One of the most widely read teacher blogs on the web is written by Larry Ferlazzo, teacher at Burbank High School in Sacramento. Burbank and Pebble Creek go way back, and Larry is one of the many talented and dedicated teachers actively using Pebble Creek strategies and curriculum.

His blog post written today is about Students Annotating Text and is a typical example of his thoughtful and relevant writing style.

Here’s an excerpt from the blog:

"Out of curiosity, I asked students in my mainstream ninth grade English class to write a sentence or two during their weekly reflection explaining why they annotate text. I was interested in seeing if they “got it” or if some would say they did it just because it was assigned to do. Of course, in this kind of situation, students might also respond in the way they believe the teacher wants them to, but I was pleased to see most of their answers.

Here are a few examples:

“I think we spend so much time highlighting so we could be more good readers and understand the text.”

“So we can get used to it and better at using the reading strategies.”

“Maybe because it helps us identify the main points and helps us understand what it’s about.”

“So we remember the lesson for the future.”

Read the article in its entirety at

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/02/14/annotating-text/