A BLOG SERIES: Still Learning to Read: Continuing the Conversation

In 2003, Karen Szymusiak and I wrote the book Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse). We believed strongly that children do not stop learning to read after their first few years of school. We have learned, over the course of our teaching, that grades 3-6 are critical years in our students' reading lives--that they have so much more to learn as readers once they've started to make sense of text.

Next month, the 2nd Edition of Still Learning to Read will be released by Stenhouse.  So much has changed in the 13 years since we wrote. Although our beliefs about learners remain the same, there are things we have learned and changes we have made to our teaching.  We feel that this edition of the book captures our new learning as well as the current issues teachers are dealing.

One thing we know is that we'll never stop learning about readers in grades 3-6.  We are fascinated by them and feel grateful to have the opportunity to learn with and from them.  This year, I will be teaching 3rd grade again and I know that I will learn new things about transitional readers every day. So in order to continue the conversation around literacy learning in grades 3-6, I will be starting a blog series called "Still Learning to Read: Continuing the Conversation".   This series will run every Tuesday beginning August 2.  Each week, I'll capture some moment in the classroom--it may be a conversation with a student, a book that we shared, some student work, a chart we created.  It will just be a moment that I learned from. This series will help me chronicle my year of learning and to invite you into the conversation.

To celebrate the release of the new book, Karen and I will be hosting a Stenhouse Twitter chat focusing on the First Six Weeks of School.  The Twitter chat will be on Monday, August 1 at 8:30. Follow the hashtag #SLTRead for this chat an our yearlong conversation around readers in 

grades 3-6.

We are also planning to run a Facebook group so if you are interested in talking about the book with others online, we invite you to join.

Learning about readers in grades 3-6 has been my passion for most of my teaching life.  I am excited to be able to expand the conversation and learn more about this incredible stage in a reader's life!

Look for the first post in the series next Tuesday, August 2 . I'll be sharing my process for

 thinking about changes to room set-up this year.