Teaching & Learning Notebook

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Independent Reading Tools

The following tools have been acquired or adapted from Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher’s websites or are my own creations. Feel free to download if you see them being useful in your classroom.

Reading Ladder Log

reading_listening-ladderDownload
  • This resource contains 3 documents. The first tracks what students are reading in real time for the entire semester. The second tracks what students are listening to. I have many students who listen to podcasts or audiobooks. I am interested in seeing what this looks like. Finally, the third document tracks the books that students would like to read next. These may come from daily book talks or books they have found on their own.

Reading Rate

  • This resource provide an infographic on how to calculate reading rate.
reading-rateDownload

Reading Rate Tracking Sheet

reading-rate-ladderDownload
  • This resource requires a student to track the pages that were read during class and at home for the day. We gradually build up to a minimum of 22 minutes a day. I like this for two purposes:
    • it is a quick an easy tool for students to see their growth in reading.
    • it is a quick an easy tool for the teacher to see if students are reading for the 10-12 minutes at school AND 10 minutes for home reading. I recognize that students could fudge their records, BUT I can usually assess this in my quick daily conferences.

Conferencing Note Sheet

I have placed a variety of tools that I am currently playing with to see which best serves my conferencing purpose. The first is my 10,000 foot view of students reading progress. The second is the tool that I use at each student reading conference. The third contains the questions that I use in a conference. These come from Penny Kittle’s – Book Love text.

reading-conferencing-notesDownload
reading-conference-sheetsDownload
reading-conferencing-questions_march-11Download

REFERENCES

Gallagher, K. (n.d.). Kelly Gallagher. Retrieved March 20, 2021 from http://www.kellygallagher.org/

Gallagher, K., & Kittle, P. (2018). 180 days: Two teachers and the quest to engage and empower adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kittle, P. (n.d.). Penny Kittle. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://pennykittle.net/

Kittle, P. (2013). Book love: Developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.