The 8 Minutes that Matter Most

Some recent coaching conversations sparked my interest in looking deeper into designing effective lessons.  We all have separate tools we use, various ways to prepare, an almost innate systematic approach, etc. when it comes to lesson planning.  So in my 'web' travels I stumbled upon an article written by Brian Sztabnik, an ELA teacher from New York.  His take on what matters most really sparked some connections to what I've experienced when planning for standards based instruction, both past and present.  Below is an excerpt and link to the article.

"If we fail to engage students at the start, we may never get them back. If we don't know the end result, we risk moving haphazardly from one activity to the next. Every moment in a lesson plan should tell. The eight minutes that matter most are the beginning and endings. If a lesson does not start off strong by activating prior knowledge, creating anticipation, or establishing goals, student interest wanes, and you have to do some heavy lifting to get them back. If it fails to check for understanding, you will never know if the lesson's goal was attained."


The 8 Minutes that Matter Most -- 8 Ways to Make it Magical

The Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of reading is comprehending or understanding the text. Teachers are always trying to support students with “fix-up” strategies like “re-read”. But, do our students truly understand what to do when they are merely told to “re-read” it?

These strategies have to be taught in connection with thinking strategies. It is not only the act of re-reading, but what are we actually expecting them to think and do when they reread the text?

The link below leads to a blog that goes in-depth with the importance of sharing our thinking with our student so that they can better understand what these “strategies” really look like, feel like, sound like, and think like!

“Maybe we don’t understand what readers really do - and why it matters”

This blog shares great examples, like the one below, that help us better understand why the students are still struggling.

Lexile Levels, Readability, Text Complexity?

The College and Career Ready Standards are designed to increase rigor for the students of Alabama through the use of complex text.  Educators and parents would gain a greater understanding of rigor and how to help their children grapple with elevated learning expectations by gaining more knowledge about Lexile Levels and text complexity. Learn more about how they work together to build a better reader:• https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/• https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/downloadable-pdfs/• http://www.readingrockets.org/blog/55202• http://reading.org/General/Publications/Books/BK478.aspx