The Other End of the Reading Rope: Recent Episodes

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How? Pure and simple - integrate science or social studies with literacy!

Integration of literacy in the content area has been proven to

• Engage, Motivate and Excite our kids

• BUT...curriculum matters - Choose high quality curriculum to support your literacy needs. Ex: FOSS science

• Use Text as tools!

• nonfiction

• poetry
• narrative nonfiction
• historical fiction
• realistic fiction
• persuasive text
• articles
• procedural text
• infographics
• etc!!!

-Safeguard time for teaching social studies and science in your schedule during the day.

Partnering active hands-on or real world scenarios in the classroom with engaging text is where the magic happens!

I hope this answers some of your questions!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Hello,

This is a follow up to episodes 1 and 2 as we continue to explore the article featured on ASCD on Knowledge Building curriculum. Today we tackle ways to help children access complex text.

• Through Read Aloud

• How it supports Foundational Skills

• Comprehension Strategies for Sense Making

I hope this will help you clarify the role that Knowledge Building has in your classroom!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Last episode we talked about how vocabulary and language are a key building block for building knowledge and comprehension. In this episode (while my dog barks loudly outside) I will share more insights from part 2 of the ascd article on HOW to build a language rich classroom through:

• play

• talk

• conversations

• read aloud

• print

and more!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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This podcast is based on the article "Looking to Research for Literacy Success" that appeared in ASCD last February. It outlines the three headings for success:

• Build Knowledge Through Language

• Expand Access to Texts that build Knowlege

• Set the Conditions to Build Knowlege

This podcast is a quick run down about this article and the Knowledge Matters Campaign. I will dive into application of these 10 ideas in future podcasts!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Once again, I felt called to share with you some tips for handling frustration and drowning out the noise of negativity. We are surrounded by it and it can help us or hurt us in our work environment. Many of the tips that I have compiled came from this article - how to handle frustration at work.

So the next time you are frustrated, determine what is in our control and what is out of our control.

Analyze the situation:

• Am I hungry, tired, being selfish
• Is this something I am misinterpreting
• Or Is this something I can control?

Feel the feels and then…

Be proactive - think through ways that you can stop this from happening again

Or think about how you can handle your frustration when it happens again

Surround yourself with things that lift you up.

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Do you watch the TV show called the Bear? I have loved watching the show this year. For those of you who don't know about this show, it is about a dysfunctional family who decide to shut down the current restaraunt they run in order to build something better. Think swiching from a greasy spoon to a 5 Star Restaraunt! Wow! Those are some big goals.

But in many ways this is what we are doing in education today. We are trying to take a failing business and turn things around.

I spend some time sharing my thoughts on how the characters are like teachers, admin and students. But then, I dive deeper into Carmy the chef with the vision and how he tries to deal with the stress of the new place. In the end, unfortunately, he goes back to bad habits (as we do - as humans) - which is also a reflection of what happens when we let our fears and anxieties take over.

And then, I talk about the noise. There is a lot of noise in our world right now. How do we figure out what noise matters and what noise isn't helping us grow?

How do we stay true with all the noise?

I share some of my thoughts and break it down into manageable chunks:

• Know what is mandatory - what changes must I make
• Know what you value
• Pedagogy
• Classroom community
• School community

• In your personal life

• Make a commitment this year to stay present, positive and prepared

• It will help your anxiety tremendously!

• Lean on others who have a positive outlook about working with kids

• Above all else, drown out the noise that is contributing to our burnout.

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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I have already created a few podcasts on this topic, but this short and succinct version tells how to determine what best practices to follow and what resources I recommend. I am also exploring the idea of an inexpensive short course, that would allow you the tools to create your own pathway using your curriculum and content. If this is something that you are interested in, click the poll below!

Recommended resources include:

• the Writing Revolution

• Syntax: Knowledge to Practice

See you soon!

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Every few summers, we get a new curriculum. Sometimes its for math, or science or social studies. Sometimes it's for literacy. And when it comes, we have a ton of boxes to go through. It can be overwhelming! How do you know what to use and what to wait on?

