Reading the world

Streaming video - 2014

Kids love to explore the real world, as young scientists they observe and relish nature, and through social studies they investigate other times, places, and cultures. In this series of three videos, authors and staff developers Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey welcome you to the child-centered classrooms at Columbine Elementary in Boulder, Colorado, where the majority of the children are English language learners. In these culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, kids read, write, talk, listen, and investigate their way through the curriculum, developing a common language for reading, writing, and speaking English. Join Anne and Steph in these classrooms where effective comprehension strategy instruction is integrated with conte...nt knowledge acquisition in science and social studies. The instruction students experience is responsive to the learning and language needs of English language learners in the primary and intermediate grades, giving them tools to understand and actively use information and ideas, and learn English along the way. Purposeful talk is central to instruction, as kids discuss and try out their ideas with each other, developing the confidence to become independent learners. All kids respond to high expectations and thoughtful instruction. They become a community of learners when we challenge them to think more fully and deeply about topics of consequence, those that matter in their own lives and in the larger world. About the author Anne Goudvis has been a classroom teacher, staff developer, and adjunct professor of reading and social studies. For the past ten years, she has worked at the Denver-based Public Education and Business Coalition as a staff developer and co-director of the Library Power project, a national initiative to improve teaching and learning in libraries and classrooms. Stephanie Harvey has spent the past thirty years teaching and learning about reading and writing. She received her B.A. from the University of Denver and her M.A. from the University of Colorado. After fifteen years of regular elementary and special education teaching in the Jefferson County Schools in Lakewood, Colorado, Stephanie became a staff developer for the Denver-based public education and business coalition (PEBC), a partnership of leaders from education and business who support innovation in public schools. In that role, she has worked with educators throughout Colorado coordinating literacy projects, leading workshops, and conducting classroom demonstrations. Recently, Stephanie and Anne have released a number of videos on reading comprehension, including a single video called Read write and talk with a focus on active literacy, a three-video series for English language learners called reading the world, and Strategic thinking, a comprehension series aimed at middle-grade readers. more