Literacy Teaching in
the Era of Higher
Standards: K-12
Karen Biggs-Tucker [email protected]
Brian Tucker [email protected]
Wild Rose Elementary School
36W730 Red Haw Lane
St. Charles, IL 60174
Twitter: @litcup
A Common Sense View of Gradual Release
ssment and Cele
Asse
bra
ng
tio
goi
n
On
Teacher
Modeling and
Demonstration
Shared
Demonstration
“I Show You”
“We Do It”
Guided
Practice with
Descriptive
Feedback
“You Try It”
Independent
Application
“You Apply It”
©W
14
20
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alth
Adapted from:
Pearson & Gallagher, 1983; Miller, 2013; Routman, 2008
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Learning Targets For
Our Students (Walther, 2015)
I can pause.
I can ponder.
I can look for patterns.
I can look to problem solve.
I can look to be precise.
I can communicate my process.
I can persevere.
Create a Literacy Community for Your Learners
Some Texts to help build literacy community:
Alexander, K. (2016). Booked. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt.
Hest, A. (2012). The reader. (L. Castillo, Illus.). New York, NY: Two Lions.
Hunt, L. (2015). Fish in a tree. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen.
Klausmeier, J. (2013). Open this little book. (S. Lee, Illus.). San Francisco, CA:
Chronicle Books.
Le, M. (2016). Let me finish. (I. Roxa, Illus.). New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.
Lehrhaupt, A. (2013). Do not open this book! (M. Forsythe, Illus.). New York, NY:
Paula Wiseman Books.
Lehrhaupt, A. (2015). Please open this book! (M. Forsythe, Illus). New York, NY:
Paula Wiseman Books.
Maclear, K. (2015). My good little book. (M. Arbona, Illus.). New York, NY: Tundra
Books.
Saltzberg, S. (2016). Inside this book (are three little books). New York, NY: Abrams.
Staake, B. (2014). My pet book. New York, NY: Random House.
Zagarenski, P. (2015). The whisper. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books
for
Young Readers.
Elevating Reading Workshop

Read Aloud

Facilitate Collaborative Conversations

Support Independent Reading

Guide Readers

Develop Reading Responses
Read Aloud Every Day
Why Read Aloud Every Day??
 provides shared reading experiences
 encourages rich discussion for all readers to hear, especially prior to written
responses
 demonstrates thinking aloud on the part of the teacher (the most experienced
reader in the room!)
 models fluency and expression of oral reading
 shows how experienced readers apply strategies, monitor comprehension, and
are metacognitive about their reading
 builds reading community
Why Picture Books for ALL Readers?
 short pieces of engaging text for readers

become great mentor texts for reading and writing strategies

illustrations help support the reader’s thinking about the text

wide range of topics, even for older readers

accessible for reluctant readers to pick up and reread later

build a connection for learners between reading and writing
Source: Transforming Literacy Teaching in the Era of Higher Standards, 3-5
(Biggs-Tucker & Tucker, 2015)
Read Alouds to Engage Your Learners:
Barnett, M. (2016). Rules of the house. (M. Myers, Illus.). New York, NY:
Disney/Hyperion.
Barton, C. (2016). Whoosh: Lonnie Johnson’s super-soaking stream of inventions.
(D. Tate, Illus.). New York, NY: Charlesbridge.
Cole, H. (2016). Spot, the cat. New York, NY: Little Simon.
Fan, T. & Fan, E. (2016). The night gardener. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Gottesfeld, J. (2016). (P. McCarty, Illus.). The tree in the
courtyard: Looking through Anne Frank’s window. New York,
NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Herkert, B. (2016). Sewing stories: Harriet Powers’ journey from slave to artist. (V.
Brantley-Newton, Illus.). New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Jung, M. (2016). Unidentified suburban object. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books.
Novesky, A. (2016). Cloth Lullaby: The woven life of Louise Bourgeois. New York, NY:
Harry N. Abrams.
Rosenstock, B. (2016) Dorothea’s eyes: Dorothea Lange photographs the truth. New
York,
NY: Calkins Creek.
Smith, L. (2016). There is a tribe of kids. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.
Sutcliffe, J. (2016). Will’s words: How William Shakespeare changed the way you talk.
(J. Shelley, Illus.). New York, NY: Charlesbridge.
Weeks, S. & Varadarjan, G. (2016). Save me a seat. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Facilitate Collaborative Conversations
Why include collaborative conversations??
 deepens understanding of texts

prepares students for writing

allows all learners an opportunity to share their thinking
Questions to Guide Student Conversations:
 What do you think? Why do you think that?

