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Most students cannot answer the question if they are asked why they read. If they do answer, their response is usually "because we have to" or "because we have a test based on the reading". It is never because they truly want to. This article goes into detail about how there are so many books that we can bring to life and teach through inquiry and how much more exciting this will be for our students and the benefits that will come from it. It speaks about the benefits that can come from reading and the impacts it can have on us and the world around us.

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Engagement when reading is of course one of, if not the most, important factors when teaching or learning literacy and literature. This reading provides a number of ways that engagement can be enhanced within the classroom and the benefits it has on students progress. Engaged reading has shown that students have read more within school and outside of school for much more time. Students are more likely to discuss their book with family members, teachers, and peers than they were prior and I think this connects to all aspects of literacy. As I mentioned in my second post, most students have no idea why they read other than the fact that it is required. Engaged reading has given students a new perspective on reading and their enjoyment when doing so.

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This video is a TED talk from a young students who expresses the importance of reading at a young age. The take away from this talk is that if we are not reading, we are not writing, which more or less means we are not learning. Reading is an important way to become accustomed to our society and teaches us skills we need to be valuable members within it.

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The Power and Importance of...READING! | Luke Bakic | TEDxYouth@TBSWarsaw

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Using media or pop culture in the classroom is a fun way to deeper students learning in literacy and literature. I chose this text because I felt it explained how beneficial media or pop culture can be and shows us different examples on how to bring it into the classroom. Our students today live in a very digital world so allowing them to learn through a method they are comfortable and familiar with is not only helpful to them but teachers too. It gives students opportunities to learn and explore different tools for creating or deconstructing literature.

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I selected this text because I felt that it was important when understanding what teaching literacy and literature is all about. I believe these are not areas all students are open to learning and it can be a challenge to find the best tools necessary to educate them. This text does a great job of expressing the importance of certain text and how to use it to better our students learning.

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Graphic novels are a wonderful tool to utilize when teaching literacy or exploring literature. It is absolutely great for all students, but especially our struggling readers. It allows them to see the literature in a different way and gives them a better chance of comprehension. It teaches students to use different literary devices to make connections, form thoughts, and develop skills. Graphic novels are simply just more engaging as well. Most struggling readers have no desire to read at all due to the fact that it is difficult for them, with images included, it is more exciting for them to engage in.

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Modeling strategies during, before, or after text with your students can be a helpful way to teach them along the way. This text provides a number of ways to do this for any age group and can be very beneficial to students are more hands-on.

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103 Things to Do Before, During, or After Reading

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This article offers a collection of interactive activities that help kids become more involved in the stories that they read.

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Poetry is a very challenging part of literature. Not only can it be difficult to comprehend, but can also be difficult to write. Using different varieties of creativity to promote poetry is something that more educators need to be open to, especially if students are doing it through music. Music is a great way to engage in poetry and to feel more connected to this type of literature. The text suggests different ways to view poetry and how they see it connect to their personal lives.

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Read-alouds are a great way to keep your students interested in any type of reading. This text expresses the importance of reading non-fiction books as read-aloud book since it is not typically done. Most students are not drawn to non-fiction and only see them as books that give us information or are tailored to specific content areas. The reading here shows us that there is so much more to non-fiction that we can learn from and teach about that can impact our lives and allow us to form connections based on personal experiences.

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Understanding literature from multiple-perspectives is a great way for readers to comprehend all the book has to offer. Using critical literacy skills to understand and engage in different strategies to see different points of view in a story is not only helping students with comprehension but strengthening their critical thinking skills. This text provides great tools to use in order to get our students to think critically when reading and when evaluating different text.

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Having students analyze stories that can be seen from different perspectives challenges their critical thinking skills and allows them understand the story in different ways.

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What if the same critical thinking strategies taught in law school could be used with students in K-2?

thinkLaw uses law school exercises with our youngest students using folk tales, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes.

Three Blind Mice: Analysis from Multiple Perspectives guides students through the process of analyzing the situation from the perspective of all the characters.

