along with schema, instead our class can connect their ideas to what they already know. I loved how this article kept everyone involved in comprehension, even the little guys. 

Comprehension-UNDERSTANDING the story

The Pardo article on comprehension was eye opening because it focused on how vast the concept of comprehension actually is. For me, decoding, connecting to personal experiences, and learning unknown words are important facets of comprehension. Decoding is important because it helps students read the words in the text. Connections happen when the words are put into real life. When a student uses a word they already know in connection to something in their life, a student can read the words and understand them in the text. Learning new vocabulary is tricky, but once done, even more of the story can be comprehended. So in the end a student reads the words and understands them in the text while also gaining new knowledge about their newly found vocabulary.

 This weeks's reading also included Chapter 7 in Classrooms that work. In it were plenty of ideas on implementing comprehension strategies in the classroom. Some of these examples included:

• Plays from dialogue
• Making diagrams out of the information
• having equal student/teacher interactions with the text
• group work so students can interact together with the text
• Think-alouds where the teacher can model proper comprehension strategies

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the think-alouds. Everyone knows that read-alouds are highly effective learning tools in the classrooms, so why not use think-alouds as well? These help students model effective strategies that will help them comprehend the stories/texts more effectively. There are many different strategies a teacher can use, depending on what comprehensive item she's trying to arrive at. The image to the right shows a wonderful chart that demonstrates different stem sentences to implement your own think-aloud in the classroom.

Word Study- let's learn it!

I have always loved studying word patterns and building all sorts of words out of a set group of letters. Who knew this would be a great tool to use in the classroom! The Cunningham & Cunningham article, Making Words: Enhancing the Invented spelling-decoding connection demonstrated some great tools that students can use to interactively create words and learn grammar rules simultaneously. Let's face it: Spelling IS HARD. Incorporating play withing spelling lessons should always be a goal. We all love creating things anyway, so why not create words? Students are able to learn when capital letters are used, and more importantly, letter combinations and how some words are spelled similarly. The other part of the article that made me think was about invented spelling. I never put it together that this was a key-identifier in where a student is at within their walk with spelling.  Phonetics are important, just sometimes not so much with spelling, because sometimes students make mistakes like this:

 We all know that this says: Mouth watering pizza, but why did this student spell it this way? s/he did what they were always taught and sounded it out. It is important to understand why this student is spelling like this and how to help them understand letter patterns in the future. The other article by Yopp & Yopp Ten Words Plus made me really want to incorporate a word of the day. Yes, it is important to hammer in those high-frequency words, but I think it would be really fun to teach interesting words either on curriculum, or following the seasons and challenging students to make the most interesting sentence with the word. The only catch is the sentence must use the word CORRECTLY.  Another additive for my classroom will definitely be one of these bad boys:

I can just see the flickering of eyes during writing, as students use this chart of words we will CREATE together as a quick look for spelling. Not only will it be a handy tool to help students master spelling, but it will also teach them spelling patterns as well. Anyone who doesn't speak language as a first language can tell you how hard it is, so why not offer our students a way to tackle their written language more efficiently?

My questions for you guys are:

• What other tools would help with word studies?
• Do you guys think inventive spellings are important for gauging a student's abilities?
• How important do you guys find this idea of "word study" to be?

Fluency: More than Just Speed Reading

The three articles we read this week on Fluency all had pretty similar views on Fluency. Deeney's article, One-minute fluency measures: mixed messages in assessment and instruction resonated with me the most in its message about reading endurance. I agree that EXPERIENCE gives the reader fluency which in turn gives them endurance. In my opinion endurance is important with reading because it allows for long reading sessions that still are successful, even after time has passed. Another point that I loved in the Deeney article was the tid-bit on giving struggling readers easier factual information books to practice reading with. It eliminates the stigma of baby-books, while also giving the reader practice with something meaningful to their life. 

