Helping children acquire cognitive strategies is only one part of top-notch reading instruction. And on her staff development DVD It’s ALL About ComprehensionSharon Taberski shares her latest thinking on how to re-envision comprehension instruction.
Taberski (author of On Solid Ground and the forthcoming Comprehension from the Ground Up)guides students in whole-class, small-group, and one-on-one settings, clearly modeling highly effective ways to develop comprehension throughout the literacy block. She shows how to provide explicit support through five key strands:
- Accurate Fluent Reading
- Background Knowledge
- Oral Language and Vocabulary
- Reading-Writing Connections
- Repertoire of Strategies
For each strand, It’s ALL About Comprehension includes three sections that can be used with any or all of the other strands over the course of staff-development sessions:
- Overview explains how a particular strand relates to comprehension and video snippets demonstrate how a teacher can call upon it.
- Featured Conference shows Sharon working directly with a child, using the strand to help the child become a better reader
- Lessons in Action presents footage of Sharon leading several strand-related lessons and conferences to create a larger instructional framework.
In addition, an 80-page guide provides tools for delivering effective staff development sessions. It includes pacing calendars for both shorter and longer term PD, session-planning sheets, recommended readings, and helpful reproducibles such as viewing/reflection sheets, graphics to help teachers plan lessons, action sheets to do with colleagues, and take-away explanations of key concepts and ideas shown on the DVD.
These videos document Sharon’s ongoing work in the classrooms of masterful teachers Deirdre Cerulli and Millie Velazquez and provide examples of authentic teacher-student interactions that viewers can adapt for their teaching. Let Sharon Taberski share the experience and joy that’s made her one of the field’s most treasured voices on early reading instruction. Use It’s ALL About Comprehension to create an outstanding, sustained, multi-session professional development initiative.
