Reading Is Fundamental’s Post

If you want to learn more about the role Librarians and other "school level" staff play in the purchasing process (it's likely a bigger role than you think) give us a call. #schoolbuyingprocess #marketingtoschools

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK When was the last time you and your child took a trip to the library❓️ Don’t worry, this weekend is the perfect time to go‼️ Rockstar Readers take regular trips to the library. Why❓️ I am glad you asked‼️ Here are 7 reasons:🎯 📚1. Promote literacy - Libraries expose children to a wide variety of books. This can make a major impact on your child’s literacy skills and overall academic success. 📚2. Expand knowledge – Discover your child’s interests and expand their knowledge through books about a wide variety of subjects and genres. 📚3. Encourage curiosity – When you visit the library, encourage your child to ask questions, seek answers, and delve into the world around them. 📚4. Nurture creativity – Check out the storytelling sessions, creative workshops, and other activities that are offered at the local librarry. 📚5. Develop critical thinking skills – The local library is the perfect place for children to learn how to find resources and information. They will learn to evaluate credibility, use information to form their own opinions, and become problem solvers. 📚6.Build social skills – Children have the opportunity to interact with their peers and the library staff. This fosters their ability to share, take turns, and collaborate with others. 📚7.Instill a love for libraries – When you plant the seeds for learning at the library, your child can learn to love learning! Schedule a Next Level Coaching Session to learn how I can help your child become a rockstar reader. https://lnkd.in/ezfsrVYm #nationallibraryweek #readersareleaders #buildsocialskills #criticalthinkers #nurturecreativity #encouragecuriosity #expandknowledge #promotelitearcy #theliteracywhisperer

Was reminded of two great resources from the Institute of Education Sciences after reading . First, check out the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Program 's Supporting your Child's Reading at Home (https://buff.ly/499VlSH). For a broader view, take a look at the What Works Clearinghouse's most recent Practice Guide, Preparing Young Children for School (https://buff.ly/3xiM11r).

This is an excellent resource with study questions! 📖 #history #curriculum #teachers #read #readtolearn

When it comes to time, we are all equal. However, it’s not how we schedule our priorities that matters most…it’s how we prioritize the schedule! A well-designed and strongly executed master schedule can maximizes student engagement, teacher collaboration, and achievement. In my book, The 10 Indicators of High Performing Charter Schools, I note nine key strategies that I learned from interviewing and collaborating with high performing principals. The first strategy is building in time for your students who need the MOST HELP (Prevention, Intervention and Special Education). The other eight, and hundreds of other high performing strategies and initiatives I learned from walking the halls of hundreds of schools can be yours. Grab a copy today on Amazon! https://lnkd.in/esSrUmCq #StudentSuccess #MasterScheduleExcellence"

The Vital Importance of Early Reading Habits in Children In today's digital age, instilling strong reading habits in children from an early age is more critical than ever. Beyond being a fundamental skill, reading serves as a gateway to knowledge, imagination, and critical thinking. Studies consistently show that children exposed to books and reading from a young age tend to perform better academically. Reading fosters emotional and social development, nurturing empathy and interpersonal skills. Moreover, it sparks creativity and imagination, allowing children to explore endless possibilities. Parents, educators, and caregivers play a crucial role in creating a reading-friendly environment, filled with engaging books and encouragement. By prioritizing reading habits in the formative years, we equip children with the tools they need to thrive academically, emotionally, and intellectually throughout their lives. Let's open the doors to the magical world of books and guide our children towards a future filled with knowledge, empathy, and boundless imagination.

Guess what time it is?! Back to school, we go! This year, I want to be a lot more intentional about providing students with choice-based reading, and in order to do that, they need books to choose from. I’ve decided to create a wishlist here in order to help build out my classroom library. I intentionally chose Bookshop over Amazon because we need to save small bookstores! When you buy a book off my wishlist, you are also supporting @reparations.club - a dope black woman-owned concept bookstore in Los Angeles. I linked their bookstore to this list.    If you don’t know, I teach African American Lit and AP Research to 12th-grade students in Downtown Los Angeles. The school I work at does not have a school library (aka the best place ever). I want to make my room a space where there’s no question that books matter and are available.    One of my favorite moments from last year was when a student “borrowed” and then never returned Bell Hooks “The Will to Change” from my bookshelf. I didn’t guide him to the book. He simply saw it and was intrigued by the title. He read it in a few days and brought it up with his family and friends. That is the power of being surrounded by books. It sparks curiosity and can make us better people.    One of my other most meaningful but simple shoutouts this year from a student survey read: “Ms. Kelsey because I developed my love from reading in her class.” Again, I don’t even think it was the literal books I taught (although they were great) but rather because I had one bookshelf with a few books to choose from. Help me keep this energy this year by growing our classroom bookshelf! 

Middle/High school ELA teacher dream problems: your reluctant readers demand more books, and the popular titles keep getting stolen. 😀😭 Developing these “symptoms” is a slow process and doesn’t come without effort. But advocating for students to enjoy books in class doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the need for evidence-based, data-driven instruction in essential literacy skills. In fact, building essential reading volume is part of that instruction. After all, years of worksheet-driven, test-prep reading have drained the joy from books for many struggling readers. When I started screening my 7th and 8th graders to teach them from where they were, not where they should be, their buy-in grew immensely. Small successes led to a desire for more. But real enthusiasm, if not joy (God forbid), only came when they had the freedom to read books they could read and wanted to read. It takes time, money, storage space (or online accounts), and solid classroom management. But if we want strong readers, we have to give them a reason to improve past better test scores for teachers and admins. #educationreform #educationalleadership #teachers #educationpolicy #education #principalsschool

New paper from my team at Apple with two contributions of note: 1) Use of LLMs to help parents and young children have better conversations while reading (convos that many studies have shown improve childhood literacy development) 2) Application of a program synthesis technique to get many of the benefits of finetuning at drastically lower cost. https://lnkd.in/gJtKe9Gc

The start of a school year is always an exciting time. We get to continue the journey with many students and get to know others who are new to us. As we enter the new year, this opportunity to continue the work of supporting kids fills me with energy! This summer, I spent some time thinking about the many reasons educators do the work they do. What is our core purpose for our work, and how do we use it to provide the best learning environment for our students? I've reviewed the most current and established research and compiled some of the strongest ideas to help teachers and administrators find and use their purpose to support students. My book, "Unleashing Your Purpose: The Intersection of Passion and Education," is now available on Amazon as an E-Book, with a paperback option to follow. Although these strategies are already in many of our toolkits, I hope that bringing these thoughts together in one book might provide an opportunity for educators to authentically remind ourselves why we chose to be part of this important profession, and how understanding our own passions can benefit students. Have a great Labor Day weekend. For those in Minnesota who don't have students yet, off we go next week! https://lnkd.in/gwKThDF6