Page 27 - How to teach reading with heart

of their own teaching is that they are contrasted the leaves, glued them in
interested, wanting to learn, and go out their notebooks. Just look at how many
of their way to pursue more knowledge of the five senses were involved in this

on what is being studied at the time. I activity. Did we need to do a worksheet?
have never met a child who did not want Absolutely not. They learned to compare

to learn. and contrast in a manner they would
never forget. We learned about animal
Each year of 5th grade reading, I began tracks, how to track animals, bears,

with the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. other animals and plants found in the
I chose this particular novel for the boys Canadian Wilderness. Plus, this was just

because it was their interest I needed the beginning, the first reading unit,
to capture. Typically, boys enter a fifth- where compare and contrast and other
grade reading class with their eyes glazed standards would be learned. Having

over. Hatchet is the story of a young boy’s spent my teaching career in Title I
survival in the Canadian wilderness. schools *, it was always my desire to

The character, Brian, is in a plane flying teach children about the world outside
over the Canadian Wilderness, the of their limited access. I wanted them
pilot has a heart attack and the plane to know they could overcome their

crashes. We took every aspect of the environment. I wanted to show them
story and delved deep. We went to the there is a whole big world out there for

American Heart Association and learned them to explore and make their own.
all we could about heart attacks, causes,
symptoms, prevention. Wow, how many * Title I schools are schools with a student base

state standards did we get from just heart where at least 40% come from low-income
attacks – A LOT! One year a red-headed families.

boy came bouncing in one day saying,
“I told my grandpa he had to make a In order to assist those who are not certified
teachers but find themselves deciding to teach
doctor’s appointment because his left their children, let me help to explain what

arm is always hurting.” is expected by the US states. Each state has

a set of standards that is required learning
We took a nature walk, collected leaves by students for them to pass the yearly state
from trees, named the trees, pecan, oak, test. All the standards the state requires can
wild persimmon, etc. We compared trees be learned by total immersion in a reading

native to our area to trees in Canada. In unit. Skills such as compare and contrast, text
structure, point of view, etc. all can be taught in
the classroom students compared and a manner that does not entail worksheets.

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