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Ruth Shagoury
Ruth Shagoury (formerly Hubbard) is the Mary Stuart Rogers Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education at Lewis & Clark College. Ruth coordinates the Department of Teacher Education's Langauge and Literacy Program, which leads to Oregon reading specialist certification. She works with students of all ages, from pre-school through adult learning situations, teaching in classrooms as well as conducting workshops across the United States and Canada. She is the author of twelve books, most recently Starting with Comprehension: Reading Strategies with the Youngest Learners with Andie Cunningham(Stenhouse, 2005). Her articles about literacy, research, and teaching have appeared in numerous journals.
Ruth's current research is focused on language and literacy acquisition with diverse student populations. Her writing for Choice Literacy this year will focus on two topics: working with English language learners, and assisting new teachers through school-based study groups.
To see Ruth in action with a young English Language Learner in a writing conference, click here.
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What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About . . .?
Melanie Quinn and Ruth Shagoury
We've been meeting each week this spring with a group of teachers pre-K through grade 12, all of us exploring literacy teaching in our classrooms around our teacher research questions. We've all been looking closely at one student in our class that we are intrigued or wondering about. This study group activity helped us look closely at our case studies with fresh eyes. . . . more
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More Teaching Metaphors
Ruth Shagoury
Recently there have been a slew of articles published at Choice Literacy focused on teaching metaphors. Bread-baking, wood-working, and piano playing were all conversation starters, drawing out-of-school passions into our understanding of our teaching lives. I continual to draw parallels between my learning and that of students and colleagues. Specifically, I have been paying attention to what literacy lessons I can learn when I approach something that is difficult for me. . . . more
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Root Metaphors for Teaching: Learning from our Passions
Ruth Shagoury
To me, "breaking bread" together is the essence of community. The genuine conversations, the fond chat, the playful banter, that occur as people talk and eat seem to create different bonds. I love the word "companion" because it derives from the phrase "com pan" or "with bread," reflecting how we become friends as we share simple food together. When I'm baking bread or cooking for my students or family, I purposely slow down, and I'm very mindful and intentional about my creations. But until now, I haven't used the baking itself as a metaphor for my teaching. What skills and insights can I bring to my teaching that derive from the world of cooking? . . . more
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Finding the Hook: Using Newspapers to Connect to High School Texts
Ruth Shagoury
One of our struggles has been to make explicit connections from the classroom curriculum themes and topics to the contemporary world and what interests our students. I decided to organize a workshop for the teachers to do some curriculum planning together, helping each other search for those links and make real connections for our students. . . . more
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Conferring with Eddie (VIDEO)
Eddie is a six-year-old student who speaks Cantonese as his first language. In this conference with Ruth Shagoury, there is little English spoken, and yet there is much communication through gestures and shared history. . . . more
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Team Sharing of Writing Curriculum Innovations (TEMPLATE)
Ruth Shagoury
Literacy coaches know that the most successful staff development provides lots of time for colleagues to share their teaching stories, questions, and ideas. Hearing what is happening in the classrooms down the hall or across town is generative--and prompts creative leaps to enliven our own inquiries and curricula. The January doldrums can be swept aside for fresh ideas. . . . more
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Recipe for a Literary Tea
Ruth Shagoury
Teachers, literacy coaches, and specialists are often looking for that unique gift for teachers and friends - one with a literary touch to it. I created a "designer tea" for a celebration for a friend, and decided it would be a terrific gift for the teachers with whom I work. . . . more
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Conferring with Leonela:
A Two-Day Progression (VIDEO)
Ruth Shagoury
Leonela is a six-year-old student whose first language is Spanish. In these videos of conferences with Ruth Shagoury filmed over two days, she makes connections between her drawing, writing, and experiences at home and in Mexico. . . . more
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Learning with Intensity - A Study Group Discussion Prompt
Ruth Shagoury
"I came to our meeting this week dog-tired: preparing for Back to School Night, designing new curriculum, adjusting to changes in our schedule," Lena confided. "But after our discussion tonight, I'm leaving excited about extending these conversations into my classroom." Lena is one of the teachers in our weekly gathering of high school teachers across many disciplines who are all choosing to explore reading comprehension with their adolescent students. . . . more
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Collecting Stories: Opening Activity and Icebreaker (PRINT DOWNLOAD)
Ruth Shagoury
The "Collecting Stories" activity is a great way to launch a workshop or new study group on a topic. The one I designed here was used with participants in a workshop for teachers who were new to working with young English language learners. You can download a copy of the two-page template by clicking on this link . . . more
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Easing into Fall Literacy Coaching:
Exploring Quotes on Reading Comprehension
Ruth Shagoury
In September, I'll be starting work weekly with a group of high school teachers across many disciplines who are all choosing to explore reading comprehension with their adolescent students. I decided to start to prepare mentally by creating an "Opinion Exchange" around reading comprehension quotes. This way, I can both share a range of thoughts about what it means to understand what we read. I'll also learn more about the stories, histories, and attitudes this diverse group of teachers will bring to our work together this fall. . . . more
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New Teacher Conversations: Breaking Through Roadblocks and Sustaining Support
by Melanie Quinn and Ruth Shagoury
At our final New Teacher Conversations meeting, we wanted to celebrate with the first-year teachers as well as look ahead to their second year. Knowing this was the last scheduled New Teacher Conversation meeting, we felt the need to equip them with strategies for issues that might crop up in their work and with confidence in the knowledge base that they already possess. . . . more
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Multicultural Picture Books for Young Children
Ruth Shagoury
There is a growing list of multicultural children's books that combine the delight in playful oral language with striking images to enhance the experience. As an added bonus, you can use federal funds to purchase these texts; according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, these are the perfect books for an early--and contextual--exposure to phonemic awareness. . . . more
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Notetaking Series Part II: Honing Your Notetaking Skills, One Strategy at a Time
Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Power
When we were learning how to take notes, becoming skilled at writing down observations seemed an almost mystical undertaking. We read accounts by anthropologists, war stories from their time in the "field," but we found little written about their growth process in developing notetaking skills. We were told we would learn by doing when it came to notetaking, but we often felt lost in that "doing" phase. There were thousands of incidents and details that could be recorded in any classroom. We often had no idea if we were recording the right details in the right way. . . . more
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New Teacher Conversations: Management Stories from the Classroom
Ruth Shagoury
Classroom management was on the new teachers' minds at our last meeting of 2006 when we asked them what they would like from us for resources and discussion in January. What they wished we had for them was a list of sure-fire tricks that would guarantee smoothly running classrooms; or if not a list, then surely some proven strategies that would iron out the ups and downs of their daily struggles... . . . more
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