Classroom Close-up
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Special STEM Section
INTRODUCTION-
David Harrison was instrumental in creating the Missouri Reader's poetry issues. Because of that, for this newest issue, I interviewed him about his contributions to the recently published book, The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap Professional Development Book. Part of his contribution to that book included the creation of content-area poems. The book contains everything a teacher needs to complete a full year's fluency development program and has units for primary and intermediate children. The power of repeated reading is demonstrated by the amazing effect sizes associated with this effective teaching practice. As a bonus, one of David's co-authors, Georgia Heard, shared her book's latest edition. This book is a best-selling resource for teaching poetry, now fully updated with new lessons, exercises, and writing prompts that engage today's kids. The interview and the books give readers a whole host of resources to carry out repeated poetry readings. Also, don't forget to look at the previous two poetry issues: LINK, LINK. They contain even more useful ideas and great resources. Thanks again to David and Georgia for agreeing to do this special interview for The Missouri Reader.
Dr. Sam Bommarito
Literacy Consultant/Blogger
Managing Editor, The Missouri Reader.