Literacy & Reading Videos

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Exemplary teachers and professional development authors confront issues pertaining to a variety of readers. Learn about new practices in reading skills, interventions, assessing comprehension and fluency, or guiding students in literature choices that are relevant and inspiring.

Teaching an Oral Recitation Lesson
In order to build reading fluency, a teacher models an effective lesson on reading aloud as a group.

Reading Records: Why and How
A teacher assesses a student's reading while taking detailed notes, then provides insights based on the patterns in her errors.

Improving Reading Comprehension
A model teacher introduces new vocabulary by using a concept definition map.

Building Decoding Skills and Strategies: Teaching Open Syllables
A teacher A teacher motivates students to participate in a lesson about open syllables with an enthusiastic introduction.

Jeff Wilhelm: Promoting Inquiry in Language Arts
Inquiry-based teaching encourages reading and facilitates understanding in the language arts.

Assessment of Comparison of Minimal Sounds
A teacher assesses an ELL student's ability to differentiate between similar sounding words.

Engaging With Fiction: Making Inferences
A teacher demonstrates how to support inferences by using a student skit as an example.

Teaching Digraphs: Improve Decoding Skills
A model teacher leads the class in recognizing different letter combinations that produce the "sh" sound.

Teaching Students How to Mark a Text: Set Expectations
A teacher encourages students to set their own expectations by collectively brainstorming reasons to mark a test.

Read Aloud With Nonfiction: Motivate and Focus
Watch a teacher provide opportunities to practice oral language skills and listening comprehension by reading aloud from a nonfiction book.

Using a Story Map for Retellings
From a lesson from Putting Reading First in Your Classroom, a teacher employs a story map to assess text comprehension.

Guided Reading: Modeling Fix-Up Strategies
Learn effective classroom strategies and techniques you can immediately use with your guided reading groups.

Carol J. Fuhler and Maria P. Walther: Managing a Busy Teaching Day
When pressed for time in the classroom, prioritize and make cross-curicular connections.

• Quality Literature Throughout the Curriculum
  Work actively to fit literature, read-aloud time, and poetry into other content areas.
• Children's Books Help Writers
  Instead of worksheets, use great books to exemplify literary and language arts elements.
• Recognizing a Good Book
  Fuhler and Walther suggest keeping an eye on what kids choose to read, emphasizing books with strong characters and series books.

Marilyn Adams: What Do Recent National Changes Mean for How We Teach Reading?
The Chief Scientist of Soliloquy Learning discusses the implications of her research and the potential of technology to address reading gaps.

• Part 2: How Do These Changes Affect Our Choice of Tools?
• Part 3: The Relationship Between Vocabulary and Reading

Alfred Tatum: How Do Recent National Changes Affect the Books That Educators Provide?
The Assistant Professor of Literacy of Northern Illinois University stresses the need for relevant literature "that will change [students'] lives, and text they will remember and live by."

• What Do National Changes Mean for How We Teach Reading?

Nancie Atwell: The Reading Zone
Atwell outlines the core conditions necessary for readers to enter the lives and experiences of characters.

• Comprehension
  Atwell explains how to determine whether or not students are truly understanding what they are reading.
• Student Choice
  When students choose what they read, they get to experience the pleasures and personal relevance of reading.
• Creating Passionate Readers
  Atwell describes the beginnings of a life as a reader.

Teaching with Illustrators
Bring illustrators into your classroom with these resources, including interviews, a unit plan, and guided tours of favorite books.

Reading for Gumshoes
Teacher Audrey Kennan shares how she uses mysteries to teach crucial reading skills. â??Tis the season for a spooky story!