Today I share what I did the last time I got a new curriculum - in the middle of the pandemic - in order to make it work for me and my students. First, I follow what I know about the science of reading - comprehension side. Next, I use this checklist to think through the materials. What will I use? Why do I chose those things? What can I wait on for next year? Finally I use this lesson planning template to help plan with the new teacher guide.

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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The last component in our executive functioning series. This one is on social understanding which affects lots of indivudiuals with autism, social anxiety and our COVID kids. What can we do to support our students in class?

• create a story map from different character's perspectives

• teaching students emotional vocabulary - Manyuk progression

• Role on the Wall drama strategy for internal/external traits

I want to reiterate that I am taking a bit of a break but will jump back to it in a few weeks!

Leslie

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Guys...working memory and impulse control affect reading comprehension.

We know this; it's not news.

But what should we look for? How does it affect understanding? And what can I, a classroom teacher or parent, do to help?

In this episode, we will discuss the following:

• Behaviors you may observe
• Games to play for practice
• Ways to support students during literacy lessons

Click here for a printable resource to refer back to later.

Click here to purchase Dr. Cartwright's book on Amazon.

Follow me on Instagram and TPT

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Thinking flexibly is crucial because it allows our students to hold on to multiple things at once - and in the case of our students, they are holding onto decoding and meaning. But how do we teach this to our kids?

First, play games with your children!

• Uno
• Set
• Scattegories
• Hink Pink Think! from Florida Center for Reading Research
• Draw literal examples of compound words (butterfly as a stick of butter with wings)

Next, read books with them

• Amelia Bedelia - new updated versions
• Dear, Deer
• “Word Play” by Ivan Brunet
• Parts and More Parts

To get down and dirty and learn even more, I recommend you check out Word Callers by Dr. Kelly Cartwright.

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Hi ya'll!

Today we explore the concept of organization and how it affects comprehension. I'll start by saying we can help our students with this through some planning and preparation. We want to make sure that we recognize when our students are confused. They may get events out of order in sequencing, words out of order when reading, or not be able to connect all the parts and pieces of a story or unit. How can we help?

Practice unscrambling sentences:

• Find the action word
• Figure out next who or what is doing the action
• Ask Where? When? Why? How? questions to put the rest of the words in order

Use Concept Maps

• to find connections between stories, characters, setting
• to find connections between concepts, events, and results

Use Story Maps

• to determine the characters, setting, and time period
• to track emotions, feelings, and choices characters make
• to see the causal relationships - this happens because of this...
• to understand how problems start, why, and what happens next
• to understand how problems are solved, why, ad consequences

Sequence events in stories

• use pictures and ask why did they happen? How did this event lead to that action?
• use sentences from a story you are reading,
• cut apart the sentences, and ask students to use the book to put them in order

Text Structure:

• Use Graphic Organizers
• cause/effect
• problem/solution
• sequence
• compare/contrast
• description

Click here for a printable resource to refer back to later.

Click here to purchase Dr. Cartwright's book on Amazon.

See you soon!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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Well, that title is a mouthful, but I wasn't sure how else to describe what this podcast is about.

Diving deeper into executive functioning skills and their effect on comprehension, we will share with you two main concepts.

1. How can we build planning skills using board games? Why? And which ones?
2. How can we work with students in small groups to learn the process of planning while reading?

I have linked a document with the book that is recommended, the author's website, and the steps for small group planning. I hope you find it useful!

See you next week!

Leslie

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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This is the beginning of a new series that I think all of us are dealing with. Why do some children struggle to read STILL, even with good instruction? As someone who works at a school that has embraced the science of reading, I was confused as to why so many kids were still struggling with comprehension. And then...I found some research which backs some of my personal opinions. Trigger warning - I may discuss my personal opinions on overuse of technology by children. It's a personal soapbox!

Have you heard of the Active View of Reading by Nell Duke? In this article, Dr. Duke explains how self-regulation plays a part in reading development. I wanted to say Hallelujah! Someone is watching our classrooms and seeing how kids are reacting in this 2020+ world. Students without self-regulation skills are missing big chunks in their mental processing of text.

What areas are affected?

