Motivation

How Complex a Text Can I Scaffold?

Teacher question:

The P Word

Poetry has never been my favorite. It was something archaic you had to read at school. If it was presented as “Poetry,” I never particularly enjoyed it. I’ve always tried to read more poetry, but it was an effort. Though I love stories, I somehow couldn’t connect to the story in the poems I read.

But it has recently become clear to me that I’ve spent most of my life thinking in poetry.

— Those conversations I imagined the trees were having as I passed through the woods on the way home from school

Poetry

An Interview with Author Erica Perl

Erica Perl

A native of Vermont, Erica S. Perl now lives in Washington, D.C., where she writes a range of books for young readers. She has done very funny picture books, novels for middle grade as well as books for young adults, and most recently a novel in play form,

Reading in the Spotlight

Welcome Madelyn Rosenberg to Book Life! Madelyn is a mom, journalist, and the author of nine books for children. Her newest book, This Is Just a Test, with Wendy Wan-Long Shang, comes out on June 27.

Jason Reynolds: The Beauty of Words Is Magic

Gene sits down with award-winning YA author Jason Reynolds. They talk about the unusual story structure in All American Boys, the inspiration for the book, and how writing it emerged from a deep friendship (full of “uncomfortable, healthy conversations”) with his co-author, Brendan Kiely. With his book Ghost, Reynolds wanted to explore the whole concept of “running” — and what it means to run toward, or run away, from something.

Reading Success During Spring Break!

Guest post by Stacie Brady, AIM-VA

Hooray! Spring is on the way. Whether families are headed to the beach, camping, amusement parks or even a staycation, it’s a great time to practice using those reading accommodation tools with real-life reading opportunities. Using reading tools such as text-to-speech during fun, low stress, literacy activities help to build independence and encourage practice with the tool-based skills needed for more academic reading when returning to school.

Bringing Books to Life: My Little House in the Big Woods

We’ve had a mild winter here in Virginia and the lack of snow got me thinking about a past cold and snowy adventure to the boyhood home of Almanzo Wilder in upstate New York.

Open up the world of Braille literacy to your students!

Guest post by Stacie Brady, AIM-VA

Welcome to supporting an awareness of literacy for students who use Braille. Braille literacy is directly linked to print literacy, academic success, and future employment. It unlocks many doors both personally for enjoyment and independence as well as professionally, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment toward a life well-lived!

Welcome Flag

Made to Order!

Guest post by Ian Moore, AIM-VA

Have you ever tried to read a phone number that was written as a single stream of text and struggled to retain the information or even quickly comprehend it? As an example, my phone number at AIM-VA training and technical assistance is: 17039935578.

How quickly could you read that number? Would you remember it if someone asked to dial it? If someone asked, how quickly could you identify the position of the second three.

Now try it with additional spacing: 1 703 993 5578.

An Argument about Independent Reading Time During the School Day

Last week I answered a teacher’s question about free reading time during the school day and its relationship to reading motivation (e.g., making kids like reading).