The other online article on Rasinski's Creating Fluent Readers gave me a great classroom idea that I cannot WAIT to try out. In this article reading practice took place in the creative Friday afternoon activities of mock "poetry cafes" and reader's theater festivals. This allows readers to perform reading pieces from the week with and for their fellow classmates. I love this way of PERFORMING the words. It takes reading them a step further, helping them with fluency. Also repeated readings are just great in general. Who doesn't love rereading something that made them so excited about reading in the first place? Not only does it boost confidence, but with each new reading, the reader gets something new out of the experience.

Our last reading, Chapter 4 of Classrooms that Work made me take a second look into the word wall. Instead of having a word wall, this chapter spoke of the importance of doing a word wall with my students. I love this interactive approach at creating a classroom tool that will help my readers with common words and to create an automaticity with the words as well.
By creating this tool together, the students internalize the information better, and allows everyone the ability to truly take advantage of the word wall. The image to the right shows how readers can make their reading style more interesting and offers many different ways on how to make it happen!

Another idea, from all three readings actually, I really enjoyed was allowing students to reread or just plain read "easy" books. Reading is hard enough for new readers, so allowing easy passages for your readers gives them confidence boosts, and allows them to focus on fluency more so than just trying to get the words out. To the left is an awesome fluency idea I found on helping your reader use different voices to make their reading more fluid. All those voices would be a blast for any classroom to try out!

 All of these articles gave me great ideas from my classrooms, but I want to know now:

• Which ideas stuck with you all?
• Does anyone have other ideas that they could share with me about fluency?
• Did anyone disagree with these ideas?

Aren't we all still hooked on phonics?

This week's Classrooms that work chapter 5 :Teaching phonics and spelling patterns had tons of ideas for games and activities to pump up your class about phonics! Whether it be creating a mock Wheel of Fortune to perfect letter patterns or using "The Nifty Thrifty Fifty" to add to a student's mental word bank, this chapter provides plenty of ideas. I especially loved the excerpt about helping ESL students connect the two languages and understand how to perform well within the English language.It gives teachers plenty of starting points in connecting spelling, reading, and think-alouds. Plus I feel like my classroom needs interactive games and ways to keep learning interesting. Perhaps I can incorporate creativity in my lesson too. Maybe after we learn a new word, I can nominate different students to create a dictionary definition of said word and perhaps an illustration. After all the students create one, we can make a classroom dictionary. Each page can also contain words that rhyme with the word, that start or end the same way, or even homophones that sound the same but have different meanings.

What do you guys think? Is this interesting for the class?

The other article we read, Kathleen Clark’s  What can I say besides 'sounding it out?' Coaching word recognition in beginning reading gave a play-be-play on how to properly engage your class and help them through the problem of not knowing a word. If generalizations don't work, than you as the teacher dive deeper until the student understands the word and how it fits within context. This article was great because it taught teachers to not give away the answer, but instead make students think through the situation and get the answer on their own through guidance. It would also help keep the lesson interactive and less about me standing up there telling kids the rules of reading instead of showing them how to read by using what they already know. I really like this worksheet to the left because it helps kids understand the dreaded vowel sounds. Some of you may be anti-worksheet, so if this isn't your cup of tea, what would you use in your classroom?

We all need help sometimes, so what other games should I incorporate in my room?

Phonemes are the best!

We are all studying to be teachers. However, besides teaching our children we must also entertain them in the process. What good is chanting A is for apple if our students don't understand that A makes the /a/ noise? Our readings for this week were quite thorough on the subject. Yopp & Yopp's article Supporting Phonemic Awareness in the Classroom demonstrated some fun ways to incorporate games into phonemic games in the classroom. I loved them! They were all fun and interactive!

Here are the ones I want to incorporate in my classroom:

• Clap the syllables to our names EM *clap* I *clap* LY *clap*
• Count the letters in the classes' names and make a chart
• go over the longest and shortest names and discuss how we figured this out.
• Read a silly rhyming book and see if my students can guess what the real word is

• kurtle for turtle, zat for cat and so on        

 Which ones did you guys like from the reading and why?