• planning
• organization
• cognitive flexibility
• working memory
• inhibition
• social understanding

Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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This episode is near and dear to my heart as I share with you the latest research on WHY routines are important in your personal life, your classroom management and your instructional routines. In it, I share the experiences from the viewpoint of a mom of a son with sensory processing/adhd issues, as well as from the view of a classroom teacher.

I will share the words of Dr. Anita Archer and several of her routines for turn and talk, discussions and vocabulary.

Please follow on Instagram to see daily quotes and reminders about using routines in your classrooms.

Don't forget to check out the blog for the shownotes!

See ya soon!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leslie-lausten/support

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This has been bothering me...can we have explicit instruction and inquiry within the same learning cycle? Can we have them working together? The answer is yes....and no.  It depends on the content, the knowledge of your students, and the place in the learning cycle.  Once again, I go to the expert, Anita Archer, to learn more about these two approaches to learning. 

This is the chart from UTAH that I reference. It spells out the why, the how, and the what for explicit and inquiry-based learning. 

For more visuals, check out this week's blog: http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/

Thanks for listening! 

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/leslie-lausten/support

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I am a huge fan of Anita Archer! She is the author of Explicit Instruction, and she is a wealth of good ideas! In today's podcast, we will explore the four ways we can add engagement to our whole group lessons.

It isn't rocket science. Just follow these four things:

• Read
• Talk
• Write
• Do

Within this podcast, I will give examples of how my teachers, 2-5th grade, use these four premises to deliver instruction in meaningful ways! As always, follow me on Instagram or Facebook for snippets of wisdom from Dr. Archer in the following weeks. I will also upload some visuals and descriptions to my blog! http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/

One last thing, if you are enjoying this podcast and/or social media posts, please write a review or drop me a comment! I am so grateful for feedback and help to get the word out. This is my 10th podcast and I am nearing 1000 listens. It is exciting!

Thanks! Leslie

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Everything that I have been discussing the past three podcasts comes from the research at Literacy How and the remarkable Dr. Margie Gillis. And I would be remiss if I didn't recommend her book, Syntax - Knowledge to Practice, for you to purchase so that you can have more information at your fingertips. It is an easy read with practical suggestions to put in place in your K-3 classroom tomorrow. Another resource that I highly recommend is the Literacy How You Tube channel. Visit it to see teachers implementing these strategies in real classrooms.

As you listen to this podcast, you will hear me describe several activities. I will be showcasing many of these activites on my Instagram feed as well as the blog http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/.

Hope you enjoy this episode!

https://www.instagram.com/theotherendofthereadingrope/

Leslie

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This episode builds on the work of Dr. Margie Gillis from Literacy How.  In it, I will dive into how we can help our students understand the parts that make complex sentences. 

• Adverbs: We will begin to understand what makes a word an adverb, what types or categories adverbs fall into, and how understanding these help you to understand the actions of the story.
• Prepositions: We discuss how these link and describe the relationship between two words.
• Conjunctions: These are discussed briefly in how they are a part of creating complex and compound sentences as well as dependent clauses.
• Pronouns: We discuss how we can understand what nouns the pronouns refer to.

I share distinct teaching strategies to use with your students. 

1. They are analyzing sentences to get to the meaning of what the words represent.
2. Using cueing questions to understand what is happening in the sentence or passage.
3. Summarizing a text using cueing questions.

To see more visuals and examples, take a look at my blog or Instagram. 

To get the FREE summarizing think sheet, click here! 

Thanks for listening!

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In the last two podcasts, we talked about writing sentences. We are all very aware that are sentences are choppy and lack details. We recognize that this is a building block for efficient writing. However, did you know that sentence understanding similarly affects comprehension? 

We will explore the research of Gillis & Eberhardt 2016 which can be found on their website: https://literacyhow.org/ .  

This podcast will explore: 

• subject
• predicate
• object

To see some visuals and examples, check out my blog! 

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Looking for a place to start with the Science of Writing? This podcast is a follow-up to the first sentence writing podcast. It will focus on some strategies for generating sentences as well as creating more complex sentence structures using conjunctions with routines and strategies from the Writing Revolution.

• generating questions
• teaching the four types of sentences (questions, statements, commands, exclamations)
• Adding conjunctions to sentences to create more complex sentence variety in your paragraphs

To get a free resource for winter sentence activities, sign up here! 

