Resource Website

This is a WONDERFUL website for resources in teaching how to decode. It is divided into grade levels too. Learn about decoding strategies for young readers. Find out what decoding strategies are and why they are so important. Also includes teaching tips, handouts for students, and online activities. There are links to eThemes resources on sight words and contextual clues. I hope you can utilize it for yourself and for your students!! Let me know how you put it into use and the outcomes!

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001676.shtml

Tips for Motivating Students

Here are suggestions for motivating students that author Deborah Reed has used and drawn from numerous sources.
■ Offer students choice in their reading materials.
■ Arouse curiosity of books by previewing them with students, activating students’ prior knowledge, connecting the book to students’ lives or to popular culture, and helping students make predictions about possible outcomes.
■ Allow students to respond to their reading through discussion with both peers and adults, through reflective writing, or both.
■ Frequently and explicitly model reading, responding, and monitoring comprehension.
■ Reduce the number of activities associated with the book to focus more on the reading itself and foster an aesthetic stance (as opposed to an efferent stance where students read to carry away information).

Here are a few important points to remember....

*Students with high interest in a topic might be able to read more difficult material than an ability test might indicate.

*Students who struggle with reading need consistent feedback on their efforts, regardless of their achievement.

*More importantly: Every minute with a good teacher is precious to a struggling reader, and to the extent that independent practice time cuts into more effective instructional
time, it can actually undermine reading success.