Tell me more about your thinking. Can you explain your thinking?

What did you notice?

I have the same thinking because…

My thinking is different because…

I wonder why because…

What else can you say about that?

What do you think? How do you know?

Always..show me where in the text it supports your thinking.
Support Independent Reading
Why Independent Reading is Essential in Your Literacy Program:
 builds stamina and fluency through every day, predictable practice
 cultivates identity and individual preferences
 develops ability to read and produce increasingly complex texts
 communicates the importance of daily reading
 fosters a lifelong love of literacy
Books to Recommend to Your Curious Readers:
Appelt, K. & McGhee, A. (2016). Maybe a fox. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for
Young Readers.
Graff, L. (2016). A clatter of jars. New York, NY: Philomel Books.
McGovern, C. (2016). Just my luck. New York, NY: Harper.
Messner, K. (2016) The seventh wish. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Children USA.
Robinson, S. (2016). The Hero Two Doors Down: Based on the true story of friendship
between
a boy and a baseball legend. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Reynolds, J. (2016). As brave as you. New York, NY: Caitlyn Dlouhy Books.
Sepahban, L. (2016). Paper wishes. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
.Wolk, L. (2016). Wolf Hollow. New York, NY: Dutton Books for Young Readers.
Guide Readers
Four Types of Reading Conferences:
 Assessing – time to check a student’s word recognition, comprehension, and oral
reading skills

Teaching – time to follow up with a reader after an assessment conference,
after whole class instruction, or any other time the teacher thinks the reader
may need some additional support with the reading process

Goal-Setting – invite the student to select a goal to work on and identify what
support might be needed to become successful; the goal may be related to the
student’s reading habits, a skill or strategy, or another aspect in his or her
reading life

Sharing – a time for teachers and readers to get together to share their reading
experiences; it might be a title, a genre that a reader is really excited about
exploring, or a chance to recommend a new author that the student might enjoy
reading
Source: Transforming Literacy Teaching in the Era of Higher Standards, 3-5
(Biggs-Tucker & Tucker, 2015)
Self-Assessing Text Complexity as a Reader:
 Do I understand this text?
Qualitative
 Can I navigate the structure of
this text?
 Can I read most of the words in
Quantitative
this text?
 Do I understand most of the
words (vocabulary) in this text?
 Is this a text that I want to read?
Matching Reader to Task
 Is this appropriate for me as a
reader?
 Do I have the experience/schema
to understand/appreciate this
text?
Ways to Build Students’ Ability to Read Complex Text:
• Read aloud quality literature to students
• Offer choice to students for independent, daily reading
• Book talk books of increasing difficulty in a variety of genres
• Have extensive choices for your readers to select from, either in your classroom
or school library
• Select read aloud texts that are more complex and have rich discussions about
them
• Talk about books with your students and have them talk about books with each
other
• Collaborate with students to set reading goals and develop reading plans based
on their daily independent reading
Develop Reading Responses
Developing social imagination is a big deal and should be a curricular goal.
-Peter Johnston
Some Texts to Help Readers Develop Responses to Texts:
Baumgarten, B. (2015). Beautiful hands. (K. Otoshi, Illus.). New York, NY: Blue Dot
Press.
Teaching Idea:
Higgins, R. (2015). Mother Bruce. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.
Teaching Idea:
Rosenberg, L. (2015). What James said. (M. Myers, Illus.). New York, NY: Roaring Brook
Press.
Teaching Idea:
Messner, K. (2015). How to read a story. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.
Teaching Idea:
Lawson, J. (2015). Sidewalk flowers. (S. Smith, Illus.) New York, NY: Groundwood Books.
Teaching Idea:
Becker, A. (2013). Journey. Sommerville, MA: Chronicle Books.
Teaching Idea:
Drummond, A. (2016). Green city: How one community survived a tornado and rebuilt
for a sustainable future. New York, NY: Frances Foster Books.
Teaching Idea:
Create Multi-Genre Text Sets
Creating a Text Set that Serves Multiple Purposes:
 Identify a theme that may be science, social studies, or social/emotional related
 Identify CCSS standard (reading or writing) or Big Idea that could also tie in
during shared reading experience
 Look for engaging titles that are connected to both theme and reading and/or
writing standard/Big Idea
 Incorporate a variety of informational texts exposing your learners to a variety
of topics
Some of My Favorite Non-Fiction Texts:
Keating, J. (2015). Pink is for blobfish.: Discovering the
world’s perfectly pink animals. New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Herkert, B. (2016). Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers’s Journey from Slave to Artist.
(V. Newton, Illus.). New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Barton, C. (2016). Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s super-soaking stream of inventions. (D.
Tate, Illus.) New York, NY: Charlesbridge.
Hood, S. (2016). Ada’s violin: The story of the recycled orchestra of Paraguay.
(S. Comport, Illus.) New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Books for Young
Readers.
Enhancing Writing Workshop

