Reading Reconsidered

1 Where it came from

Peabody is not connected to Teach Like a Champion or to the authors, and nothing here is written or checked by them. The book was written by Doug Lemov, Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway. The curriculum is a different product from the same team, sold by Teach Like a Champion. When a teacher says they use Reading Reconsidered, it is worth asking which one they mean, because one is a book to read and the other is a set of units to teach.

2 The big ideas

• The book is a set of methods. Its page calls it a practical guide to rigorous literacy instruction, covering harder texts, close reading, nonfiction and writing in response to texts, then vocabulary, interactive reading and student autonomy.
• Teachers learn by watching. The book's page says it has over 40 video clips.
• The curriculum is built from books. Its page describes a book-based, modular curriculum, where you can buy one unit or several.
• Vocabulary and writing are scheduled. The curriculum page says lessons use vocabulary instruction two to three times a week and three kinds of writing.

3 What a lesson looks like

For the curriculum, the publisher's page gives the outline of a unit. Units run about six weeks. Each unit has a unit plan, a knowledge organizer, teacher lesson plans and a student packet. Lessons are driven by text-based objectives, with vocabulary instruction two to three times a week and three kinds of writing. The page does not give a day-by-day lesson, so this page does not invent one. The book is not made of lessons at all: it is a book of methods, so what you do with it is read it, watch its clips and try its methods in the lessons you already teach.

4 The adult's job

With the book, the adult is a student of the methods: reading about close reading, harder texts, nonfiction, writing in response to texts, vocabulary and interactive reading, then trying them in class. With the curriculum, the teacher follows a unit plan and teacher lesson plans, uses the knowledge organizer and hands out the student packet. The curriculum page also mentions a separate foundational literacy workshop for teachers, which shows that early reading skills are taught elsewhere.

5 How progress is checked

The pages read do not describe how the curriculum checks progress, and none was found in the book's page. Ask Teach Like a Champion for sample materials before relying on a description.

6 Strengths and criticisms

7 What the research says

This page can report no independent evidence, and that is the honest answer. No review of the book or the curriculum was read, and no study of children's results was found in the pages read. What the pages do give is a description of the contents: the book's methods and video clips, and the curriculum's six-week units. If evidence matters to you, look for a review or a study and read how it was done before you rely on it. A description of a method, even one from a respected team, is not a finding that it works.

8 How to try it

1. Decide which you mean: if you want to improve how you teach reading, start with the book; if you want ready-made units, look at the curriculum.
2. If you read the book, pick one method, such as close reading of a hard passage, and try it in one lesson before changing more.
3. Watch one video clip with a colleague and talk about what you would do the same and differently.
4. If you consider the curriculum, email Teach Like a Champion for samples and a price, since the page does not state one.
5. Plan for children who cannot yet read grade-level text: give them reading practice they can succeed at, beside the novels.

9 Using Peabody with it

• DecodablesHand a young or struggling reader a decodable text to practice sounds, since the curriculum starts at grade 5 and has no early reading.
• Book standardsCheck what a novel asks of a reader before you assign it beside a unit.
• Decodable readersGive an older reader who still needs phonics a free decodable story, read on their own beside the class novel.

Peabody is free and has no ads. Pages on peabody.kids are for children; pages here are for the adults teaching them.

10 Programs that follow it

Programs and materials often named with this approach: Reading Reconsidered (book), Reading Reconsidered Curriculum.