NAEYC & IRA's article, Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children  reiterated a lot of the concepts and also gave me so many ideas for reading in my classroom. I loved their idea of giving each students a minimum of 5 books to read and placed comprehension ahead of "Accuracy." So many people focus on kids "reading" a word, and not understanding the word. We need to build our student's "up" with the reading confidence, not tear it down because they aren't perfect. Read-alouds are going to be my go to lesson for reading everyday. We will capture intrigue and spark classroom dialogue, giving my students critical thinking skills and so on. 

Anybody have any ideas on how to improve critical thinking skills?
                                                                                                                      


The last reading was my favorite because it inspired me the most. Primary Voices: k-6 Letting go of the letter of the week made me want to start planning writing activities right now. I loved how they said that ALL students come into class knowing how to read and write. All kids can read McDonald's and all kids can write, even if it's just in scribbles. The part I loved most was her classroom wrote everything and thought-aloud together while doing it. These kids not only learned writing skills but also critical thinking skills and how to edit. We should all remember that literature is everywhere. I want to start collecting well-known objects for my students to read to me on the first day!

What did you guys think of the article? Did it inspire you like it did me?



Before I go, I will leave you teachers with this fun phoneme chant and let's all get creative :

R is for reading experiences

Anyone who has/worked with a young child has probably seen this very presentation of a small child "reading" a beloved book. We all know that this pretending is an example of repetition and eventual memorization. However, I find the fact that this little girl wants to read so bad that she has memorized a book is so inspiring! Chapter 3 of Classrooms that Work shows many different tools on how to keep the desire to read alive and to offer ideas for different literary practices.  I work in a preschool, so the ideas in this chapter have really got my creative juices flowing. Everybody knows this form of alphabetical learning:

But how can we make it more interesting??

The answer is names!!!! Every teacher is going to have the perfect repertoire of student names to use. Whether is be learning that Carlos and Candace both start with "C" or that Maya is shorter than Layanne, namesakes offer powerful tools for learning jargon. Chapter 3's version of this really helped me with this idea. I don't know about you guys, but I totally want to try this! 

The other reading from Johnson's The Jones Family's Culture of Literacy my eyes were opened to the familial influences on reading. We all know that the article showed one female-centered family helped a student in her experiences with reading and writing. This multi-generational African-American family emphasized reading and did so with whatever was handy. From newspapers to mental representations of recipes, these women constantly used reading and writing in their lives. Teachers need to remember that all families are different, and in a perfect world everyone would help their kids learn the basics before school.

But our world isn't perfect, and kids will come into school with all different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses in regards to literacy. It is important to understand and use these tools to the best of our abilities. I want to become well-versed in all cultures my students are involved with and learn different teaching angles because of this. What do ya'll think? Is this a good idea, or just a head-ache inducing plan? Let me know! From the textbook reading, I also learned how important it is to allow students to experiment with reading and writing, and enable creativity. Many teachers want to correct this: 

but in reality, this practice will help students perfect their reading skills, and encourage them to explore this new world of knowledge. It may also foster a desire to "pretend read" with friends, teachers, and parents like the video we started out with. So a good teacher, plus a student with desire to read, ends up turning into:

As a future educator, I want to learn how to incorporate these

elements into the daily grind as to better inspire my students about learning and literacy. What do you guys think? Are these useful tools for the classroom? Would you do them? What else might help within the classroom? Let's share some ideas below in the comments section.

Successful Classrooms and Reading Programs that inspire

The reading assignments for this week were surprisingly cohesive and similar. Chapter 1 of Classrooms that Work and the article What I've learned about Effective Reading Instruction (Cunningham and Allington) most especially. Both taught what Cunningham and Allington's article said were the most effective T's of education

Their article on the 6 T's of Effective Elementary Literacy Instruction gave these important markers for a successful classroom:

• TIME
  
• TEXTS
• TEACHING
• TALK
• TASKS
• TESTING

All of which coincide with the first chapter in Classrooms that Work. As a future educator, I appreciated the repetition of these concepts under synonyms because it restated their importance in producing exceptional teachers with students to match. All students can learn to read and write given the correct materials and educators. In order to discover these fluid ideas the T's enable a quick glance for success  


TIME refers to the amount students are reading each day in the classroom. The best teachers develop a sort of 50/50 rule according to Cunningham and Allington. Reading and writing are equal to the other parts of the day. Students do just as much reading and writing as they do math and other forms of educational "stuff." This also means utilizing time with cross curricular connections INCLUDING using science and social studies. Both are the knowledge part of curriculum (Classrooms that Work), and are therefore very important to integrate in order to allow for comprehension practice and other guided reading strategies. Extensive reading gives both guided and independent reading options. 

