A New Introduction

Students struggle with reading. It’s not that they can’t call the words on the page, they have a genuine fear of a lot of words on a page. It doesn’t matter if it is a simple storybook all typed and fit on a single page, or if it is a 350-page novel, they are intimidated by it. So, when I read about Book, Head, Heart strategy, I thought this is a great idea to implement in the classroom. When students read, they need to understand that they are reading for a purpose. Even if it is leisure reading, it still has a purpose. Let's break it down.   Book: what is the book about? Who is telling the story? What does the author want the reader to know? Head: What surprise is in the story? What are the assumptions of the author about the reader? What confirmations are there? Are there any challenges? What have you noticed? Heart: What have you learned about yourself in this reading? How will this make you a better reader? This strategy was practice in our class for a discu...

Reaching into Memory Most often students are made to write from a prompt. It is not always the easiest thing to do. Being made to elaborate on a topic or subject that you may know nothing about can seem a bit overwhelming to a reluctant writer. There is no connection to the topic. Reaching into a memory allows the student to think about something from their past, and to relive the moment. Be it a good memory, or a not-so-good one, the student has the tools they need to complete the request. There is no judgment on what is written, only that they wrote it. the student may feel more confident in their ability to write something well and is now willing to share from the heart. I would introduce this type of assignment to my students by having them to take out their writing notebook to prepare and then give them a moment to reach back into their memories and grab a memory of a memorable experience. Once they grab this memory, I would have them to accept the fact that this happened ...