Welcome to my Social Blog. I write about the principalship, literacy leadership, and schoolwide change.
When you hear "explicit reading instruction", what comes to mind?
For many, it calls up isolated skill practice with little to no connection to authentic literacy experiences. Rich texts are separated from the lesson and read at another time. Or worse yet, no time for independent reading.
Here is what explicit reading instruction means to me:
Being clear on the skill taught and why it is important. This means ensuring students see the connection to actual, relevant reading.
Embedding instruction within authentic experiences whenever possible. It's possible.
Opportunities to apply skills in texts kids can and want to read. Which means lots of time and texts to support student learning.
In fact, isolated skill instruction/practice is the opposite of explicit - it's implicit if teachers assume kids will make the connection between what is taught and their reading lives.