Are your students REALLY Reading?

Are your kiddos REALLY reading?  
Don't Let them fake you out!!

Imagine this.  You are in the middle of working with a small group of students ... maybe guided reading ... you look up, to of course make sure that all your little friends are reading, writing, thinking, spelling, etc.  At first it looks like everything is going perfectly.  Ah, the easy life of a teacher.  :)  But upon closer inspection...  

Wait, what is that?  Your students are actually reading their books upside down, staring at the ceiling, whispering to their neighbors about eating chicken nuggets for dinner last night, staring at a Microsoft manual (these are first graders - I don't even understanding that stuff -  LOL), or walking around "collaborating" with their pals.  Ummmm, these kids are NOT reading!

Anchor Chart - Reading Rubric for 
Real Reading vs. Fake Reading 

It focuses on Metacognition, thinking about your thinking, and what it really looks like to be a real reader.  You can print this out as a poster, kids can put it in their Reader's / Writer's Notebook, or you can use it as a model for making an anchor chart with your students.  It works great to create the Real Reader vs. Fake Reader anchor chart together during a mini-lesson focused on what reader's should really be doing.  

These ideas and reading strategies were adapted from my favorite comprehension book, Tanny McGregor's Comprehension Connections.

Have you created a Real Readers vs. Fake Readers anchor chart with your students?  I would love to see it!!!  Please send me a picture or a link and I will post it to my blog.

See ya!
jen