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This article that I found I thought was very useful with new teachers developing classroom rules and procedures. Without the proper classroom routines and procedures in place a teachers classroom can be much different than they would want it to be. Noise levels, classroom wandering, and time being wasted can all occur. These things can be fixed but not by just announcing that no talking, staying in your seat, and staying on task are to be expected. These must be taught. The use of visual cues such as stop and start hand gestures as well as a gesture to say stop and start over if the procedure was not done correctly. By practicing the routine to mastery, students become aware that you are trying convey that this practice is important to their behavior. Establishing high standards is easier than having low standards. To show this, one must realize that reinforcement for bad behavior must come from the peer group. Research has reportedly shown that effective teachers show that they use the first few weeks of school teaching classroom rules. This is being proactive in your classroom.

Ross, A. & Fisher, D. (2009). Talking in class builds English learners' proficiency. California English, 14(4), 10-12. This week in class we touched on the importance of "talk" in the classroom and so when I found this article I thought it was a great connection to what we discussed in class. The article talks about the importance of purposeful talk in the classroom and how it allows students to be actively involved in the learning process. Two of the key components that must first be done by the teacher are to set a purpose and model the academic language and thinking that is needed to complete the task. After the purpose is set and the modeling is finished, student must have time to work with their peers. It is during this work time that students talk with one another using academic language and create meaning by being active learners. For me this article reminds us that "talk" in the classroom is a necessary part of the learning process for all students, not just English language learners. My classroom was always a place of active learning, a place where students were encouraged to talk about what they were learning and I found that when students could talk with their peers, they could explain the subject in a way that was meaningful and peer friendly. I also like that this article discusses ways that teachers can facilitate student talk such as, reciprocal teaching, collaborative posters ( I have never heard of this technique, but love it), and learning stations. I think that this article would be a great one to share with staff and school leaders, especially those that frown on "talk" in the classroom because there is too much learning to be done and not enough time.

Great interactive reading activity for a Spanish classroom! 

I love peer response to writing in classrooms, especially in secondary education classrooms. It build relationships in the classroom, gets the students focused on more than just the teacher's opinion of writing, and allows for students to strengthen their editing. This article points out an important component of peer editing, which is making students comfortable in the classroom. This means allowing them to sit on the floor, go out in the hall, etc. If we expect students to share something personal, like their writing, then we should allow them to be as comfortable (physically and mentally), as possible.

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Lyons, W. & Thompson, S.A. (2011, October). Guided Reading in Inclusive Middle Years Classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47: 158. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://isc.sagepub.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/content/47/3/158.full.pdf This study was interesting, because it focuses on something that I am sure so many teachers struggle with - how to teach students who demonstrate a wide variety/range of ability and needs. This study took a really "rough" socioeconomic level of 4th -8th graders and their teachers, and using guided reading as their main method of instruction DID see an 80% of students advance at least one, if not more levels. This was attributed to the fact that in small guided reading groups teachers could spend more time with small groups of students, targeting individual needs. That was the warm fuzzy. Of course, the part that this article mentions in the end, and would stop most teachers in their tracks before attempting to duplicate this, is that each Classroom was equipped with several teachers and teacher assistants to make this work. Additionally, there were many times where the rest of the class NOT consisting of the 3 to 5 students in the guided reading group were supposed to work independently. All in all, every study has its flaws - the interesting thing here is that despite them, students still improved overall.

oops...ok I edited my post and stuck the citation in it...thanks!

Interesting to note some of the different terms used in the Canadian Schools, such as "families living in vulnerable circumstances" and "enhanced funding." Probably akin to our use of "at-risk" and "Title I." You are right, most teachers would "stop in their tracks" with regard to the two teachers. This article refers to an inclusion setting, in which the special ed teacher "pushes in" with the special ed students and co-teaches with the gen ed teacher. I did a NCA QAR visit last spring in a school with 4 or 5 teachers in a grade, and 4 paras in the school. It was either 2nd or 3rd grade. Every day at the designated time, all the paras would go into that pod of the school, and the students would move around to different teachers or paras and everyone got guided reading every day. It requires a shift in thinking and lots of collaboration and cooperation, but it can be done.

