About debracrouch

Debra Crouch works nationally as an independent literacy consultant, collaborating with districts and schools in designing professional learning opportunities. Her work empowers teachers, principals, and coaches to envision instructional decisions that matter for children—decisions about processes for learning that unfold over time, across texts and among practices. She actively shares her thinking and practices through long-term professional learning opportunities with districts across the country serving children from diverse backgrounds, languages, and socioeconomic needs.

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 3 with the informational text, Animals in Danger: Orangutans

Session 3 extends the work begun in Sessions 1 & 2, as students continue integrating information, making judgements about important parts of a text, and synthesizing information within and across the text. Students begin to consider how their growing understandings and concerns from reading this text can impact personal decisions they make which in turn affect the lives of orangutans in the rainforests. [...]

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 3 with the informational text, Animals in Danger: Orangutans2018-09-19T13:30:08-07:00

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 1 with the fiction text, Ahmad’s Journey

Reading Ahmad’s Journey begins with students silently read the first four pages of Chapter 1 to begin thinking about what is revealed through what characters say, do, and think and how characters interact with others, revealing the relationships between characters. After noticing the asterisks on page 7, which indicate a change in point-of-view in the story, students read the rest of chapter 1 silently and [...]

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 1 with the fiction text, Ahmad’s Journey2018-09-19T13:30:35-07:00

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 2 with the fiction text, Ahmad’s Journey

Students discuss Chapters 2-4, continuing to think about what is revealed through what characters say, do, and think and how they interact with others (the relationships between characters). They also begin to evaluate the motivations of the characters as revealed through character actions and decisions. After noticing the multiple points-of-view in the text, students work to understand how the different parts of texts align and [...]

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Session 2 with the fiction text, Ahmad’s Journey2018-09-19T13:30:56-07:00

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Synthesizing—Talk about the pair, Animals in Danger: Orangutans & Ahmad’s Journey

The lesson offers students an opportunity to revisit, summarize, and extend their thinking about the key concepts of the two paired texts. Students return to themes from earlier discussions, considering decisions people make which affect the lives of orangutans in the rainforests.

Guided Reading, Fifth Grade Synthesizing—Talk about the pair, Animals in Danger: Orangutans & Ahmad’s Journey2018-09-19T13:30:22-07:00

Guided Reading: Returning to the Book: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics for First Graders

The word work lesson supports students to search for and use chunks in words to decode multisyllabic words. The lesson begins with students discussing strategies they use to figure out words.  Students then examine several words from the text to look for parts of words they recognize to help decode multi-syllabic words.  All the words used were known to students.

Guided Reading: Returning to the Book: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics for First Graders2019-07-16T05:43:54-07:00

Teaching Decisions That Bring the Conditions of Learning to Life

Introduction Teachers are in the business of learning. We set up our classrooms, assess our students, and create our lessons. We select books, form reading groups, and teach students in those groups regularly. We create complex daily schedules packed with readers’ (and writers’) workshops, guided reading blocks, and independent reading time. We think aloud, make sure to cover all the comprehension strategies, and use sentence [...]

Teaching Decisions That Bring the Conditions of Learning to Life2021-05-08T08:42:32-07:00

Leveled Books for Guided Reading—What’s in a Number?

Thinking Critically About Text Complexity When Selecting Leveled Books for Guided Reading...There’s no way around it—when selecting leveled books for guided reading instruction, sooner or later you’re going to have to consider levels. Leveled books aren't a new concept. Grade level, Lexile level, DRA level, Fountas and Pinnell level — all of these “readabilities” exist to support teachers as they scaffold students as they read increasingly complex texts. [...]

Leveled Books for Guided Reading—What’s in a Number?2018-09-03T09:00:07-07:00

Building Literacy with Paired Texts—Limitless Benefits for Learners

Building literacy with paired texts is an exciting concept in guided reading instruction. Through intentional pairing of texts, teachers present students with opportunities to develop literacy in considerable ways. The students: Develop greater comprehension on a topicAs students read paired texts, they explore similar concepts and vocabulary for greater understanding of the ideas that surround a topic. A nonfiction text may introduce the ideas and vocabulary [...]

Building Literacy with Paired Texts—Limitless Benefits for Learners2018-09-03T09:00:15-07:00

Grouping Students for Guided Reading—The Importance of Observing Students Beforehand

Teacher Observation is Key in Grouping Students for Guided ReadingGrouping students for guided reading first requires that teachers ‘know their students.’ Teachers assess their students, using the tools they know—letter/sound checks, a fluency passage, a benchmarking kit. Yet somehow, when teachers put the students together, the grouping just doesn’t seem to be quite ‘right.’ Something is missing—and the missing piece is teacher observation. Teacher observation is [...]

Grouping Students for Guided Reading—The Importance of Observing Students Beforehand2018-09-03T09:00:23-07:00

Guided Reading and Balanced Literacy—Recognizing the Need for Guided Instruction

The Importance of Finding a Place for Guided Reading in a Balanced Literacy Classroom Guided reading and balanced literacy are big ideas in literacy instruction today.   The function of different approaches in a balanced curriculum offers teachers opportunities to illustrate literacy for learners along a continuum of gradual release of responsibility. Reading to, with, and by children and teachers gives comparative amounts of support [...]

Guided Reading and Balanced Literacy—Recognizing the Need for Guided Instruction2018-09-03T09:00:33-07:00
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