Irene Fountas
Designing High Quality Literacy Programs for All Kids
April 15th, 2010 Notes shared by Sue Tegen
*Believes in Authentic Literacy in classrooms. Real books, real writing. Kids living a reading and writing life. Thinking and talking about texts and having a passion for reading.
*Not about the materials – it’s about the kids. The materials are the “tools”.
*Best instructional practice = small group, differentiated instruction, not one size fits all.
*Teachers are the decision makers and should have “evidenced based” teaching – use what you know about what kids can do to guide your instruction.
*Having kids engaged – with lots of opportunity to hear grade level text (vocab) and A LOT of opportunity to practice in appropriate leveled texts.
*The “levels” on texts are for the educators. Kids and Leveled texts – how to respond to them:
1st time child says “I’m a level “P” but this book is an “O”. “
Say – “The letters on the book are for me to help pick out books, you don’t need to worry about them.”
2nd time child says it – “We already talked about that, no need to concern yourself with that.
3rd time child says it’ “We are not talking about that anymore.”
The kids do not need to know their levels, they need to know what their strengths are, and what their goals are.
When prompting during reading, “get in and get out” quickly. Don’t do “mini lessons” in the middle of books. Wait till the end and go back.
Prompting Guide #2 is coming out soon. It will focus on the rest of the strategies and be more comprehension based.
Designing High Quality Literacy Programs for All Kids
April 15th, 2010 Notes shared by Sue Tegen
*Believes in Authentic Literacy in classrooms. Real books, real writing. Kids living a reading and writing life. Thinking and talking about texts and having a passion for reading.
*Not about the materials – it’s about the kids. The materials are the “tools”.
*Best instructional practice = small group, differentiated instruction, not one size fits all.
*Teachers are the decision makers and should have “evidenced based” teaching – use what you know about what kids can do to guide your instruction.
*Having kids engaged – with lots of opportunity to hear grade level text (vocab) and A LOT of opportunity to practice in appropriate leveled texts.
*The “levels” on texts are for the educators. Kids and Leveled texts – how to respond to them:
1st time child says “I’m a level “P” but this book is an “O”. “
Say – “The letters on the book are for me to help pick out books, you don’t need to worry about them.”
2nd time child says it – “We already talked about that, no need to concern yourself with that.
3rd time child says it’ “We are not talking about that anymore.”
The kids do not need to know their levels, they need to know what their strengths are, and what their goals are.
When prompting during reading, “get in and get out” quickly. Don’t do “mini lessons” in the middle of books. Wait till the end and go back.
Prompting Guide #2 is coming out soon. It will focus on the rest of the strategies and be more comprehension based.