amidst MUCH change, some things are constant.

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Well, the school year has certainly not begun in the way that we had hoped. At least this is the situation for me. Something that has not changed, however, is the fact that students need to learn to read, write, speak, listen, and think critically.

With that in mind, my ninth grade students and I began talking last week about the difference between Dairy Queen ice cream and Culver's custard. Besides the obvious difference--eggs, and a TON of calories--we talked about density, viscosity, and other important characteristics. Stephen King explicates his airy analogy in his On Writing as well. I have added to it because our school happens to be directly down the block from a  Culver's.

I handed out my Level One Critical Reading Annotation rubric to my students this past week and began discussing the important shift to think about in terms of reading:  that shift from reading for fun--where we are so engrossed in story, perhaps, that we cannot read fast enough to the idea that we begin reading on several levels at the same time and begin to take longer to process those different levels of information.

I could tell that a few of my students were a little bummed when I mentioned "extra time." But some students were actually pretty excited when they heard that they were going to start understanding deeper meaning and different levels of text. Other students shot me quizzical glances above their masks. (I'm hoping those looks mean they want to trust me.) I intend to give them more support this next week. I intend to let them know that this is all going to be just fine. We've got this!

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This week's freebee is my Level One Critical Reading Annotation rubric as well as the How & Why of critical reading. I sent students home over the weekend, charged them to take out their favorite highlighters and reading pens, and asked them to read the How & Why and then to tackle those concepts and highlight the ideas that they felt were most important--for them personally. I intend to do a 3-2-1 strategy next week in class. (If you're interested in my 3-2-1 posters, you'll find those FREE in my TPT store.)

Be certain to cruise on over to the Atelier page and download your copy of this week's freebie. And if you're interested in my Level Two Critical Reading Annotation rubric as well as the How & Why of critical reading, you'll also find that in my TPT store. 

I hope you're having a good start to the school year and hanging in there as best that you are able right now. And please let me know if I can help out in anyway with some teacher supports or products that I might already have available.

We'll talk soon!
Dea