Pamela S. Bacon

Let us say that you are having a conversation or planning session with reading coaches and classroom teachers about the various gaps in reading scores. As a team, you are committed to do something to strengthen the reading program. You decide on a list of reading skills that are going to be emphasized by everyone who is working with kids at a certain grade level or with a particular teacher. Then you need ideas of actually what you are going to do separately and collaboratively. You need ideas. This book provides a wide variety of ideas that the adults can try if you lack them or need some refreshing ones. That is the value here. But be careful. Begin not with unique ideas but with best practice ideas before adopting these strategies. Evaluate each idea. What is it likely to contribute? How much time is it going to take? For teacher librarians, will it promote the love of reading as it focuses on skills? Is it busy work or purposeful? There are so many things and ideas to do that do take up time. And, time is very very precious. As we look at the various ideas presented here, just be careful and as adults be honest about whether ideas you try actually contribute. Bottom line: every adult has to have a bag of tricks and these days, those tricks must be built on solid best practice and research plus the learners have to be engaged, interested, and wanting more rather than just pile one them one more thing to do. Perhaps time to read and a plethora of available books might work rather than an activity (ala Krashen). This one gets an additional purchase rating if you are in desperate need of idea starters.… (meer)