Read Aloud Like a Writer

Engage in Collaborative Conversations

Share Effective Mini-Lessons

Guide Writers

Develop Engaging Writing Genre Studies
Read Aloud Like a Writer
How to Choose a “Read Like a Writer Text:”
 Choose a well-written mentor text.
 Determine your purpose and share prior to reading the text with your students.
 Read the text while thinking aloud about your identified purpose; invite
students to join in through collaborative conversations.
 Discuss how the author’s craft enhances the text and helps the reader better
understand/enjoy what is being read.
 Invite students to try what they have seen in the mentor text in their own
writing.
 Reread for different purposes to enjoy again and again!
During Read aloud, stop several times at natural breaking points the following questions
for students to “turn and talk” about:
 What do you notice?
 What are you wondering?
 How might you choose to do this in your own writing?
 Where do you think the author got his/her ideas for this book?
 Listen to this! Let me reread the beginning of this book. Did the lead make you
want to read the story?
 Did you hear any words that you want to remember and use in your own writing?
 Can you picture this setting/character/event in your mind? How did the author
help you do that? What words did he or she use?
 Notice the way the sentences flow Talk about how the author did that.
 Does this writing have voice?
 Who is telling this story?
 How do you know that?
Adapted from
Routman, R. (2003). Reading essentials: The specifics
you need to teach reading well. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Some of My Favorite Writing Mentor Texts:
Alexie, S. (2016). Thunder Boy Jr. (Y. Morales, Illus.). New York, NY: Little, Brown
and Company.
Teaching Idea:
Doltich, R. (2015). One day, the end: Short, very short, shorter-than-ever stories.
(F. Koehler, Illus.).New York, NY: Boyds Mill Press.
Teaching Idea:
Neubecker, R. (2013). Winter is for snow. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.
Teaching Idea:
Funk, J. (2015). Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast. (B. Kearney, Illus.). New York,
NY: Sterling Children’s Books.
Teaching Idea:
Nelson, K. (2015). If you plant a seed. New York, NY: Balzer & Bray.
Teaching Idea:
Stead, P. (2016). Ideas are all around. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.
Teaching Idea:
A Couple of New Poetry Books to Add to Your Collection:
Raczka, B. (2016). Wet cement: A mix of concrete poems.
New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.
Fogliano, J. (2016). (J. Morstad, Illus.). When green becomes tomatoes: Poems for
all seasons. New York, NY: Neal Porter.
Creating a Book Spine Poem:
 Begin by looking at a variety of titles; either on a list of titles that have been
read or want to be read by the student, class, or in the classroom library
 Use a pencil and paper to jot down titles that seem like they may have potential
to be combined later to make a poem
 When ready begin to gather books (if desired) to create and “capture” your
unique book spine poem or write your poem down to record to share with others
Engage in Collaborative Conversations
“Language” of Read Like a Writer
Conversations:






