Third graders at Wylam K-8 increasing their volume of reading in the  Independent Reading station. Students are expected to read a book of their choice silently, share their book with a "reading buddy," and log in a reading response in their reading journal. Awesome Learning!!

(In the picture, the ARI Reading Specialist is serving as a "reading buddy" while also providing support to the teacher during the reading block)

Food for Thought

"Students can do no better than the assignments they are given."

Think about your daily assignments:

 Are they challenging? 

Are they allowing students the opportunity to think critically? 

Are your assignments geared toward passive or active learners?

Does the assignments allow for students to engage in meaningful academic conversations?

What are the overall goals for each assignment? 

Is the path to achieving these goals worth traveling?

How many of you are using this approach in your daily teaching practice?

It's very important that we utilize this concept. Balanced Literacy is a research-based approach that gives the teacher a chance to move instruction from modeling, to sharing, to guiding, and eventually to students working independently.