Rochelle Lee Teacher Award Study Groups are school-based professional learning communities. Study groups develop a goal to guide their learning throughout the school year, and meet monthly to discuss instruction and push their practice to reach their goal. Learn more about Coles Model for Excellence School’s study group and what they learned about the components of a balanced literacy program.
School: Coles Model for Excellence School
Text: The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide To Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo.
Study Group Leader: Deborah Banks
Study Group Members: Shirley Bester, Susan Flood, Natali Parenti
Goal: Fostering students’ love of reading by implementing a variety of literacy strategies that center on engagement.
We learned that a variety of strategies are needed to connect all students to books in an effort of fostering students’ love of reading. In the implementation, we found that some strategies were more effective than others. This led to making the necessary adjustments for our students’ success. We were reminded that reading must go beyond strategies to include exploration. Students should feel free to grab books to peruse, gather information, or just enjoy. Effective teaching involves recognizing strategies that should be taught in isolation, as well as simultaneously.
We feel that we accomplished our group goal at various levels. We are headed in the right direction. As our students matriculate through our school, they will continue to be exposed to strategies aimed at increasing stamina and engagement in hopes of fostering students’ love of reading.
