It's Monday, It's ELA Common Core Day!

So, RL.__.6 is a standard that opened my eyes last year when I was preparing a Common Core workshop with teachers in New Hampshire, Missouri, and N. Dakota.  I wanted to share this one with you...

RL stands for Reading Standards for Literature.  The middle number ( __ ) represents the grade level, and the 6 represents the standard.

Now, what you want to do, is read over all of them, all the way down:

RL.K.6 (Kindergarten) - With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

same standard, 1st grade... RL.1.6 (1st grade) -  Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

same standard, 2nd grade... RL2.6 (2nd grade) - Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

WOW - did you just have the same though I did?  

If I was a kindergarten teacher, it would be really good for me to know that point of view is where this standard is leading, down the line.  As a kindergarten teacher, I wouldn't stop at name and illustrator and the role(s) of who is telling the story... I would start to weave in oral discussions about point of view.  

I know a 5-year-old little girl named Kaylee, who has been talking about point of view with me since she turned 4.  We didn't call it point of view then... We talked about what the story would be like if my cat Mika, was the main character and she was telling the story, and how would the story change if Ty, my big brown chocolate lab was telling the story, and how it would sound really different from Mika's version.  I didn't label our discussions "point of view" but we had some rich dialogue going back and forth, all laying the foundation for point of view later on.

With Common Core, it's really important that we look down the road and see where our grade's standard is heading.  It's a way we can set our students up for success. 

Here's where that same standard is heading:
RL.3.6 (3rd grade) - Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

RL.4.6 (4th grade) - Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.

RL5.6 (5th grade) - Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

RL.6.6 (6th grade) - Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

and then look where 8th grade takes us (I know I skipped 7th grade, but I just want us to look ahead.)  RL.8.6 - Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

WOW!  So, my It's Monday, It's ELA Common Core Day! TIP this week is - don't put blinders on and only see your grade level's standards.  Take the one you are working on and look at the next grade, and the next, and the next... It might help direct the way you are teaching. :)

Click here for more Common Core ELA Standards.

Until next time, share a literacy strategy!
Dr. Denise Gudwin

What Do Good Readers Do?

I'm switching over to a new blog framework - My 2012 New Year's Resolution was to blog every week.  It is August... I missed my target.  By 216 days.  I will post every week... I will post every week.  Thanks to the teachers across the country who have encouraged me to blog.  You are always my inspiration.

Thanks to my friend and colleague, Dr. Nicki Newton, (see her awesome Math blog here.) I am going to be more diligent in posting.  

Today's topic - What Do Good Readers Do?  Share with your readers what good readers do.  Knowing what strategy to use when, will assist your students in becoming more effective readers.   Be sure to say, “This is what good readers do…” or "Good readers use this strategy, because..." or "This strategy helps me when I ______, because that's what good readers do."

It shouldn’t be a secret, yet when you ask struggling readers what good readers do, oftentimes they have no idea – the most common answer is, “They read fast.”  We must teach our students strategies that good readers use, so they can incorporate them into higher order thinking skills.   Create your own list with your students, adding to it throughout the year. You can also see list shared here at www.denise.gudwin.org.  

So what do good readers do?  Here's a list to start with...  Add to it with your students! Invite other students who are good readers to share with your students what they do, as good readers.  

Good Readers...

• use picture clues
• reread
• attempt to figure out an unknown word
• think about the meaning of the text/story
• go back to text
• visualize the story part
• form a picture in their mind
• ask themselves questions about the text
• chunk word parts
• read fluently, not word-by-word
• have a purpose for reading
• know when they don't "get it"
• discuss what they've read
• think actively about what they are reading
• summarize
• make predictions
• want to read more about this topic
• talk about what they're reading
• make connections to what they've read before
• make text-to-self connections

Until next time, share a literacy strategy.

Dr. Denise Gudwin