Tag: learning

By Katie Kelly, 2026 CCIRA Featured Speaker

With the increased attention on phonics instruction, we cannot overlook the essential purpose of reading as construction of meaning. Comprehension and critical thinking skills must be prioritized alongside foundational skills such as phonics, while also honoring and centering students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Compton-Lilly et al., 2023; Duke et al., 2021). Expanding beyond narrow ideas of reading instruction to include more robust and comprehensive approaches increases students’ comprehension, engagement, and joy when reading.

Purposeful Read-Alouds

Purposeful daily teacher read-alouds serve as an easy and effective approach to supporting key aspects of reading development and engagement. Read-alouds enhance language comprehension by building students’ background knowledge, academic vocabulary, and understanding of sentence structure—key aspects that contribute to overall reading comprehension. In addition, read-alouds provide opportunities for adults to model bridging processes such as fluent reading, self-regulation, and strategic thinking (Duke & Cartwright, 2021). By modeling their own think aloud processes before, during, and after reading, adults can demonstrate how proficient readers monitor comprehension, ask questions, and make meaning from text. Thus, read-alouds not only strengthen essential language comprehension skills but also promote the cognitive and metacognitive habits necessary for independent, joyful reading.  

Intentionally Selecting Read-Alouds 

When selecting texts for read alouds, choose books that serve as mirrors, reflecting students’ identities, interests, and cultures allowing children to see themselves reflected, affirming their identities, making them feel valued, and increasing their interest in reading. It’s also important to select books offering windows into different stories, experiences, and perspectives to expand children’s worldviews (Bishop, 1990). When read-alouds intentionally represent a range of experiences and perspectives, children develop cultural awareness, a sense of belonging, empathy, and a deeper sense of shared humanity. 

Consider:

• How does the book reflect students’ identities, cultures, and interests? 
• Does it challenge stereotypes and move beyond single stories?
• Is the text authentic and accurate? 
• Could the text cause harm? If so, for whom? 

Secondly, it’s important to consider instructional entry points for read-alouds. Choose texts with rich language, complex themes, and opportunities for critical thinking and discussion. Explore standard alignment and students’ academic and social-emotional needs.

Consider:

• What do I want students to think about, question, or take away?
• How will this text connect with standards and help build background knowledge and vocabulary?  
• What potential challenges may impede students’ understanding? 
• Where can I pause to model comprehension strategies (e.g. connections, summary, inferences, asking questions, etc.)? 
• What other texts can be layered to deepen understanding? 

Plan ahead for unfamiliar vocabulary, abstract concepts, or cultural references. Identify moments in the text to pause and clarify ideas, build background knowledge, and invite discussion. These instructional entry points create opportunities to deepen students’ comprehension, engage in discussion, and nurture classroom community. 

Book List Resources: 

• Social Justice Books
• Equity through Education Collaborative
• Book Buzz Blog

Read-Aloud Using the Multiple Read Framework 

To support deeper, critical comprehension during read-alouds, engage students in multiple readings of the same text. The first read introduces the text, the second builds shared understanding, and the return read promotes critical comprehension (Kelly et al., 2023).

First Read – The “Movie Read”
Read the book in its entirety without interruption, allowing students to enjoy the story and react emotionally. Ask open-ended questions like “What did you notice?” or “What surprised you?” to build familiarity and set the foundation for deeper engagement.

Second Read – Deepen Comprehension
Revisit the text to explore vocabulary, concepts, character motivations, plot development, and key ideas to build comprehension. Model proficient reader strategies through think alouds (e.g. connect, infer, ask questions, etc.). 

Return Read – Read Critically
Analyze the text to examine perspective, power, and bias. Encourage students to question the text, challenge stereotypes, and consider alternate viewpoints. 

Sample critical questions include:

• Whose voice is heard? Whose is missing?
• What assumptions does this story make?
• How might a different character tell this story?
• Who benefits from the message of this text—and who might be harmed?

Tip: If pressed for time to reread the entire book for the second and return reads, revisit intentionally selected excerpts of the text based on instructional goals.

