Go 4th and Teach

3 Ways to Make Sure the Students are Loving Your Reading Block! Hey everyone! I am excited to share with you again, this time some of my most successful Reading Block structures and activities to engage kids and get them interacting with text in ways that make an impact. Keep reading if you want to make some easy to implement changes to your reading instruction that pack a punch of growth!  1. Teach in Their World with a Variety of Text Selection and Media Text choices that our students can be excited about are more available to us now than ever before. Be aware of what the most popular books are on reputable websites such scholastic book clubs, or in the kids book aisle at target. Make an effort to borrow those titles from your local library (oh yeah, ask the librarians too--they'll be able to tell you which titles are checked out most often by kids in each age group!) or create a wish list on amazon for people who want to donate things to your class and put those books at t...

I didn't drive until I was 20 years old.  To most people, it seems like I waited a long time. My reason?  I was too scared to drive. I guess I never do anything until I've studied up on it and I just didn't feel ready.  When I finally decided to transfer to a college located 160 miles away from home, however, I needed to make it official.   Before that though, I got rides everywhere.  Back and forth to work, back and forth to school--if I needed to go there, someone else was taking me.  One of the people carting me around was my grandpa.  I lived with my grandparents until I was 15 years old. It just worked out that way. Anyway, most of the time after I moved in with my mom and siblings and I needed a ride, he would be there for me.  Even when I needed to commute to and from the small local branch of Kent State at odd hours, he was the taxi.  I miss those rides.   I saw a tweet recently that got me thinking about how much histo...