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Shari Frost
Shari Frost has enjoyed a rich and varied professional life as an educator. She has served as a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, a staff developer, and an instructor at the university level. Shari taught grades kindergarten through fifth in the Chicago Public Schools for more than 25 years. Her classroom has been featured in instructional videos by the National Council of Teachers of English, Celebration Press, Scott Foresman, the State of Illinois, the CTELL Project and the Annenberg Teaching Reading K-2 video series. Currently, Shari is the director of the Literacy Partners Project, a collaboration between National-Louis University and the Chicago Public Schools. In this role, she works directly with teachers and children in classrooms to support the improvement of literacy instruction. She also supports and provides professional development for the literacy coaches in this project. Shari is an active member in professional organizations including National Council of Teachers of English, International Reading Association, and the state level affiliates. She is a frequent presenter at conferences sponsored by these organizations. Her writing for Choice Literacy will focus on the literacy instruction for primary students, challenging assumptions, and teacher change.
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Multicultural Books for Beginning Readers
Shari Frost
"Why isn't there an African American Henry and Mudge?" asked a teacher in the audience of a session on multicultural children's literature. I reminded her of a previous slide stating that only .03% of all of children's books published during the previous year featured African Americans. She retorted, "Well, at least 50 of them should have been the 'Henry-and-Mudge-Frog-and-Toad' kind of books. Children who are just starting to read need to have books about their own kind of experiences. . . . more
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Rethinking Writing Centers - Winter Follow-Up
Shari Frost
During the 2006-2007 school year, I began a conversation with the literacy coaches in our network about classroom writing centers. I had noticed that most students were distracted by all of the "cool tools" in the writing centers and were doing very little, if any, actual writing. After a couple of brainstorming sessions with the coaches, we settled upon a two-pronged approach. . . . more
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Technological Innovations in Books: Good or Bad Idea?
Shari Frost
"I found the perfect Christmas present for Mom," said my son's voice from the cell phone. My daughter immediately got up and took the cell phone into another room. But not before I heard him say, "It is a way for her to take 200 books with her wherever she goes. It's called a Kindle." Take 200 books with me wherever I go? Why would I ever want to carry around so many books? What could it possibly be -- some kind of monster suitcase on wheels? . . . more
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Whatever Happened to Mrs. Wishy Washy?
Shari Frost
I noticed a basket in an isolated corner of the primary wing in a school. I wondered what was inside of it. When I got close enough to get a good look, I couldn't believe my eyes. The basket was filled with abandoned big books in various stages of disrepair. As I knelt down to get a better look at the basket's contents, I tried to recall the last time I had seen a teacher engage a class in the shared reading of a big book. Had it been weeks? Had it possibly even been months? . . . more
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Rethinking Writing Centers
Shari Frost
Every classroom has one. The children absolutely love them. The teachers invest considerable thought, effort, and resources into outfitting and organizing them. There was only one problem. No one was actually writing in the writing centers. It was driving me crazy! . . . more
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Read Alouds for the First Day of School
Shari Frost
I ran into Janine at the bookstore last week. She said that she was looking for a new book to read aloud on the first day of school. Janine has been a primary grade teacher for about ten years now. She sheepishly admitted that she usually just grabs one of those back-to-school books featuring a familiar book character. I started to think that if I were still teaching first grade, I'd probably still be starting each year with the very same books, just as Janine had been doing. What's new out there for the first day of school read aloud? What are other teachers reading? Do they use the same book every year, or do they switch books from one year to the next? . . . more
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Summer Reading for Teachers
Shari Frost
I was intrigued by Franki Sibberson's idea for summer reading. Instead of giving her students a required summer reading list, she invites them to work on a "written plan for summer reading." Ideas for the plan come from sources such as peer recommendations, favorite series, and favorite authors. I think we, as reading teachers, can apply Franki's idea to our own summer reading. . . . more
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More Than Listening Centers: Using Audio Books in Literacy Instruction
Shari Frost