TEXT needs to be extensive and plenty. One size does NOT fit all. Nobody wants to read something that is incredibly hard and not easily comprehended. Students included. By gauging student's "Status" with reading like what Chapter 2 of Classrooms that work recommends, a teacher can learn strengths and weaknesses of the students. At the end of the year this survey can be given again to show student progress throughout the year, which can give a sense of pride! 

TEACHING means giving active instruction! The biggest tool being Demonstration. Model yourself with the students. Show critical thinking skills aloud. Develop a "let me demonstrate" complex to make sure your students understand what you want from them. Remember assessments don't teach, they grade. Make sure what you teach is what they learn. If they're regurgitating information on an assessment, but don't comprehend any of it, the lesson was for nothing. Teachers must also remember that students learn differently and incorporate teaching within the class as a whole, small groups, and to individual students. More needs can be met in this way. 

TALK involves EVERYONE speaking. Teacher to student, but also student to student. Conversations should be encouraging, model-centered, and supportive. A great way to think of this form of speaking is "problem-posing/problem-solving." Ask questions with multiple answers, not right/wrong assessments. It is important to allow students to explore their critical thinking skills and how problems can be solved many different ways. 

TASKS go beyond simple worksheets, and one-day assignments. The more time someone has for an assignment, the more in-depth it can become. Cunningham and Allington talk about writing tasks lasting 10+ days! Students can explore many different facets within the assignment and in return help self-monitor themselves and create a sense of responsibility within themselves. It also shows behavior modeling skills of what is expected.(Classrooms that Work) When a student knows what is to be expected with assignments, this will carry over into behavior, making discipline effective and quick. Beyond time and expectation involves a student's choice in the assignment both Chapter One and the article state many times the importance of a student getting to choice what they do within reason of course. It allows them to feel enthusiastic about an assignment and not feel it is a task to "get done." 

TESTING means grading students on effort, responsibility, AND assessment (Cunningham and Allington). The article What I've Learned about Effective Reading Instruction extrapolates on the idea of rubric-based evaluations. Where both students and parents understand the grading scale and how the assignments is evaluating so much more than "Right and Wrong". It gives importance to progress within the student. This responsibility on grading goes to the students when the understanding of "good students can't skate through assignments and bad students won't automatically fail" is exterminated. 

While both manuscripts provide very similar information Chapter 1's Classrooms that Work speaks more about effective classrooms which also moves into Chapter 2's information on Creating Enthusiastic and Independent Reader. Chapter 1's effective classrooms involve variety books EVERYWHERE in the classroom. Which expands in Chapter 2 by showing the importance of variety (fiction, non-fiction, etc) Enthusiastically independent readers are both boys and girls. Boys need their action and logic just as much as girls need their mystery and wanderlust. Variety gives everyone a chance to read it all. 

Chapter 2 expands on teacher read-alouds by stating and restating the importance across grade levels. How are students supposed to enjoy 20 minutes of independent reading without their teacher pumping them up? Most people say that their teacher reading to their class motivated them to want to read. 

Other motivators include:

• Big Buddy reading which allows weak readers to work on their game without feeling like they're reading "baby-books." 
• "easy books" and "hard books" being available for students to read
• teacher involvement conferences
• Conversations with students include:
• "Why did you like this part?"
• "Wow I'm learning so much about desert animals because of you!"
• "I saw this book in the library,and thought of you because..."
• Books boards where students rate books and debate them
• book talks where students "sell" books to one another
• Reading parties which encourage conversations on favorites and why between small groups
• reading attitudes
• not a chore
• intrinsic value
• knowledge is power

In conclusion, these reading have given me so many ideas for my own classroom, and I cannot wait to put these ideas into real life.