Literacy Speaks Volumes

Is autumn finally upon us? We have the Windows open and a soft breeze wafts into the bedroom. It is a quiet night.  Today, my sixth graders really struggled with using context clues to define three unknown words: saturate, bore, and crypt. They are reading creepy stories leading up to Halloween. The students also had to use their own words to explain if a quote used literal or figurative language.

Close Reading is an instructional practice where students are guided through their understanding of a text. Think of close reading like investigating a text. Going over it piece by piece. Analyzing it for all of its clues that it might yield. When a student close reads a text, he reads it multiple times, going over minute details looking for clues to tone, imagery, main idea, author's purpose, word meaning, and nuances in meaning. Close reading is not necessary for all text, but it is necessary for complex texts. Close reading is used when the complex text challenges the reader's thinking. When they close read, students reread parts of the text for different purposes. Each reading should yield some new bit of understanding. Annotating or marking up the text is extremely important. In fact, it's the first lesson that I teach in my RTI class to my new students. I don't teach it to my other students because they've already learned how to annotate

The Academic Word List was developed by Averil Coxhead at the School of  Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. The words are divided into 10 sub lists according to frequency. Sub list 1 includes the following: The General Service List is a list of roughly 2000 words published by Michael West in 1953. The words were selected to represent the most frequent words of English and were taken from a corpus of written English. The target audience was English language learners and ESL teachers. Check out one of my academic vocabulary list activities!

Close Reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. When students close read, they look closely at individual words, syntax, and the order in which the sentences unfold ideas. Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text's form, craft, meaning, etc. It is a key requirement of the CCSS and directs the reader's attention to the text itself. Using short passages and excerpts Diving right into the text with limited pre-reading activities Focusing on the text itself Rereading deliberately Reading with a pencil Noticing things that are confusing Discussing the text with others Responding to text-dependent questions Check out my basketball themed close read text set!

Exit Tickets are a fun and easy way to assess students based on your success criteria for the lesson. I use exit tickets everyday. Why? Because exit tickets assess the students' understanding of their learning. Research shows that exit tickets are the simplest way to obtain information about a student's level of understanding. I've created a set of exit tickets especially for Halloween. Use them to conjure up some spooky assessments. Melissa Reese Etheridge

Good Morning from cool Middle Tennessee! Today is the first day of my Fall Holiday, and I've got a MindMeister graphic organizer of wonderful and awesome tasks to do. The first task on my list is to update my blog. So, here I am. I just haven't had time to update it since Labor Day as instruction has been my primary concern. I'm hoping to get some resources completed and uploaded. In the meantime... Are you looking for writing prompts for October? Then check out this resource !