Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category

Comprehension is built around a foundation of prior knowledge and will therefore differ for individuals. It is possible and likely for students within a single cohort to have different understandings of elements within the same text.

Factors contributing to a strong foundation of prior knowledge:

rich language environments, i.e. those in which there is a high volume of general and focused talk around a variety of topics; …

How do we improve reading outcomes for students? What do highly proficient teachers of reading do? Here’s my Top Ten list . . .

Gather regular, ongoing records using both formal and informal measures on continuous text; analyse strategic behaviour on errors and self-corrections, make observations about elements of prosody and fluency and assess comprehension; determine skills and knowledge controlled and absent; identify patterns of behaviour
Analyse …

I recently wrote on the importance of intrinsically motivated readers. There is much to be gained from providing texts around students’ interests. How can we do this? The obvious answer is to ask and they’ll tell us. This works for most students, but you may have observed that some students don’t appear to know what they’re interests are. We only need to watch as …

Much has been written about the "Book Box" or selection of easy or familiar texts used to support independent learning. In a recent conversation, the notion of the book box was discussed and the specific contents of the box debated. There appeared to be some confusion around suitable material and also how it should be used to support students during independent learning.

Book boxes provide students …

Data gathering is vital for planning effective instruction
The reading gap

The gap which divides “good readers and spellers” and “poor readers and spellers” begins to form early in a student’s school life. Early years’ teachers observe differences in their students’ expressive and receptive language, knowledge about print, abilities to hear sounds and sound patterns, and to articulate and recreate them.

With this diversity in mind, can careful …

Junk food for young readers?

The more you read, the better you get. There is no surprise about this. It makes sense and there is universal agreement from literacy researchers and teachers.

With this in mind, let’s think about human nature. Most of us enjoy doing the things we are good at, and avoid those things too challenging or that have little value or reward. …

Bronwyn Sheehan is the founder and CEO of the Pyjama Foundation and the 2009 Queenslander of the Year.

What is the Pyjama Foundation?
The Pyjama Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2004 with the vision of transforming vulnerable children’s lives through the immersion of literacy.
What prompted you to create the Pyjama Foundation?
Having 3 children of my own, I experienced first hand the benefits of reading books …

The practice of homogeneous group reading is not new. This model of reading has been a common practice in schools for many decades. So what is the difference between small group, round robin reading and guided reading?

Guided reading occurs when teachers select texts based around the instructional reading level of students and also consider how texts support and challenge particular groups of students. At the …

I recently conducted a reading workshop with a group of middle years’ teachers. When discussing comprehension strategies, one teacher noted that her students found it difficult to consider texts from perspectives other than their own. As we fleshed out the importance of connecting to and from texts, I shared a recent lesson I had conducted with a group of Year 5 students in …