As the summer rolled in, so did the news that I'd be teaching a ninth-grade class due to some teacher reshuffling and shifts in student enrollment. While I'd never ventured into the world of ninth graders before, I saw it as an exciting challenge and set to work devising innovative teaching units and English Language Arts (ELA) activities. It was during this preparation that I stumbled upon a game-changing tweet from a fellow professional educator I follow. She shared her unique approach to teaching prosody – the art of reading with expression. It immediately struck a chord with me, and little did I know, it would become a pivotal focus in domains 1e and 4e of my yearlong teaching portfolio.
Prosody, I soon discovered, encompasses a range of elements in how students read text: phrasing, pausing, emphasis, the ebb and flow of their voices, and the ability to truly express the content. This tweet and the activity it inspired marked a significant step in my professional growth, enabling me to enhance my understanding of prosody. In turn, I designed a coherent learning activity that centered around instructional groups.
Prosody, I soon discovered, encompasses a range of elements in how students read text: phrasing, pausing, emphasis, the ebb and flow of their voices, and the ability to truly express the content. This tweet and the activity it inspired marked a significant step in my professional growth, enabling me to enhance my understanding of prosody. In turn, I designed a coherent learning activity that centered around instructional groups.
The lesson I crafted was structured around the four critical components of fluency: speed, accuracy, expression, and comprehension. I paired up my students and challenged them to read a sample text within a minute, calculating their words per minute (WPM) and keeping a tally of errors for accountability. We delved deeper into the text, highlighting instances of expression – focusing on volume, tone, and pauses – and then connected the importance of these elements to the novel as a whole.
In today's educational landscape, the science of reading is experiencing a resurgence. This activity aligns perfectly with this movement. My strong belief is that, as students journey through elementary school, they are initially taught how to read. However, somewhere along the way, the emphasis shifts towards literary elements and storytelling, often neglecting the need for ongoing improvement in reading as a skill. While I teach high school students, I firmly believe that reading is a skill that should be continually refined, not simply accepted.
I don't claim that this activity is the pinnacle of all reading exercises, but it stands as a testament to the age-old wisdom that sometimes the most basic and straightforward approaches can have the most profound impact. It's a reminder that in the pursuit of better education, simplicity can be our greatest ally.
In today's educational landscape, the science of reading is experiencing a resurgence. This activity aligns perfectly with this movement. My strong belief is that, as students journey through elementary school, they are initially taught how to read. However, somewhere along the way, the emphasis shifts towards literary elements and storytelling, often neglecting the need for ongoing improvement in reading as a skill. While I teach high school students, I firmly believe that reading is a skill that should be continually refined, not simply accepted.
I don't claim that this activity is the pinnacle of all reading exercises, but it stands as a testament to the age-old wisdom that sometimes the most basic and straightforward approaches can have the most profound impact. It's a reminder that in the pursuit of better education, simplicity can be our greatest ally.