How do you teach your students to become proactive readers? A few years ago I started focusing on teaching my students how to read a text based on its genre, and it has made such a difference! Wait. By genre? What does this mean? It means my students know exactly what elements (things) to look for when they pick up a text and identify its genre. Let me give you an example. Here's an anchor chart that displays the important elements of fiction. Those elements are: characters, setting, problem, solution, theme, and summary. Typically … [Read more...] about Small Groups by Genre