To read more and see some examples, visit my blog!

Follow me on TPT, Instagram or Facebook. 

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Looking for a place to start with the Science of Writing? This podcast will focus on some strategies for building basic sentence structure with routines and strategies from the Writing Revolution. 

• Subject and Predicate
• Fragments and Sentences
• Scrambled Sentences
• Sentence Expansion

To get a free resource for winter sentence activities, sign up here! 

To read more and see some examples, visit my blog!

To get a copy of the Fry Words I refer to, visit this link. 

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As you know, I speak about the Reading Rope quite a bit. But did you know there is also a Writing Rope or a Simple View of Writing? As part of my research, I have read the Writing Revolution by Natalie Wexler, LETRS Volume 2, and the Writing Rope by Joan Sedita, I have deepened my understanding of this topic and hope that I can give you a quick overview on this podcast.

On this podcast, I will walk you through:

• Foundational Skills or Transcription

• Composition - including sentence formation and composition of paragraphs

To see some visuals that go along with this information, visit my website at: http://otherendofreadingrope.weebly.com/

Finally, I’m planning a giveaway! The giveaway is a $25 gift card to AMAZON. You can use this to buy many of the new resources out there - like the Writing Revolution by Natalie Wexler or the Writing Rope by Joan Sedito. To enter, simply write a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Then, screenshot your review and send it to me on Instagram @theotherENDoftheReadingrope. The giveaway closes on Feb. 7th, 2023!

• The Writing Revolution
• The Writing Rope

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and TPT!

Leslie

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Okay, that's a mouthy title. One of the main questions I had, when I began taking the LETRS course, was how is this any different from what I'm doing. And of course, once I dug into it, I realized a lot was missing from my instruction. 

In this episode, I share how language comprehension lessons are uniquely different from other comprehension lessons. But I also talk about what is the same and what is still good instruction. We will dive into the five components a little more, and talk about whole group instruction as well as how important it is to be planned. 

If you are questioning the difference, I hope you will take a listen! 

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Hi ya'll...

For our very first episode, I'm going to share with you some tips about lesson planning. What? You may think I've been doing that for years, or I just wing it, or I don't have time for that...honestly, I've had all three of those thoughts. But, in this climate of post-pandemic teaching, we truly do need to know what and how to teach our content. However, it has to be manageable. 

I am including a FREE resource for you after listening to this podcast for you to download and use as your own.  I am even including several options: 

• PDF version of the template
• Editable version on Canva - editable
• Google docs version  - editable

Please make sure you sign up for the email list and receive the new winter close reading resource for FREE as well! It's a $15 value!

Cheers! 

Leslie

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In the last episode, I talked about how language comprehension differs from just "comprehension". Today, we will chat about teaching in a whole group vs. small group instruction and the benefits of both.  In this podcast I will share: 

• Benefits of Whole Group and Small Group

• % of the time that should be whole group and small group

• Breakdown of time in the whole group and small group

• Explicit Instruction - Talk, Write, Do

• Inquiry-Based Instruction - You, Y'all, We

• Engagement - Talk it, Write it, Do it

I'm hoping this will help you understand a few of the shifts in our instructional model. As always, please shoot me any questions you may have!

Instagram and Facebook: @theotherendofthereadingrope/ 

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Are you looking for information about best practices for language comprehension? We know that the simple view of reading states that word recognition X language comprehension = reading comprehension. But what does that mean, exactly? 

My vision for this podcast is to share with you quick 15-20 minute strategies, knowledge, and tips that you can put in place tomorrow. We will focus on best practices in: 

• background knowledge
• vocabulary
• comprehension
• verbal reasoning
• sentence structure
• and the science of writing

While we are focusing on these areas, I will also share how we can keep our kids engaged without breaking the bank or overwhelming you, the teacher! 

I also have a passion for arts integration and will share ways that you can include these meaningful engagement strategies in conjunction with art, music, drama, and creative movement. 

All of these podcasts will complement my already successful TPT store! And if you sign up for my email list, you will get a winter bundle of resources for FREE - a $15 value!

Looking forward to chatting with you!