My focus in this piece will be on inspiring truly close reading and deeper thinking as a facet of ELA instruction. When a reader can go beyond recall; go beyond simple inference and analysis, and go spelunking deep into reflection on and evaluation of story characters and elements (while using the text to support their […]
close and critical reading
Posted inClassroom Management, Common Core, Elementary School, English Language Learners, ESOL, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Kindergarten, Literacy, Special Education, Technology
5 Ways to Use Emojis in the Classroom
I realized almost immediately that I wasn’t getting through to my Kindergartners… again. I asked a class full of 5-year-olds to identify feeling words, and I got the same generic responses – happy, sad, mad. Year after year, I struggle with how to teach my primary students, especially my English Language Learners, to use precise […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Close and Critical Reading: Author’s Craft
This post is the second in my series on strategies for teaching students to do Close and Critical Reading (CCR). The first post defining it is here. The next one, about strategies for teaching summary, is here. The second CCR question is How does the author say it? Students need to understand what rhetorical devices are and […]