Sharon's Sayings
Some of my sayings and some quotes I think sum up my philosophy to literacy and literacy teaching. When you break it all down, literacy is here to help us make sense of ourselves, others and our world. Sharon Callen
"Literature is critical to every student. It helps them to make great sense of their world, themselves and others.
What have you read aloud to your students today?"
"Good readers read a lot, every day."
"Good writers write a lot, every day."
"If you want to really teach your students to be better readers, sit beside them, observe, teach them what they need to know, and then ensure you prompt them to use what you have taught them."
"How are you going to find time for your students to read at school every day?"
"Teachers of literacy need to model and demonstrate a vast range of strategies to their students as part of a highly effective program.
Do explicit teaching at the point of need – be amongst your students."
"Reading is a social endeavour. Get your kids talking about books. It’s one of the most under-utilised high impact strategies we can employ in our classrooms."
"Immerse your students in real reading and writing. We can spend a lot of time doing a lot of reading and writing ‘stuff’."
"If you want to lift the level of your students imaginative writing, get them writing like writers, rather than writing like they speak. Oral language is our everyday language. Written language (imaginative) should be loaded with new and interesting literary features, oozing with literary devices and be taking the reader into new and unimagined places."
"Kids are smart – trust them – don’t talk so much, get out of their way and allow them to show you what they already bring to the table.
If we want our students to delve into and engage in reading chapter books, show them first how to delve in, explore, think, wonder and experience chapter books through Read Aloud. Read Aloud is the doorway for students to think and talk their way through long text, with their community of learners."
"What you know about, can demonstrate and articulate about the reading curriculum must determine the success of your students as readers."
"What do you do to make your readers curious?"
"What do you do to make your writers curious?"
"It’s really not OK if a child never gets to finish reading a book for themselves. Good readers are made because they read, so build the repertoire of strategies you have to engage kids in looking for, exploring, finding, selecting books they care about and want to read."
"Reading is thinking."
"Get your kids exploring the big wide world of texts."
"If your kids aren’t reading every day at school, the chances that they are reading at home just halved."
"If your students access a well-stocked classroom library, they will be reading 50% more than students who don’t have a classroom library."
"Kids who are more successful at writing, read a lot. They get to discover the amazing variety of ways in which texts can be structured, the vastness of vocabulary, the intricacies of grammar and punctuation, the many purposes for writing etc
"Literature is critical to every student. It helps them to make great sense of their world, themselves and others.
What have you read aloud to your students today?"
"Good readers read a lot, every day."
"Good writers write a lot, every day."
"If you want to really teach your students to be better readers, sit beside them, observe, teach them what they need to know, and then ensure you prompt them to use what you have taught them."
"How are you going to find time for your students to read at school every day?"
"Teachers of literacy need to model and demonstrate a vast range of strategies to their students as part of a highly effective program.
Do explicit teaching at the point of need – be amongst your students."
"Reading is a social endeavour. Get your kids talking about books. It’s one of the most under-utilised high impact strategies we can employ in our classrooms."
"Immerse your students in real reading and writing. We can spend a lot of time doing a lot of reading and writing ‘stuff’."
"If you want to lift the level of your students imaginative writing, get them writing like writers, rather than writing like they speak. Oral language is our everyday language. Written language (imaginative) should be loaded with new and interesting literary features, oozing with literary devices and be taking the reader into new and unimagined places."
"Kids are smart – trust them – don’t talk so much, get out of their way and allow them to show you what they already bring to the table.
If we want our students to delve into and engage in reading chapter books, show them first how to delve in, explore, think, wonder and experience chapter books through Read Aloud. Read Aloud is the doorway for students to think and talk their way through long text, with their community of learners."
"What you know about, can demonstrate and articulate about the reading curriculum must determine the success of your students as readers."
"What do you do to make your readers curious?"
"What do you do to make your writers curious?"
"It’s really not OK if a child never gets to finish reading a book for themselves. Good readers are made because they read, so build the repertoire of strategies you have to engage kids in looking for, exploring, finding, selecting books they care about and want to read."
"Reading is thinking."
"Get your kids exploring the big wide world of texts."
"If your kids aren’t reading every day at school, the chances that they are reading at home just halved."
"If your students access a well-stocked classroom library, they will be reading 50% more than students who don’t have a classroom library."
"Kids who are more successful at writing, read a lot. They get to discover the amazing variety of ways in which texts can be structured, the vastness of vocabulary, the intricacies of grammar and punctuation, the many purposes for writing etc