What did the author do? What do you think he/she did that?
Would you have done something differently in the text if you were
the author? What? Why?
How did the author help you understand and enjoy the text?
Are there any favorite words or phrases that you wish you had
written?
Why did the author chose that word? How did it help the reader
better understand/enjoy the text?
Why would the author do something like that in his/ her writing?
How else could he/she have done that?
Always…What did you see/hear that you’d like to try in your own writing?
What can you learn from this author and/or mentor text that you’d like to
try in your own writing?
Share Effective Mini-Lessons
Use RADaR to help revise my writing…
 Replace…
o words that are not specific, are unclear or words that are overused or
boring
 Add…
o new information to make my writing better and more interesting to my
reader
 Delete…
o unrelated ideas to the topic
o sentences that sound good, but don’t fit with my writing mode or my
topic
o unwanted or unnecessary repetition
o unnecessary details
 And reorder…
o to make better sense of your writing or topic
o to help your writing flow better
o so details support your main idea
o to avoid writing that doesn’t engage your reader
Mentor Sentences to Support Students with Grammar/Mechanics:
 Choose a sentence from a favorite “Read Like a Writer” text
 Ask “What do you notice? What do you like about this sentence?”
 Connect the sentence’s structure, patterns, and other effects that the other
uses to help create meaning for the reader


Have students look for sentences that are examples of the mentor sentence
that you have shared with the group in their independent reading and writing
Finally, have students experiment with the mentor sentence by experimenting by
changing aspects of the sentence to improve it. (This is what writers do!)
Develop Engaging Writing Genre Studies
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
 Identify audience and purpose for researching first

Allow choice of topic whenever possible

Empower student researchers to gather information and organize based on “big
ideas”

Utilize a variety of resources during the research process including books,
articles, websites, and even experts in the field

Model notetaking where learners read from a source, “stop and think,” and then,
“cover and write”

Create informational writing based on identified purpose and audience

Develop writing through revision to finalize piece to share with others
How to Write a Book Review:
• Tell about the most important parts of the book – include character, setting,
and what happens in the story. (Remember…don’t give away the ending or the
most exciting parts!)
•
Think about what you liked best about this book and tell about that in your
book recommendation. Was it the genre, the characters, or something else? If it
attracted you, it may attract another reader too!
•
Decide the kind of reader that might like this book and describe the reader and
how this book would be a good match for that reader. Sometimes the reader
might be someone like you or it might be someone who is looking for someone
different and you have just the right book!
Professional Books That Have Helped Transform Our Thinking About Literacy
Teaching
Anderson, C. (2000). How’s it going? A practical guide to conferring with
student writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Anderson, J. (2005). Mechanically inclined: Building grammar, usage, and style
into writer’s workshop. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Anderson, J. (2014). What writing is & isn’t. Educational Leadership, 71
(7), 10-14.
Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading,
and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Biggs-Tucker, K. & Tucker, B. (2015). Transforming literacy teaching in
the era of higher standards, 3-5. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Dorfman, L. & Cappelli, R. (2007). Mentor texts: Teaching writing through
children’s literature, K-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Dorfman, L. & Cappelli, R. (2009). Mentor texts: Teaching
writing informational writing through children’s literature,
K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Johnston, P. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s
learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Johnston, P. (2012). Opening minds: Using language to change lives.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Miller, D. (2013). Reading in the wild: The book whisper’s keys to cultivating
lifelong reading habits. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fuhler, C. & Walther, M. (2007). Literature is back: Using the best books for
teaching readers and writers across genres. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Graves, D. (1984). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Keene, E. (2008). To understand: New horizons in reading comprehension.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krashen, S. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from the
research. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Lehman, C. (2014). Energize research reading and writing: Fresh
strategies to spark interest, develop independence, and meet
key common core standards. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Miller, D. (2008). Teaching with intention. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Miller, D. (2013). Reading with meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Moss, B. & Young, T. (2010). Creating lifelong readers through independent
reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Nichols, M. (2006). Comprehension through conversation: The power
of purposeful talk in the reading workshop. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Ray, K.W. (1999). Wondrous words: Writers and writing in the elementary
classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Richardson, J. & Walther, M. (2013). The next step guided reading
assessment K-5. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Routman, R. (2004). Writing essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Routman, R. (2006). Reading essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Serravallo, J. & Goldberg, G. (2007). Conferring with readers: Supporting each
student’s growth and independence. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Walther, M. P. (2015). Transforming literacy teaching in the era of
higher standards, K-2. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Walther, M. & Phillips, K. (2009). Month-by-month trait based
writing instruction. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Walther, M. & Phillips, K. (2012). Month-by-month reading instruction for
the differentiated classroom. New York, NY: Scholastic.