BubbleUp Take5: Reading, Writing, Speaking → Literacy

If you've been around BubbleUp Classroom for a while, you'll know that we're all about literacy. This week's Take5 is focused on just that -- helping our students become more successful readers, writing across the content areas, a easy-to-implement quick speaking mini lesson, and the importance of all of it in the business world. 

In a recent piece in The Atlantic ​titled Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years, author Natlie Wexler addresses the value of background knowledge, vocabulary and thus content-area reading in order to boost reading comprehension skills. This is an important article that every educator needs to read.

Teacher and reading advocate Donalyn Miller puts forth the importance of access to books in her post  It's Not Complicated (Nerdy Book Club). She offers a clear list of actions to help educators increase access for all students.

The Keys to Content Area Writing (ASCD Express) by Nancy Steineke highlights the value of asking students to write in every class, every day, and offers concrete ways to increase writing across content areas. 

I love the idea of an impromptu speech set forth by Jori Krulder in her Edutopia article A Low Stakes Public Speaking Exercise. I also love how closely it aligns with our own BubbleUp Classroom Thesis Statement Organizer. The end product for crafting a strong, clearly-written thesis statement could be a short speech. Another thought: wouldn't a quickly put together speech be a great way to flesh out some ideas for pulling together a longer essay? 

 I just read an article in Inc. about how Jeff Bezos has banned PowerPoint from his meetings and replaced them with narrative memos, highlighting brain science and emphasizing the value of storytelling. If this doesn't make a case for ensuring our students are excellent readers and writers, I'm not sure what does!

What have you been reading?
-Gretchen

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• Thesis Statements: Grab Students' Attention with Fairy Tale Grab Bags (March 12, 2017)