This FREE download includes a 15 page PDF and PowerPoint Presentation. It is one lesson that is featured in the full thinkLaw Early Elementary Edition.

thinkLaw lessons are easy for teachers and fun and engaging for students!

Check out our other thinkLaw nursery rhyme lessons!
Little Boy Blue: Settlement and Negotiation Strategy Jack and Jill: Making and Evaluating Difficult Decisions A Tisket, A Tasket: Analysis from Multiple Perspectives Four Lesson Nursery Rhyme Bundle

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*FREE* Three Blind Mice: Analysis from Multiple Perspectives

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What if the same critical thinking strategies taught in law school could be used with students in K-2? thinkLaw uses law school exercises with our youngest students using folk tales, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes.Three Blind Mice: Analysis from Multiple Perspectives guides students through the pro...

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Reading nonfiction to children or students aloud is a great way to bring life into to the story. Finding picture books for your younger readers can help them visually get an understanding for the book and gather information as the story goes on.

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Nifty Tips for Reading Nonfiction Aloud to Your Child | Brightly

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Here are some tips for selecting and reading nonfiction titles aloud that stimulate kids’ natural curiosity about the world around them.

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Graphic novels in the classroom give students a sense of confidence and independence that proves to them that they are capable of reading and understanding a story on their own. Specifically struggling readers, can use this tool to keep themselves motivated as they continue their journey with literature.

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Teaching with Graphic Novels | Teach Graphix Week

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When you see a Lady Gaga music video, do you think of it as a teachable material for your classroom? Probably not. But for some visionary teachers, pop culture is a useful tool that can help get students interested and engaged in learning, and even offer resources for better understanding classroom material.
Why Teach Pop Culture?
Pop culture offers an opportunity for educators to meet students where they are. Students spend much of their time interacting with popular culture, and using it as an educational tool allows teachers to make that time more productive. A 2010 Kaiser Family Institute report indicates that youth between the ages of 8 and 18 spend approximately 7.5 hours per day, seven days per week using media, including TV, music, video games, and books. That's up to 53 hours every week that could potentially be directed into learning.

Meeting students where their interests lie allows educators to better communicate with their pupils. Students who aren't interested in discussing historical details are likely to open up quickly when you mention a popular YouTube video or sports team. Although bringing popular culture into the classroom isn't always directly related to learning, it does allow teachers to capture the attention of students who would otherwise not be interested.

"Let them tell you about their world and you'll have a much easier time telling them about yours," says history professor Clay Morgan. "Effective teaching hinges upon communication, and you can't communicate without entering into the world of those you wish to reach."

Thanks to popular shows like Sesame Street, students today are now used to learning through "edutainment." In fact, PBS reports that there are more than 74 million "graduates" of Sesame Street in the United States alone. Learning through entertainment is nothing new to the current generation of students, so it feels natural for them to experience learning through pop culture in the classroom. They may not even know that it's happening. "Students go home laughing about the TV we discussed and often fail to realize that we conducted a sociological study," Morgan says. "That's edutainment."

Pop culture consumers, including students, are interested in learning about science and history through media. You only need to look at box office hits to understand that students can appreciate edutainment. Titanic is the second-highest grossing movie of all time. The movie may not have followed complete historical accuracy, but this does show that the interest is there for educators to capitalize upon.

Pop culture outside the classroom inspires learning as well. It's important to note that although students are spending nearly 53 hours every week enjoying some sort of media, time spent reading books and other printed media is included in that figure. Overall interaction with media is on the rise, and that includes reading. In fact, time spent reading books has increased over the past 10 years. Students are connecting with media, no doubt, but educators can influence and steer at least some of that connection into media that offers educational value.
Success Stories in Teaching Pop Culture
Using pop culture in the classroom is not a new idea, and many teachers have found success putting it to work. Music videos, video games, and even Internet memes have all helped educators engage students in learning and help them find deeper conceptual understanding.

Rachel Schneider teaches Women's Popular Genres, and has used pop culture to introduce students to reading practices in the course. In the first week of her course, Schneider's students examined Destiny's Child Independent Women Part I in close reading, taking notes on the lyrics, costumes, dancing, and more. Students were able to read the material deeply, and also put it into musical and political context, considering the video in terms of feminism and cultural relevance. Schneider believes that this video provided good material for rhetorical and literary analysis, and at the end of the course, the students identified this particular text as a favorite.