Hedin, L.R. & Conderman, G. (2010). Teaching students to comprehend informational text through rereading. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 556-565. Doi: 10.1598/RT.63.7.3 "Striving readers may view the purpose of reading as decoding an assigned section rather than building knowledge." When I read this quote, I knew that this article would be of interest to me. As my building continues to examine the ramifications of the Common Core, informational text is something of concern. Should other content teachers be required to teach reading strategies using informational text? (Here, I am hoping, my readers reply with a resounding "YES!") This article gives specific strategies to use with students, with a focus on encouraging rereading. Below is an email that was sent to my colleagues:  Subject: The Secret to Informational Text  Perhaps my subject line was a bit misleading... Attached may not be "The Secret" to our informational text woes, but the article details strategies we can use in our classrooms now that will help our students with comprehension. After reviewing our NWEA scores, we have all seen the difficulties our students have with informational text and comprehension. The Common Core has a significant focus on informational reading and writing. In order to prepare for this shift in instruction and curriculum, I have found this very useful article. "Teaching Students to Comprehend Informational Text Through Rereading," details key ideas like helping our striving readers set the purpose for reading, identify text features, and strategies we can use in our daily instruction to strengthen their comprehension of texts. It questions whether our students are simply great "decoders" (they can read the words because they understand sound/letter relationships) or are they truly constructing meaning. The role content teachers play in the development of successful readers is HUGE! Many of these strategies seem basic, but because of that, they will be simple t

Fascinating!

"WritingFix is a teacher resource website that contains lessons and ideas for any educator to freely use in their K-12 classrooms....The site is sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project, a not-for-profit professional development organization that is located on the University of Nevada-Reno Campus." An absolutely amazing goldmine collection of writing ideas: mentor texts, 6 traits, revision, genres, and MORE!

I realize the focus of our class is reading. This resource is too good not to bring to your attention.

Though it does not focus on reading, I have found that WritingFix absolutely saved me in my first year teaching ELA. Even if it is simply "saved for later" this is something all teachers should review.

Journal # 1 Shedd, K.M., & Duke, N.K. (2008). The power of planning developing effective read-alouds. Beyond the Journal Young Children on the Web. November, 1-6. The article that I read is about the importance of reading aloud to students and the effectiveness of read-alouds. The study has found the effectiveness of read-alouds depends on a number of factors: * open-end questions * a careful selection of high-quality text * teacher excitement while reading read-alouds are important part of children's development of literacy skills. The article gave many suggestions on how to select books appropriate for grade level and for the audience. There were also ideas on how to get students involved before, during and after the read alouds. After reading this article, it made think about how I do read-alouds in my classroom and if I incorporate all the suggestions from this article during my read-aloud.

What do you think you might do differently as you do read-alouds in your classroom? I found it interesting and found myself reflecting on my practices. I love to read aloud to students, and as a classroom teacher, did it almost exclusively for the enjoyment and the experience of story for students. As I learned more about developing literacy, my read-alouds changed, and became more intentional. But after reading this article, I think I could do even more to plan for even more effective use of the strategy. I really like the idea of using the sticky notes to mark spots to question. (PS--I love Nell Duke. She really knows her stuff. Got to see her at the MRA pre-conference last year.)

I do read alouds throughout the day, which are books that we need to read for our Reading program, science or Paragon (history). At the end of the day I do author of the week, we talk about the author, illustrator, I go to the library every week and grab 5-7 books from the same author and don't really look inside the books to see if it is age appropriate. There has been a few times that the books have been over my students heads or too babyish for them. After reading the article I really need to take a minute and look at the pages and make sure the books are appropriate for my students.