Laura Candler's Graphic Organizers for Reading Webinar and Book Review

Earlier this week I told you all that I have been spending my summer watching Webinars and doing some reading about reading. One webinar that I found to be very helpful was Laura Candler's "Using Graphic Organizers to Create Reading Mini Lessons."  As the Title I Reading teacher, I only get about 30 minutes a day to teach my lessons and many of my days are spent in leadership meetings, helping out in other classrooms, and whatever else my administration needs me to do. After watching this video I feel like I will have a better handle on what to do with my limited about of time. 

I've always tried to use the "I Do", "We Do", "You Do" method but after watching this video I realize that I was doing it completely wrong! My students are 3+ grade levels behind in reading and because of this I always spent most of our time together on the "We Do" aspect of the method. My kiddos just never felt confident enough to move on to the "You Do" part. I've now come to realize that even if they are behind, the "You Do" part is the most important aspect of this method! Even if the student(s) feel like they aren't ready who am I to hold them back? I feel like I'm the mother bird and I need to just my babies a little push to make them fly. I can't wait to get back into the classroom and really redo my own teaching method.

While watching the above webinar, I took some notes that I would like to pass on to you! They may not make much sense if you don't/didn't watch the webinar but I would highly recommend watching it! It's only about 60 minutes long. As you watch the webinar follow along with my notes and write some of your own. I hope that you can all benefit from the video and the little cheat sheet I created. To download the notes you can click either of the two hyperlinks above or click here to open the Google Document. 

Now for something that was truly exciting to me... I had the opportunity to do a really amazing review and here it is! I contacted Laura Candler to ask her if I could review her webinar "Using Graphic Organizers to Create Reading Mini Lessons" and provide you all with the little freebie above and I was presented with the opportunity  to review her book! 

Graphic Organizers for Reading, Teaching Tools Aligned with the Common Core

Can you say "WOW!"? How have I lived without this book? This amazing resource has everything you need to get started using the Common Core Reading Standards. Why stress yourself out by looking all over the internet for ideas to use with each of these standards when you would just open this book and have everything you need right in front of you? This book includes, at least one, graphic organizers for every Common Core Reading Standard for 2nd-6th grade. It also includes a reference table, for each of the grade levels, with the standards listed and the graphic organizer that can be used to meet that standard. 

If you are thinking "But Shanon, how will I know how to use these graphic organizers in  my classroom to meet these standards?" don't worry about that, Laura has done all the work for you! 

The book starts with a very detailed introduction on how to use graphic organizers and  how to create mini lessons with graphic organizers. Here you will find lesson plan templates, information on how to create a mini lesson, how to use graphic organizers, and a sample lesson. 

Next, you will have a lesson on Multi-purpose Graphic Organizers (ex. Vinn Diagrams) and ways to use them in your classroom. You will find teaching tips and ideas and sample lessons for each of the multi-purpose organizers. 

The last chapter is all about Graphic Organizers for Information Text and Literature. Here you will find specific graphic organizers to meet specific Common Core Standards. This chapter provides you with reading strategies, examples of text that you can use with each organizer, step-by-step techniques, lesson examples, and much more! 

As a reading teacher, this book is going to be my new teaching Bible. Graphic Organizers for Reading is 161 pages of pure teacher bliss! I know that I will be able to open this book and find anything I need to help me with my struggling students. I can't wait to dive into the school  year knowing that I have this book on hand! I can not recommend this book enough! If you have ever struggled with creating a reading lesson then you should really consider getting this book. If you are still not convinced, head over the Laura Candler's page and download a free sample pack of the book before you purchase it! 

And just in case you were wondering; NO, I was not paid to give this review. I was not asked to say anything that I said. All of the opinions above are my own truthful opinions of the book.