Three teachers at Centennial High School in Gresham, Ore., have found success in bringing pop culture to the classroom. Rana Houshmand, Eli Nolde, and Nicole Johnston use pop culture lessons to teach state standard material in a more creative way. They use pop culture as a tool for improving students' literary critical thinking skills. Houshmand first asks students to analyze the lyrics in a Lady Gaga song, then moves on to a Robert Frost poem, where they can use their interpretation skills they've learned through material they're already familiar with. Houshmand's colleague Nicole Johnston explains that bringing pop culture into the classroom makes students excited and engaged in learning:

"They're making very interesting points about the texts. They're posting other YouTube videos. It's sparking a lot of conversation beyond the initial classroom discussion."

Morgan uses pop culture to help students better understand difficult topics. In one lesson, Morgan explained that the Zombieland rule of "double tap," or, shooting twice to make sure a zombie is actually incapacitated, is much like the post-WWII Morgenthau Plan that was designed to keep Germany from getting back up and going on the offensive. "My students will never forget the stakes of the post-war world with such a powerful visualization, " Morgan says.

Love them or hate them, it's difficult to escape the parodies of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit song, "Call Me Maybe." Two middle school science teachers, Diane McDonough and Tara Tetreault, brought their version to class with " Call it Density," a parody designed to introduce the concept of density to students. The teachers report that students enjoy their video and find it fun. Some students even asked to have the video shared online. But the real value isn't in entertainment; it's the way they've captured student interest and provided them with a good introduction. After viewing the video, McDonough and Tetreault bring the concept of density to life in their classrooms, showing students how to capture and graph data.
8 Tips For Integrating Pop Culture In The Classroom
1. Create lessons that will linger in students' minds.
One teacher completely rewrote the lyrics to Dynamite by Taio Cruz, creating a new song, Satellite (I'm Galileo), complete with historically correct references. Students may not remember every single one of those references, but as they struggle to get lyrics like "I throw my telescope in the air sometimes/Saying AYO-/I'm Galileo" out of their minds, you can be certain they're thinking about Galileo.

2. Use popular culture as a conversation starter.
Spark discussion in your classroom by showing relevant film clips that get students interested. The National Education Association recommends using clips as a focal point for discussion, and as a resource that encourages interaction. Film is especially useful for starting conversations, as students may have a strong opinion about what they've seen and naturally will want to share.

3. Encourage students to write about what interests them.
Teacher Gaetan Pappalardo encourages other educators to allow students to write on subjects that matter to them. Relating a story of an eight-year-old student who couldn't believe he was allowed to write a paper about Transformers, on the value of giving students the freedom to express their interests, Pappalardo explains ," Being told what to write year after year can be compared to a wild animal held in captivity for a very long time. When it's released back into the wild (writing freedom), when the iron door lifts, their eyes say, 'What the hell do you want me to do now?'"
4. Examine popular culture as a model for studying educational materials.
Prepare students to study poetry by passing out popular song lyrics and asking them for feedback, discussing word meaning, tone, and composition. Former English teacher Gaye Weintraub used this idea to familiarize students with the idea of poetry and show them how to engage in close reading, first with songs, and then with poetry. The result? "Most students ended up in the library looking for more books on poetry and brought poems they discovered on their own to me," says Weintraub.

5. Make ideas more relatable and easy to understand.
When Clay Morgan explained post-WWII double tapping through Zombieland, he wasn't dumbing down history. Rather, he was speaking his students' language. Students may find it difficult to identify with international relations, but put it in terms of zombie warfare, and they'll get it.

6. Encourage students to create their own media.
Explore the lives of historical figures by asking your students to create fictitious Facebook or Twitter accounts for them. Create and share videos of dramatic historical reenactments as played by action figures on YouTube. Get students involved in the creation of these resources, and they're likely to understand the educational ideas behind them.

