Kurth shares her of love of reading with students

Suzanne Kurth, a fourth grade teacher at Washington Elementary School, has been named the Iowa Reading Teacher of the Year.

?I have a huge love of reading,? said Kurth, and although she feels it?s important to show and share that love with her students, reading doesn?t automatically top the list of her favorite subjects to teach.

?I love teaching all the subjects ? that?s why I?m an elementary teacher,? she explained. ?I can teach everything ? and everything is really reading.?

After reading the book ?The Daily Five,? Kurth changed the way she teaches reading.

The book, she explained, is written by first-grade teachers Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, who, in their own classrooms for 10 years, practiced and refined a structure to help students develop habits leading to independent literacy.

Kurth took the sisters? ideas and ?embraced them,? modifying them to benefit her fourth graders.

Each day, the students read to themselves; read and ask questions with a partner to improve comprehension; write ? especially poems since the school will be publishing a book this spring; do word work; and listen to reading; while Kurth meets with small groups.

?I?ve found that by teaching reading in small groups, I have a better grasp on what they need and what they know,? said Kurth. ?When you work with four at a time instead of 23, you get to know them.?

The smaller groups help students build confidence, and shy students feel less self-conscious raising their hands, but the small size also makes students more accountable, Kurth said.

The school district had a book study on ?The Daily Five? last year, which Kurth and teacher Mary Ann Partridge taught.

?The sisters will be at the state conference; I?m excited to be able to meet them,? said Kurth.

Also during the Iowa Reading Association?s Annual Conference, Kurth will be honored during the President?s Awards Banquet and Reception April 2 as the recipient of the Iowa Reading Teacher of the Year Award.

?I?m very excited, very humbled,? said Kurth. ?It?s a very big honor. It?s nice to be honored by your peers.

For the complete article and additional photos, see the Tuesday, March 17, 2009, Fairfield Ledger.