Predictions of Progress: The Map That Leads to a Self-Extending System

I am going to be completely honest with you I am really bad at keeping up with my predictions of progress.  I know that they are very important and not superfluous paperwork, but I seem to neglect to revist them on a regular basis. My first step in reminding myself about the importance of writing predictions …

3 Literacy Teacher Skills to Improve

I am always working on growing in various areas to become a more effective literacy teacher.  There are three skills in which I am always striving to improve. 1.  Being a "Noticing" Teacher It is important for a literacy teacher to be a careful observer of each of his/her students.  I work on not letting notetaking …

Closing the Reading Gap Early in Low Socioeconomic School Districts

Written by Gen I've worked as a literacy specialist in the primary grades for 12 out of my fourteen-year career in a district with a large population of low-income families, and that population is only getting larger. Let's suffice it to say that we have a large population of students who aren't achieving the expected …

100 Positive Experiences: Experience #6; Spend time in the right places

Written by Gen Many of these positive experiences have to do with perception. This one is no different. Coaches have a lot of flexibility when it comes to time and schedules. This fact may open you up to some extra scrutiny from teachers who have unrelenting jam-packed schedules. A positive perception of how you spend …

The Power of Shared Reading for English Language Learners

I have recently had the pleasure of working with a beautiful little girl who moved from Puerto Rico to the United States almost 3 months ago.  She is able to read and write on-grade level in her native language and appears eager to read.  When I see her with her classmates she is not interacting …

Kindergarten Letter Knowledge: Predictor of Future At-Risk Readers

According to Richard Allington's article What At-Risk Readers Need "the one-third of entering kindergartners who don't know all their letter names are likely to become the one-third of 4th graders reading below the basic level." Explicit teaching of letters is a necessity for students who enter Kindergarten with low letter name knowledge.  Kindergarten teachers can …

Let’s Talk Self Extending Systems: 2018 Reading Recovery Goals

My Continuing Contact colleagues and I have been reading Marie Clay's 2nd edition of Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals.  While I was reading chapter 5:  Reading continuous texts, whole stories, and information books I was struck by how important it is for Reading Recovery teachers to return to their guidebook over and over again.  LLDI is …