CREATING - Coming up with new ideas
March 6, 2019
This can be the really fun part of follow-up reading activities. A good story, that has been properly processed and understood, should have created a vivid impression on the imagination of the reader. To invite the reader to grapple further with the ideas in the text; to cre...
ANALYSING - Organising the Information
March 28, 2018
NARRATIVE TEXT When the reader takes apart a story that they have read, looks at it through their own eyes and then puts it back together again, they take ownership for the information and the ideas.
Examples from our resources ask the reader to GRAP...
APPLYING - Using the information in another way
March 13, 2018
LEVEL 3 of BLOOM'S TAXONOMY One example of a Level 3 Bloom’s Taxonomy activity is to get the student to take the information they have read in a non-fiction text and transform it or rework it in another way. Personalising facts into a story lik...
UNDERSTANDING - Have you got it?
March 4, 2018
The second level of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Understanding) requires the reader to show that they can interpret the literal message they have read.Here are two activities that are particularly appropriate for non-fiction text.1. Draw a Picture of ...Creat...
REMEMBERING - What are the facts?
January 23, 2018
LEVEL 1 of BLOOM'S TAXONOMY This is the most basic level of processing information; answering ‘right there’ literal comprehension questions, requiring the reader to remember a fact or be able to revisit the text and find it. In days gone by readers wer...
What Should Follow-Up Reading Activities Look Like?
January 17, 2018
During my time in the classroom I have spend a huge amount of time thinking aIn the middle and upper primary school, follow-up activities are an organisational necessity if you want to be able to spend time doing the real work - guided reading with small ability groups.
Here...
The Case against Follow-Up Reading Activities
January 10, 2018
As you probably know, I am in fact an advocate for the use of follow-up activities in the classroom reading programme - I have spent much time and energy devising them - BUT there is a strong case put forward by teachers and educationalists which has to be r...
Getting them to think WHILE they are reading
December 14, 2017
What has struck me again and again during the whirlwind of workshops in the last few months has been that no matter where we go or who the audience is, whether it be mainstream classes in NZ, students from diverse cultures in International schools in Hong Kong, Chinese...
Assessment - a great way to derail your Term 1 Reading Programme
February 27, 2017
One of my biggest concerns is the trend for Term 1 to become the assessment term. No one seems to have any time anymore to do any teaching because we are all gathering data. Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in data driven, evidence based teaching.
But, I can well rem...