Teacher Talk Tuesday
In this addition of Teacher Talk Tuesday I, Sarah Pentek, shall effectively beat a dead horse.
The best thing you can do for your child to be successful in school is to read. Read everything. Read to your children. Read with your children. Listen to your child read. Read around your children. Read next to your children. Watch your children read. The second most important thing you can do for your child is to talk to them about all of the above.
We're currently in the process of writing our own fictional stories in fifth grade. Overall, my class is doing well and the coolest thing about this particular task is I can see a significant difference in my young writer's work from the beginning of the year until now (gosh i love when things work). That being said, the blatant differences in the writing produced by my readers and writing produced by my non-readers is staggering. *To clarify, a reader in my class is one who chooses to read on their own and a non-reader is one who reads everything I ask them to in class but rarely engages in the activity outside of school.
(Just so this doesn't sound too teacherspeak, imagine you're floating down a peaceful river and the water is so smooth you end up dozing off because you're so relaxed only to be awoken suddenly by fast-moving rapids with obstacles in the way and then discover you've reached the point in the river where you have to arch your back as hard as you can to avoid contact between you and the sharp gravel below... you get the picture... this my friends is the good, the bad, and the ugly of preteen writing).
Kids who read have an understanding of text and therefore understand what sounds right, what is interesting to read, and what makes a story solid. I read their stories with chills running down my spine. They get it. And I love every minute of it.
Suffice it to say, this is not the only time I will bang this information over your heads. What can I say, I'm a teacher and this is my thang.
The best thing you can do for your child to be successful in school is to read. Read everything. Read to your children. Read with your children. Listen to your child read. Read around your children. Read next to your children. Watch your children read. The second most important thing you can do for your child is to talk to them about all of the above.
We're currently in the process of writing our own fictional stories in fifth grade. Overall, my class is doing well and the coolest thing about this particular task is I can see a significant difference in my young writer's work from the beginning of the year until now (gosh i love when things work). That being said, the blatant differences in the writing produced by my readers and writing produced by my non-readers is staggering. *To clarify, a reader in my class is one who chooses to read on their own and a non-reader is one who reads everything I ask them to in class but rarely engages in the activity outside of school.
(Just so this doesn't sound too teacherspeak, imagine you're floating down a peaceful river and the water is so smooth you end up dozing off because you're so relaxed only to be awoken suddenly by fast-moving rapids with obstacles in the way and then discover you've reached the point in the river where you have to arch your back as hard as you can to avoid contact between you and the sharp gravel below... you get the picture... this my friends is the good, the bad, and the ugly of preteen writing).
Kids who read have an understanding of text and therefore understand what sounds right, what is interesting to read, and what makes a story solid. I read their stories with chills running down my spine. They get it. And I love every minute of it.
Suffice it to say, this is not the only time I will bang this information over your heads. What can I say, I'm a teacher and this is my thang.
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