Just heard from Steve Peterson, a new visitor to Teachers Speak Up, about his blog, where he lets us in on how he as a teacher gets kids thinking when they read. This is a great way to inform the wider public about how we educators think through and develop our craft, and how engaged the students can become as a result. OK, it takes a bit of time to write blog entries like this. But it’s also an excellent way to share strategies with other teachers, and to document our work for parents and administrators. Be sure to listen to the short and entertaining clip of a classroom discussion about the book he’s reading aloud.

The approach involves asking kids about the details they notice, and inviting them to hypothesize about what these mean for the story. So consider, too, the lively and meaningful way this approach develops the close reading that the Common Core Standards call for.