7. Become familiar with what students enjoy.
Most teachers are at least one generation removed from their students, so it can be difficult to relate to their interests. You may even feel awkwardly out of touch when exploring pop culture for use in education. Fortunately, there are resources that can help, including Urban Dictionary, teen magazines, and Facebook.

8. Be careful about explicit content and copyright.
Although pop culture can be fun and useful in the classroom, it's not always the right fit. Consider the age and maturity of your students when presenting material, and be sure that if you are sharing explicit content, it is academically relevant. Educators should also become familiar with fair use guidelines that govern copyrighted material. Although fair use allows for generous educational use of copyrighted works, some material may not be used in its entirety or distributed as copies in the classroom.

You may feel silly or out of place bringing pop culture into the classroom, but the benefits of its educational use are too great to ignore. Pop culture is more than entertainment; it's a useful tool for connecting with students, improving engagement, and deepening understanding. And of course, it's fun to turn students from uninterested zombies into students interested in zombies.

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8 Tips For Integrating Pop Culture In The Classroom

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When you see a Lady Gaga music video, do you think of it as a teachable material for your classroom? Probably not. But for some visionary teachers, pop culture is a useful tool that can help get students interested and engaged in learning, and even offer resources for better understanding classroom material.

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Last updated on October 26, 2023 by Not So Wimpy Teacher

Close reading is an important skill for students to learn. Not only is it required by the Common Core standards, but it helps deepen comprehension.

But close reading can be hard for students. And boring. It requires repeated reading and discussion of the same text. And each time students read, they are pushed to dig deeper into the text for its true meaning.

In fact, we made a video all about the benefits of close reading and how to get started:

As teachers, we know implementing close reading is necessary. For some of us, it might even be fun. But for kids, reading the same thing over and over again is a drag. They have short attention spans and don't appreciate the nuances in understanding that come after repeated exposure.

It's important to teach close reading in a way that kids enjoy and can understand.

What is close reading?

Close reading uses repeated readings, reading strategies, challenging comprehension questions, and evidence-based analysis of a text to increase understanding. It's a multi-step process, where each step leads to deeper comprehension.

Students start by looking at the most basic parts of the text, like words and phrases. What do these words mean? Then, they consider bigger ideas like structure and organization of ideas. Why is the text divided into certain paragraphs, sections, or chapters? How do they fit together?

Finally, students identify the meaning and purpose of a passage by connecting it to external information, like other texts, personal experiences, or the world. All of this requires students to draw inferences from the text and support their conclusions with evidence.

Close reading helps students become better readers.

How to teach close reading

Practice reading strategies

If that seems like a tall order for 8-year-olds, it is. But the process of close reading helps students become better readers. When they develop close reading strategies, they can independently read and comprehend more difficult texts.

The key to helping students stay engaged as they do this hard work is to break down the process into manageable steps. You should provide students with a variety of strategies they can use to make sense of challenging readings.

Some strategies you will want to teach students include:

story elements

character traits

compare and contrast

cause and effect

point of view

main idea

vocabulary

summarizing

These strategies can lead to a deeper understanding of a text. It's important to give students many opportunities to develop and practice these skills.

Mark up the text

Close reading is active reading. One of the best ways to help students interact with a reading passage is to mark up the text or read with a pencil. This should come after the initial reading.

When you give students specific tasks to complete while reading, they must focus more closely on the text. Simple things like numbering paragraphs, underlining characters and setting, and circling unfamiliar words are some ways to keep kids actively engaged with a text.

You should model how to mark up a text when you read. Be sure to think aloud and use different marks for different elements of the text. Then give students multiple opportunities to practice marking up a text on their own. Post anchor charts as reminders in the classroom.

Comprehension questions

Once you've marked up a text, you can dive into comprehension questions. These questions may start easy with answers that can be found explicitly in the text. But they should become more difficult and require students to make logical inferences based on the text.

These extension questions require students to think deeply about the reading. It may take a while for your students to develop this skill. You will need to model how to use the text to make reasonable inferences. And you will need to guide them into a more complex analysis. Simply asking "why" each time they give an answer will help them think more deeply about a text.

