Every teacher dreads the question, “Why do I have to read this?” Listen in as Cris Tovani shares her CYA ~ Curriculum You Anticipate ~ planning structure. When planning for student engagement we must consider how Topic, Tasks, Time, Targets, Texts, and Tending all come together to create authentic learning experiences for students and teachers. Cris shares her insights into the importance of connecting standards and objectives to relevant topics and texts so that our targets and tasks are engaging and meaningful for all students. She also shares how we must tend to students’ needs and consider how we structure our time for daily instruction and units of study. Most importantly Cris bolsters our awareness of how to remove the masks of disengagement that so many students wear in our classrooms. Michelle and Cris also make connections to the Planning strand of the PEBC Teaching Framework as they synthesis how the CYA Structures help teachers plan with purpose, people, and process in mind.
Cris Tovani taught first grade to seniors for 31 years. Her entire career has been spent trying to figure out the “knowing-doing” gap. Researchers tell teachers what they should be doing but actually doing it with 125+ students is a whole new ball game. Throughout her career, Cris has tried to take reading and writing research and apply it to all levels of learners. She loves sharing her success and failures with colleagues around the world so they too, can better serve students. Cris is a founder of PEBC and an internationally known consultant focusing on issues of reading, content comprehension and assessment in secondary classrooms. She has been an adjunct professor and is the author of four books: I Read It, But I Don’t Get It, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, So, What Do They Really Know? and No More Telling as Teaching: Less Lecture, More Engaged Learning.
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