Resources
Affidavit PDF
Letters to Luba PDF
Making Sense of Reading Instruction: Viewing and Discussion Guide PDF
Special Feature Webcast: Making Sense of Reading Instruction: Grades 4 to 6
Webcast: September 10, 2007Scroll down to access archived streaming video.
Featuring:
David Booth, professor at University of Toronto, OISE, author
Kathleen Gould Lundy, professor at York University, author
Bev Strachan, professor at University of Toronto, OISE
Larry Swartz, professor at University of Toronto, OISE, author
Also Contributing:
Staff and students of Ontario schools
Aldergrove P.S. York Region District School Board
Deborah Smith, principal
Maira Herenberg, Grade 4 teacher
Armour Heights, Toronto District School Board
Paul Offor, Grade 6 teacher
Charles H. Hulse Public School, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
Pino Buffone, principal
Wali Farah, school council member
Students from the Global Awareness Club
David Shentow, Holocaust survivor
Rubin Friedman, Senior Director of Planning – Jewish Federation of Ottawa
Patrick Mascoe, Grade 6 teacher
Hawthorne Public School, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
Francesse Kopczewski, principal
Randy Little, vice-principal
Michael Fuchigami, intermediate teacher
Terry Plumb, intermediate teacher
Wayne Simpson, junior teacher
Grant McMann, junior teacher
Jennifer Menzies, primary teacher
Emily Wagner, primary teacher
Susan Newton, kindergarten teacher
Stephen Skoutajan, junior teacher
Queen Victoria Public School, Toronto District School Board
Leslie Moody, principal
Jim Stathopoulos, vice-principal
Kent Yee, vice-principal
Milica O'Brien, teacher-librarian, ELL teacher, Arts chair
Jason Kandankery, Grade 6 teacher
Martha McGloin, Grade 4 teacher, ELL and Information Technology teacher
Dave Fontaine, Grade 4 teacher
Clover Clarke, Grade 6 teacher
Brian Okamoto, Grade 5 teacher
Lisa Lisowski, Early Years Literacy Coordinator
Alana Hardy, Grade 4 teacher
Homero Alvarez, Grade 4 teacher
Saint Mary, London Catholic District School Board
Kathleen Fraumeni, principal
Michelle Butters, Grade 5 teacher
Araceli Garcia, Grade 6 teacher
Whitehaven P.S., Toronto District School Board
Jim Carson, principal
Devika William-Yu, Grade 4 teacher
Windham Ridge, York Region District School Board
Nadine Grossman, grade 5 teacher
York University Faculty of Education
Gina Micomonaco, York University Faculty of Education course director
Karen Stephensen, York University Faculty of Education course director
Judy Blaney, York University Faculty of Education course director
Teacher candidates, Richmond Hill and Barrie sites
The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Pauline Beder, Student Achievement Officer
Therese Chaput, Student Achievement Officer
Sandy Giles, Student Achievement Officer
Merrill Mathews, Student Achievement Officer
Reading is one of the keys to success across the curriculum within school and beyond. It has the capacity to broaden our children's world view and deepen their understanding of themselves as individuals within that world. Reading must always be about thinking and making meaning.
Students need year after year of effective instruction if they are to become highly proficient readers. As they progress through school and life, they will meet texts of all types, and those texts will increase in complexity. Students need to learn how to apply the skills and strategies that they learn, independently and in contextually sensitive combinations to new and unfamiliar scenarios.
The purpose of this webcast is to inspire dialogue, reflection, and action. The following questions are provided as a guide for further professional conversations:
- How can I structure the learning in my classroom to ensure that students develop the critical literacy skills and habits of mind necessary for success in the twenty-first century?
- How can I follow the gradual release of responsibility model to ensure that my teaching is responsive to my students' needs and builds toward independence?
- What criteria do I need to consider in order to provide resources that include texts of all types and levels of difficulty are relevant, engaging, and inclusive?
- How can I structure my learning environment so that various groupings work effectively within a literate culture?
- How will I know that my strategies are working for all students?
- How can I integrate literacy instruction across the curriculum?
- What strategies will allow me to interconnect all aspects of my literacy program?
- How can I model and teach accountable talk?
- How can I schedule time for reflection and interaction?
- How can I make the learning in my classroom relevant, engaging, and meaningful?
- How can I connect outside-school literacies with inside-school literacies through authentic learning experiences?
"...our students are engaged in a constant reading of the world and of themselves as they try to figure out what both mean and where they fit in..."
Jim Burke in Illuminating Texts
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- Making Sense of Reading Instruction: Grades 4 to 6
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