Best Practice in Reading and Writing

There are many ways to increase students' engagement in reading and writing. Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar, the authors of "Teaching the Best Practice Way:  Methods That Matter, K-12," expressed good teaching as a continuum of improvement which involves moving away from ineffective practices and moving toward research-based "best practices." It is essential to revisit what we are doing in our classrooms often, so we can be sure that students are getting the most out of what they read and what they write. Below are a few things to think about as we reflect on our teaching. Ask yourselves these questions. If the answer is no, then that might be one place to think about reviewing and changing.

Reading

• Are we allowing students choice to pick their own books to read?
• Are we exposing students to a wide range of rich literature during the day? 
• Are we modeling and discussing our own thinking during reading?
• Are we giving the students time to collaborate and share their thinking about books?

Writing

• Are we increasing class time spent on writing original pieces and giving students real purposes for writing?
• Are we modeling our own writing along with the students and demonstrating the processes we want them to do?
• Are we increasing the study of grammar and mechanics in context, at the editing stage, and as items are needed?
• Are you allowing students the opportunity to write across the curriculum as a tool for learning?