Sean+Murphy's Work+Page

There are core principles that will be shaping our time together and must be taken into account during our sessions. Moreover, they should be considered when supporting teachers. This includes the fact that process matters. It’s not as if we start learning to be literate one day and the next day we’ve all got it. It takes a long time and we have to do a better job of tracking the development as it’s happening.
 * Take-Aways

Group pop-corn or carousel reading is not an effective strategy for helping struggling readers.

So much more that I'll be processing tonight and

Power of teacher > power of method/curriculum.
 * Big ideas

I now feel like I have a better understanding of "The Big 5"

How do we go about changing teacher habits that are ingrained, but actually deleterious (e.g. explicitly teaching G.U.M.)?
 * Questions

**Day I Reflection — Morning, Day II:** Last night I came home and immediately crashed on my couch. My wife asked me how the day went and I replied, starring blurry-eyed at the ceiling, "I knew much, much less about literacy than I thought. I know a little bit more, but still very little." The upside is that now I know how little I know. Maybe, like a student having the meta-cognitive ability to re-read a sentence when she didn't comprehend it the first time, this is a good thing. Point is, literacy and all the emerging literacies are such a dynamic, shifting field that constant research and renewal of information is necessary. I hope, though, that the next few days will give me the background to know where and how to research.

To a certain extent, the general "big idea" that clicked on day two was the "radical idea" that reading better requires you to read. Practice is not only preferred, it is key to developing as a proficient reader. Establish routines and procedures //inside the classroom// that allow for reading practice. This doesn't stop at a specific grade, but instead should be built into the classroom. Design structures that take advantage of sustained silent reading. At the same time, readers need a steady diet of books that they want to read (high interest, variety of genres) and can read (leveled, increasing complexity, slow release of responsibility).
 * Day II Reflection — Morning, Day III:**

Before the second session, my understanding of reading processes was confused, at best. I now recognize that it's a dynamic process and efforts should be made to practice purposefully in the classroom.

[|__http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/__]
 * Day III MLK Annotation**

The Seattle Times’ tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. offers a well-written, thorough and easy to navigate exploration of Dr. King's life and achievements. Set behind an elegant black back-drop, the site features a brief biography, timeline of his life and both annotated and audio versions of his most famed speeches. For those studying Dr. King and wishing to extend their learning, or simply feel like challenging their knowledge, a quiz and guestbook are available.