A lanky boy in a hooded sweatshirt was sprawled across a beanbag chair in the back of the classroom. He was staring intently at the book in his hands. "Uh-oh," I thought, as I noticed the tiny earbuds tucked into his ears. "He is not reading at all. He's listening to music." Soon his teacher appeared and gently pulled the hood off his head. He took the earbuds out of his ears, clicked the tape off, and he and his teacher engaged in a quiet conversation. The teacher went on to another student, and he put the earbuds back in. I wondered what was going on. . . . more
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Worth a Thousand Words: Teaching with Wordless Picture Books
On January 20, 2007, The American Library Association announced the awards for the most distinguished books of 2006 for children and young adults. We celebrated in our coaches' meeting by giving each coach a copy of the Caldecott award winning book Flotsam by David Wiesner. This was David Wiesner's third Caldecott award, the second for a wordless picture book. After the ooh-ing and ah-ing, the literacy coaches immediately began talking about how they planned to use the book. . . . more
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Open Book Clubs
Shari Frost
Open Book Clubs extend an invitation to read and discuss a featured book to all students at the appropriate grade levels for the book. A teacher selects the book and date for the discussion. The librarian gives a book talk on the featured book to each of the appropriate classes during its regularly scheduled library period. She then puts the book on display in the school library along with a sign-up sheet on a clipboard. Students may sign up to read and discuss the book. Open Book Club discussions are limited to at most eight students; if a book attracts a larger audience than this, additional book club discussion sessions are scheduled. The list of interested students is divided into groups (usually by grade level), and each group is notified if its discussion date is now different from the date on the original sign-up sheet. . . . more
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Books That Touch the Heart
Shari Frost
The literacy coaches began talking all at once about the books that always make them cry. So I began making a list. The list contains "all of the usual suspects" and some surprising choices. The coaches all agreed that they were going to go into classrooms the following week and model that it is okay to cry while reading aloud to a class. Here is our list of tearjerkers. Get an extra box of tissue and enjoy... . . . more
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The Other Buddy: How Partnership Programs Help Older Readers
Shari Frost
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" shouted a well-groomed, confident-looking boy. "Sorry," muttered his assailant. The third graders were entering the classroom to read with their first-grade reading buddies. The "assailant" was a disheveled boy. He was one of the shortest students in the class. His clothes were rumpled, and he needed a haircut. He bumped into his classmate because he was deeply engrossed in the book that he had selected to read to his buddy. He hadn't noticed that the line had momentarily paused... . . . more
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Beyond Electronic Worksheets
Shari Frost
Gail, a first-grade teacher, was not satisfied with her use of the classroom computers. She said, "So many people worked hard to get those computers into our classrooms and keep them updated. After all those bake sales and silent auctions, I know that I have to use them. I really want to use them - but how? My use of the classroom computers is absolutely the worst part of my instructional program." Gail had been using the computers as a literacy center choice. . . . more
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Just Because They Can Doesn't Mean They Should: Choosing Age-Appropriate Books for Literature Circles
Shari Frost
"Whatever you are doing tomorrow, cancel it! You have got to come and see Jan's literature circles." That was the message that Patty, a literacy coach, left on my voicemail. She had been working with Jan, a third-grade teacher, for about six weeks to help her get literature circles started in her class. Intrigued, I rearranged my morning appointments so I could be in Jan's classroom the next day... . . . more
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Time for Reading
Shari Frost
How much time do your students spend actually reading text during the literacy block? This question came up during a meeting of elementary classroom teachers. These teachers are required to provide 2-3 hours of literacy instruction each day. Some teachers thought their students were reading for 45 minutes. Some teachers thought their students were reading for an hour! Eventually, they admitted that they just didn't know... . . . more
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Chapter Book Read-Alouds in the Primary Classroom
Shari Frost
Some of my all-time favorite books are picture books. However, I learned from many years of teaching first grade that something magical takes place when a class shares the experience of journeying through a chapter book together. How could I convince this group of urban teachers to surrender some of their read-aloud time to a chapter book? . . . more
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