Sample Multiple Read Framework: Dragons Love Tacos by Rubin

This story helps readers understand how paying attention to details matters—even small ones like what kind of salsa is served. It also shows how trying to do something kind (like throwing a party) can have unexpected results when you’re not careful.

Next compare with the dragon in the The Paper Bag Princess by Munsch, then explore lessons comparing the main character, Elizabeth with female characters in traditional fairy tales. The following text set demonstrates how to build on ideas and perspectives introduced in each subsequent book. 

Text Set Connections & Extensions:

For more sample lessons using the multiple read framework, see Critical Comprehension: Lessons for Guiding Students to Deeper Meaning. 

Read-Aloud as Transformation 

In today’s classrooms—especially amid rising book bans and cultural erasure—it is essential to use read-alouds to center students’ voices, celebrate diverse stories, and encourage critical comprehension. Through intentional planning and repeated engagement with thoughtfully selected read-alouds, students develop not only as better readers but more empathetic, informed, and justice-oriented citizens. 

Reflect: 

• How will you bring more purpose to your read-alouds? 

For more, check out Katie’s co-authored books including her newest book From Empathy to Action: Empowering K–6 Students to Create Change Through Reading, Writing, and Research. She can be contacted at ktkelly24@gmail.com. 

References

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), ix–xi.

Compton-Lilly, C., Spence, L. K., Thomas, P. L., & Decker, S. L. (2023). Stories grounded in decades of research: What we truly know about the teaching of reading. The Reading Teacher, 77(3), 392–400.

Duke, N., Ward, A.E., Pearson, P.D. (2021). The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction. The Reading Teacher, 74(6), 663-672.

Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2021). The science of reading progresses: Communicating advances beyond the simple view of reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(1), 25–44.

Hass, C., Kelly, K., & Laminack, L. (2026). From Empathy to Action: Empowering K–6 Students to Create Change Through Reading, Writing, and Research. Routledge.

Kelly, K., Laminack, L., & Vasquez, V. (2023). Critical Comprehension: Lessons for Guiding Students to Deeper Meaning. Corwin.

Laminack, L. & Kelly, K. (2019). Reading to Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Children Think Deeply, Speak Freely, and Take Action. Heinemann. 

By Gravity Goldberg, 2026 CCIRA Conference Featured Speaker

Students spend about fifty percent of their day sitting in chairs (Paul, 2021), yet studies across disciplines have shown that movement increases attention, engagement, memory, prediction, and literal and inferential comprehension. As a field, education has not focused on the research on how intentional movement can be integral in developing comprehension for students of all ages and across contexts. Incorporating movement into lessons can boost memory, lead to more literal comprehension, help with prediction, and support understanding of metaphorical language. 

Memory In Enhanced Through Movement

A series of studies found that memory is enhanced through movement. For example, undergraduate students who incorporated movement into their learning remembered sixty-six percent of the material they were studying compared to those who did not incorporate movement and only recalled thirty-seven percent (Noice et al, 2001). In another study, actors were found to remember their lines with ninety percent accuracy even months after a play ended when they learned their lines while they performed the movements that went along with them (Noice et al, 2000). The good news is that once a movement has been performed, students do not need to keep repeating the movement to get the benefit. They don’t need to move around while taking a test for example, and they will still get the support from the previous movement experiences. The original movement creates a mental “tag” that helps the students’ brain hold onto the information as important. 

When teaching students to incorporate movement into their learning you can help identify what is worth remembering and then show them how to add in movement. The following table shows an example of what this might look like in a classroom. 

When we want to remember…	Look For…	Try out…
Plot points for retelling	Character actions (verbs)	Making the actions the character makes with our own bodies
Main ideas in informational text	Bold words, headings, and repeated ideas	Acting out the information (ex, make your hand slither like a snake) Say the main idea while also creating a gesture to go with it (ex. draw a box in the air)
Details that support ideas	Examples, non-examples, lists, and visuals	Using your fingers to connect ideas (ex, touch the top of the finger to state the big idea and then move down your finger as you state the details)
Comparisons	Similarities and differences	Making a venn diagram with your gestures (ex. Each hand is a different item being compared so raise that hand while you say the information and put your hands together when the information is the same for both)

Literal Comprehension Is Enhanced By Movement

In one study of the Moved By Reading approach, researchers asked first and second graders to read a short passage about farm life. Half of the students in the study were given farm toys such as a barn, tractor, and cow. Periodically a light would turn on and students were asked to either reread or act out the story using the toys. After the reading, the group of readers who were asked to act out the story were better able to remember details from the story and make inferences compared to their peers who were only asked to reread. Acting out a story boosted students’ understanding by fifty percent compared to those who simply reread (Glenberg et al, 2004). In similar studies with reading math problems, Glenberg and his colleagues found that acting out the math problem’s story helped students identify information that was important for the solution. 

In additional studies in the Moved by Reading approach, the researchers removed the toys that were used for acting out the passage. Instead, the group of students was asked to imagine manipulating the toys. They used this phrase “imagine manipulating the toys” because it was directly related to the actual movement the students had previously done and it made the directions clear. Again, students in the group that were asked to imagine the movement made huge gains in comprehension. This held true with third and fourth graders who read new stories, not just the ones they had previously read with the toys in hand (Glenberg et al, 2004). 

The instructional implications of this approach mean it can be helpful to put out some comprehension manipulatives that students can use when first reading a text. The following table offers some suggestions for what you might offer students. Even secondary students find them helpful when reading more complex texts. 

Manipulative	How Students Might Use Them
play dough	Create models, artifacts, and scenes Make comparisons of size, shape, and distance of objects created  Represent pressure, tension, and experience sensory input that matches relationships
sticky note	Sequence events by using each sticky to represent an event Organize information into categories with one piece of information per sticky
blocks	Build ideas by stacking blocks to represent each idea Construct settings that character manipulatives can move within
popsicle stick	Keep track of quantities Use them as pointers Build bridges between other manipulatives
paper clips	Track quantities Build connections Use them as props when figurines reenact scenes

Prediction Is Enhanced Through Movement

We tend to think that a student’s ability to predict what will happen next is based on prior knowledge and the ability to make an inference. This is only part of what is going on. By looking at hockey and football players who are experienced with performing sport specific actions, researchers found that having physical experience performing actions that were later read about increased their comprehension (Beilock, 2015). This means that it is not just general background knowledge that can help students comprehend text but also movement experiences in their bodies. In order for a student to predict what will happen next they need to envision what is currently happening, by running it through their body’s motor system. They are imagining themselves doing the movement and their bodies are experiencing the actions on these pages as if they themselves are performing them. 

While this benefit of being experienced with the actions in the text is helpful to some, it obviously does not benefit all students, especially those who don’t have the prior experience of performing similar movements. Researchers have also found that observing someone perform actions does have a positive effect on predictions. For example sports fans act out the sport they are watching in their motor system, as if they were one of the players themselves. This was shown to lead to better prediction accuracy of upcoming sports actions (Beilock, 2015). For those students whose bodies are not physically able to make the movements described in the text, they can still observe others perform them and get a benefit of motor system activation and prediction accuracy.

The following three lesson ideas can be woven into your teaching.

• Model how to act out a scene. Then think aloud about how you use the acting experience to predict the next action(s). This can be done in small group lessons.
• Prompt students to act out the character actions and then use that experience to predict the next action(s). This can happen during the whole class read alouds.
• Prompt students to simulate the actions in their own minds (thus activating their motor system). Then have them mentally simulate what they think the next action will be (prediction). 

Language Comprehension Is Enhanced Through Movement

One type of language that many students struggle with understanding is language that draws upon metaphor. Texts include this kind of language so often we may not even have it in our awareness. Take for example, this excerpt from the popular book The Wild Robot Protects, by Peter Brown (2023). 

“Later, Roz lightened the mood with stories of Brightbill from when he was young. The conversation flowed smoothly until Roz brought up one particular subject” (p. 17). 

Each of the bolded phrases shows an example of language that includes metaphor that can be tricky for students to understand, especially those who are still learning English. There is nothing literal about lightening the mood or flowing in a conversation, so students who read this benefit from understanding how metaphors work. This is where intentional movement fits in. 

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s book Metaphors We Live By (1981) describes the ways metaphors are almost always tied to physical movement, and therefore, need to be understood in an embodied way. Take for example when we say a person is “flying high” or “down in the dumps.” These metaphors match the physical ways we carry out bodies when we are happy (we stand taller and our back and chest widen) and when we are sad (we slump down). With thousands of examples, they show this phenomenon time and again. Our language of metaphor comes from the ways we hold and move our bodies. 

Since there are so many metaphors in the texts we ask students to read, they can be better understood through body movements. If we explicitly teach students to make physical movements that match the metaphors they encounter, they begin to develop the ability to interpret what they mean. 

Let’s go back to the excerpt from The Wild Robot Protects. Students can create movement to match the phrase “lightened the mood” by picking up an imaginary mood and moving it upward like a cloud in the sky. They can make their hands “flow smoothly” along the table to understand flow. Partners can pick something up to show “brought up” and discuss how it felt. The key is intentional movements that take just a few seconds, but create a lasting impact on conceptual understanding. Having done this sort of work with students across grades and contexts, once they understand the process and purpose, they find it fun and helpful. 

Take a look at the table that follows. It shows how you can choose some common metaphorical language and bring movement in to help teach it. This table is just one example of what it might look like. Ideally, you are also using the language that is naturally coming up in conversations or texts in your own curriculum. 

A three step process for teaching metaphorical language with movement looks like this.

1. Pause: Pause when you come to a metaphor.
2. Move: Move your body to match the metaphor.
3. Ponder: What feeling is associated with the movement? How does it connect back to the text?

Movement Enhances Comprehension

By intentionally choosing to include movement, teachers can support students literal and inferential comprehension. These movements do not need to be separate, add-on lessons and can be attached to what teachers are already doing. As a bonus, adding in movement can boost student engagement and help keep students focused on learning. Many teachers recognize that their students are craving movement to stay regulated, using fidgets, wobble chairs, or just bouncing up and down as they read. By welcoming more movement into class, teachers can harness students’ natural need to move and help them become better readers too. 

References

Beilock, S. (2015). How the body knows its mind: The surprising power of the physical environment to influence how you think and feel. Atria Books. New York.

Brown, P. (2023). The wild robot protects. First edition. New York, Little, Brown and Company.

Glenberg, A. M., Gutierrez, T., Levin, J. R., Japuntich, S., & Kaschak, M. P. (2004). The Moved by Reading studies . 

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1981). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.

Noice, H., Noice, T., Kennedy,  C. (2000). Effects of enactment by professional actors at encoding and retrieval. Memory. 353-363.

Noice, H., & Noice, T. (2001). Learning dialogue with and without movement. Memory & Cognition, 29(6), 820–827. 

Paul, A.P. (2021). The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. New York, NY: Houghton Mufflin Harcourt.Gravity Goldberg is an international educational consultant and author of eight books on teaching. Mindsets & Moves (Corwin Literacy, 2015) put her on the world stage with its practical ways to cultivate student agency, leading to speaking engagements and foreign translations of her work. She has almost 20 years of teaching experience, including positions as a science teacher, reading specialist, third grade teacher, special educator, literacy coach, staff developer, assistant professor, educational consultant, and yoga teacher. Gravity holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from Boston College and a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the founding director of Gravity Goldberg, LLC, a team that provides side-by-side coaching for teachers.

Gravity Goldberg is an international educational consultant and author of eight books on teaching. Mindsets & Moves (Corwin Literacy, 2015) put her on the world stage with its practical ways to cultivate student agency, leading to speaking engagements and foreign translations of her work. She has almost 20 years of teaching experience, including positions as a science teacher, reading specialist, third grade teacher, special educator, literacy coach, staff developer, assistant professor, educational consultant, and yoga teacher. Gravity holds a B.A. and M.Ed. from Boston College and a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the founding director of Gravity Goldberg, LLC, a team that provides side-by-side coaching for teachers. Find her latest book on movement here.