Fifty FIfty

In chapters one and two of Classrooms That Work by Patricia M. Cunningham and Richard L. Allington and the article, What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction by Richard L. Allington, there seems to be an obvious underlying theme: students need more reading and writing throughout the day and schools need teachers who make this a consistent goal.

In the article, What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction, the author explains how half of the school day needs to be devoted to some form of reading and writing with the rest of the day being used for other "stuff". Reading and writing, instead of being limited to the Language Arts and Reading periods, needs to be a routine used in all subject areas. When I reflect on my elementary and middle school years, its hard to imagine at least half of the day being spent reading or writing. Maybe this is because we did not actually do that much reading or writing or maybe its because my teachers engaged us in ways so that we did not even realize the extent of reading and writing that we were doing. While I agree that the amount of reading and writing needs to increase, I wonder how teachers across the board can do this in a way that is enriching while entertaining and engaging. Effective and exemplary teachers are ones who have perfected the balance of these things. To you future teachers, how do you plan on incorporating reading and writing into half of the school day in a way that is fun and exciting for your students? Chapter Two of Classrooms that Work provides a great example of a way that children can enjoy reading, get excited about the books they are reading, and have fun sharing with the other students in their class. Through "reading parties" students have fun reading and explaining to their peers what they like about the specific book they have chosen to read. At the same time, students can lounge around in their groups and eat snacks. This creates a positive reading environment and causes students to associate reading with something entertaining.

The following chart effectively summarizes many of the main ideas that were introduced in the articles and chapters from this week's reading. The Education Ins section of the chart explains many of the habits of an exemplary teacher, while the Education Outs shows us the habits of an ineffective teacher.

Chart found on Pinterest and originally gathered from usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com: