Thinking flexibly is crucial because it allows our students to hold on to multiple things at once - and in the case of our students, they are holding onto decoding and meaning. But how do we teach this to our kids?

First, play games with your children!

Next, read books with them

To get down and dirty and learn even more, I recommend you check out Word Callers by Dr. Kelly Cartwright.

Hi ya'll!

Today we explore the concept of organization and how it affects comprehension. I'll start by saying we can help our students with this through some planning and preparation. We want to make sure that we recognize when our students are confused. They may get events out of order in sequencing, words out of order when reading, or not be able to connect all the parts and pieces of a story or unit. How can we help?

Practice unscrambling sentences:

Use Concept Maps

Use Story Maps

Sequence events in stories

Text Structure:

Click here for a printable resource to refer back to later.

Click here to purchase Dr. Cartwright's book on Amazon.

See you soon!

Well, that title is a mouthful, but I wasn't sure how else to describe what this podcast is about.

Diving deeper into executive functioning skills and their effect on comprehension, we will share with you two main concepts.

I have linked a document with the book that is recommended, the author's website, and the steps for small group planning. I hope you find it useful!

See you next week!

Leslie

This is the beginning of a new series that I think all of us are dealing with. Why do some children struggle to read STILL, even with good instruction? As someone who works at a school that has embraced the science of reading, I was confused as to why so many kids were still struggling with comprehension. And then...I found some research which backs some of my personal opinions. Trigger warning - I may discuss my personal opinions on overuse of technology by children. It's a personal soapbox!

Have you heard of the Active View of Reading by Nell Duke? In this article, Dr. Duke explains how self-regulation plays a part in reading development. I wanted to say Hallelujah! Someone is watching our classrooms and seeing how kids are reacting in this 2020+ world. Students without self-regulation skills are missing big chunks in their mental processing of text.

What areas are affected?

Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks!

This episode is near and dear to my heart as I share with you the latest research on WHY routines are important in your personal life, your classroom management and your instructional routines. In it, I share the experiences from the viewpoint of a mom of a son with sensory processing/adhd issues, as well as from the view of a classroom teacher.

I will share the words of Dr. Anita Archer and several of her routines for turn and talk, discussions and vocabulary.

Please follow on Instagram to see daily quotes and reminders about using routines in your classrooms.

Don't forget to check out the blog for the shownotes!

See ya soon!

This has been bothering me...can we have explicit instruction and inquiry within the same learning cycle? Can we have them working together? The answer is yes....and no.  It depends on the content, the knowledge of your students, and the place in the learning cycle.  Once again, I go to the expert, Anita Archer, to learn more about these two approaches to learning. 

This is the chart from UTAH that I reference. It spells out the why, the how, and the what for explicit and inquiry-based learning. 

For more visuals, check out this week's blog: http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/

Thanks for listening! 

I am a huge fan of Anita Archer! She is the author of Explicit Instruction, and she is a wealth of good ideas! In today's podcast, we will explore the four ways we can add engagement to our whole group lessons.  

It isn't rocket science. Just follow these four things: 

Within this podcast, I will give examples of how my teachers, 2-5th grade, use these four premises to deliver instruction in meaningful ways! As always, follow me on Instagram or Facebook for snippets of wisdom from Dr. Archer in the following weeks. I will also upload some visuals and descriptions to my blog! http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/

One last thing, if you are enjoying this podcast and/or social media posts, please write a review or drop me a comment! I am so grateful for feedback and help to get the word out. This is my 10th podcast and I am nearing 1000 listens. It is exciting! 

Thanks! Leslie

Everything that I have been discussing the past three podcasts comes from the research at Literacy How and the remarkable Dr. Margie Gillis. And I would be remiss if I didn't recommend her book, Syntax - Knowledge to Practice, for you to purchase so that you can have more information at your fingertips. It is an easy read with practical suggestions to put in place in your K-3 classroom tomorrow. Another resource that I highly recommend is the Literacy How You Tube channel. Visit it to see teachers implementing these strategies in real classrooms.

As you listen to this podcast, you will hear me describe several activities. I will be showcasing many of these activites on my Instagram feed as well as the blog http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/. 

Hope you enjoy this episode! 

https://www.instagram.com/theotherendofthereadingrope/

Leslie

This episode builds on the work of Dr. Margie Gillis from Literacy How.  In it, I will dive into how we can help our students understand the parts that make complex sentences. 

I share distinct teaching strategies to use with your students. 

To see more visuals and examples, take a look at my blog or Instagram. 

To get the FREE summarizing think sheet, click here! 

Thanks for listening!

In the last two podcasts, we talked about writing sentences. We are all very aware that are sentences are choppy and lack details. We recognize that this is a building block for efficient writing. However, did you know that sentence understanding similarly affects comprehension? 

We will explore the research of Gillis & Eberhardt 2016 which can be found on their website: https://literacyhow.org/ .  

This podcast will explore: 

To see some visuals and examples, check out my blog!