Telling vs. Coaching

In the article, "Looking inside classrooms: Refelcting on the "how" as well as the "what" in effective reading instruction" by Taylor, Peterson, Pearson, and Rodriguez, I found it very interesting that they found that "telling" children things in excess amounts does not seem to be nearly as effective as "coaching" children.  In coaching, the children are more responsible for coming up with their own responses and gives them the opportunity to use their own skills and strategies.  Although teaching would be impossible without telling some things, it's good to limit this because children become disengaged. 

Here is a helpful website with a list of skills young readers should develop and ways teachers can help improve these skills in the classroom!
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm

Running Records

In Marie Clay's book, Running Records, she discusses ways for teachers to keep track of student's reading and the notes that should be made to indicate certain assessments.  In other words, it's "shorthand" for teachers when assessing children.  These notes not only help the teacher understand what the student struggles with, but how they think while reading.  For instance, if a student struggles with a word, do they completely skip it as a whole, sound it out, or repeat it?  This approach helps teachers agree on one (of many ways) to read notes and assessments done by themselves or other teachers!

Here is a running record calculator!  You type in the # of words in the text, and then the # of errors and self-corrections.  It is a helpful way to "score" a student and see what reading level is appropriate for them.
http://www.wordcalc.com/runningrecord/