Reading response

Once students can make inferences and draw conclusions based on a reading passage, they need to be able to explain their answer and justify it with text evidence. Reading response writing activities help prepare them to do this.

As students practice putting their ideas into words and using text evidence to support their conclusions, they will develop higher-level thinking skills. There are a variety of reading response writing activities, including narrative, informational, explanatory, and persuasive writing that can develop these skills.

Take your time

Take your time with each passage. You should not be trying to move through all these steps in one day. Don't be afraid to spend four or five days on one reading passage. Kids need repeated exposure.

Selecting close reading passages

It is important to pick topics students care about. While every class will be different, kids are often interested in animals (especially pets), video games, snacks and candy, friends, family, school, or scary things. Holidays and seasonal topics are also interesting to kids.

You also want to choose reading passages at the appropriate level for your students. Close reading is designed to help kids better understand challenging texts, but you don't want the readings to be too difficult. This will discourage kids.

Make sure to select a variety of texts, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to ensure that they can use close reading strategies for any type of passage. Mixing up the readings will also keep things more interesting and appeal to readers who enjoy different types of texts.

Seasonal Close Reading Passages

Would you like some no-prep close reading passages that are fun, engaging, and easy to use?

II thought so! You'll love my seasonal reading comprehension close read passages bundle for grades 3 and 4.

These ready-to-use passages provide rigorous, standards-based practice of close reading skills. The bundle includes 60 short, student-friendly reading passages that are a mix of fiction and nonfiction. I even throw in poetry once in a while.

The seasonal reading passages bundle includes:

60 seasonally-based reading passages for students to practice close reading skills like underlining, circling, and adding symbols and notes

Comprehension questions for each passage that require students to think deeply about the reading and find text evidence to support their answers

Standards-based reading activities (1 for each passage) for additional practice that keeps kids engaged

Reading response writing activities (1 for each passage) that help kids develop higher-order thinking skills and use text-evidence

12 teacher anchor charts - simply project onto a whiteboard or print and display in the classroom

Printable student anchor charts (2 versions) for students to reference during close reading

An "At a Glance" calendar that lays out your lessons for the entire month

And more!

Student-Friendly Topics

And the best part is students love these passages! Some of the fun, engaging topics include: Halloween

football

Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

candy canes

penguins

Mardi Gras

April Fool's Day

National Pet Day

scavenger hunts

The Fun Fiasco

fireworks

And so much more!

These are the types of things kids get excited to learn about. They'll happily dive into these seasonal reading passages to learn more about things that matter to them. And because they are invested in the topics, they're willing to work hard.

With over 60 passages to choose from, you'll definitely find topics your students are interested in. And when you incorporate close reading into your regular routine, students will become stronger readers.

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FREE Reading Comprehension Passages

Want to check them out for yourself? These FREE reading comprehension passages will help your students practice standards-based reading skills with fun and engaging topics and activities. Best for grades 3-4.

Two weeks of rigorous close read activities

High-interest reading passages that kids love

Fiction and nonfiction texts

Complex reading comprehension questions

Standards based reading activities

Reading response writing tasks

Answer keys

I hope these passages make teaching close reading a little bit easier for you and a whole lot more fun for your students!

Have a Not So Wimpy Day,

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Close Reading Strategies that Keep Kids Engaged

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Close reading is an important skill for kids to learn. It helps deepen their understanding and is frequently tested on assessments.

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Encouraging students to create their own graphic novel or comic can be a great way for them to progress in their reading or writing skills in a fun, creative way.

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Comic or Graphic Novel Template - FREEBIE

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This template could be used for any assignment and if perfect for project-based learning! Just print and go!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BECAUSE THIS RESOURCE IS FREE...The best form of payment is spreading the word! I would so greatly…

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Exploring different types of music to tie it into poetry is a great way to peak your students interests in writing their own type of poetry that can connect to their own personal lives and interests.

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Creating nonfiction activities can promote learning for more challenging books that students may have to read or struggling finding interest in. This activity packet provides fun, engaging, and creative ways to make nonfiction books more exciting.

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Playing interactive games throughout reading can encourage your students to stay motivated throughout the story.