Emphasize Shared Reading

When I was going through my teacher preparation program our instructors asked for us to share a child’s book with the class during a read-aloud we had every morning.  I was scared to death to do this.  Fast-forward 12 years later; it is the part of my job I enjoy the most.  I enjoy making various voices for the characters, thinking aloud about what I’m reading and predicting what is going to be happening next.  After reading this chapter I am pleased to note that is exactly what should be happening.  The goal of a whole-class read aloud is to demonstrate and discuss, fluency, the author’s craft, how to figure out vocabulary, character motivation and behavior, confirm predictions and vocabulary, how to read nonfiction, how texts work, summarizing, predicting, asking questions, making connections, inferring, learning new information and to enjoy reading.

Below is a framework for shared read-alouds for all grades:

Teacher:

·         Selects engaging unfamiliar nonfiction or fictional text.

·         Chooses appropriate points which to stop and discuss what is read.

·         Makes transparencies or copies of the pages for students to follow along.

·         Provides an introduction: discusses the cover, does a picture walk, makes predictions.

·         Reads aloud in an expressive voice.

·         Highlights features of text.

·         Poses questions for discussion.

·         Demonstrates his or her thinking while reading.

·         Observes student’s responses and behavior and determines next steps.

Students:

·         Read the text silently or orally along with the teacher.

·         Learn to give and take in small-group discussions.

·         Listens to and talks with one another about the story.

·         Think about what’s happening in the text or story.

·         Respond orally as a class after talking in small groups.

Text

·         Is highly engaging, informative, entertaining.

·         Is close to the reading level of the majority of students.

·         Is visible to all students.

·         Contains elements that support fluent reading.

·         Connects to students’ interests, needs, culture, and curriculum.

·         May connect to other texts.

·         Lends itself to high-level thinking and comprehension.

Purposes

·         Engages students through participation, not just listening.

·         Gives all students a chance to be successful.

·         Gets students thinking about what’s happening in the story.

·         Confirms or invalidates thinking.

·         Demonstrates how reading words-the skills, strategies, and behavior of good readers.

·         Makes reading an enjoyable experience.

Advantages

·         Goes beyond listening to read aloud or following a text visually.

·         Encourages all the voices to be heard.

·         Moves at a brisk paced that helps students stay engaged and focused.

·         Provides lots of teaching and practice in a short period of time.

·         Can be used effectively for teaching and learning across the curriculum.

·         Is a good prelude to small-group literature conversations.

·         Raises expectations for what’s possible for students to do.

·         Builds confidence and competence in struggling readers.

The book goes on with an example of a shared read aloud.  Routman began with setting the purpose, and giving students the background knowledge they need to understand.  She then stops to check comprehension and allow time for small group discussion.  She continues to read and stops to ask where in the reading and find an answer to the question.  Reading continues and the students are stopped to predict, and so forth.  The teacher stops and makes comments of her own, confirms her predictions  and models other methods of comprehension.

Teach Comprehension

In recent years there has been a strong push for a return to phonics in the classroom.  Teachers are now concentrating on having students decode words.  We are creating a generation of decoders who can read words, but they cannot necessarily understand what they are reading. 

Strategies which proficient readers exhibit include:

·         Making connections within this text, to another text, from known information to new information, to your life and to the world.

·         Monitoring your reading for meaning.

·         Determining what’s most important in the story, distinguishing main ideas from details.

·         Visualizing the story.

·         Asking questions.

·         Making inferences, predicting, wondering and assessing what’s going on.

·         Synthesize and applying new knowledge to what is known and generating new ideas.

When teaching reading comprehension strategies, do not just teach the strategy, but teach students how to use the strategies.  Routman states, on average students need 20 percent of the classroom time on explicit strategy instruction and 80 percent on applying the strategy.  Effective strategy is developing readers who can monitor and regulate comprehension through predicting, questioning, creating images, seeking clarification and constructing summaries.

Know What You Do As a Reader

Take an article or passage that you have been reading and read it.  Identify what you took away from the reading of the article.  Notice and write down the strategies you used to help you comprehend as you read the text.  With a partner or a small group talk about what you found.  Listed below is a list of strategies which you may have used:

·         Reread (This is always the most frequently mentioned strategy.)

·         Highlight

·         Write comments or questions in the margins.

·         Survey the first paragraph, the first pages to get an idea of what will be mentioned.

·         Connect to past experiences or prior knowledge in order to understand ideas or figure out vocabulary.

·         Monitor your reading (adjust pace, pause and think, subvocalize, read aloud, talk to yourself).

Take what you just learned about your own reading comprehension and model it for your students.  Students and especially struggling students are more likely to increase their reading comprehension when we show them how to comprehend what they are reading.

Teach Rereading as the Single Most Useful Strategy

To do this:

·         Read aloud a short but challenging piece of nonfiction.  Retell what you read in front of the students.  Reread the piece, retell it again and rate your comprehension.  The students will witness your comprehension increasing. 

·         During shared reading and writing as well as during guided reading, demonstrate how you reread to monitor and maintain comprehension.

·         Model rereading with a partner.  Encourage partners to ask a peer to reread when meaning is lost.

·         Demonstrate how you reread charts, graphs and captions to improve comprehension of a text.

Teach Self-Monitoring as Crucial to Understanding

Have students ask themselves, does this make sense? Does this sound like language?  Do I know what is happening?

Provide students opportunities for students to talk with others about what they read through interactive reading, shared reading, and literacy conversations.  Ensure that students and not the teacher are doing a majority of the talking and model what conversations about text sound like.

Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner

As a current teacher in the classroom sometimes it feels like all we do is assess our students.  In my classroom we currently use our reading series placement assessment, the DIBEL’s Assessment, and MAPs.  It’s a wonder we even have time for instruction.  However, if we do not use the assessments to change instruction it is no good to us.  In the previous blogs I have written about the benefits of independent reading to both proficient and struggling readers, but it is the way an independent reading program is set up with an excellent classroom library and assessments by teachers of the reading program that define its success.

As you analyze your classroom assessments ask yourself the following questions about the assessments:

·         Is this a valid and useful assessment for this student, for the curriculum and standards, to inform my teaching and to share with students?

·         How am I using this assessment to note and celebrate the student’s strengths, to build on those strengths, to note weakness, to inform and determine instruction?

·         What goals am I setting for myself, the student and with the student?

·         Who else do I need to inform, the principal, parents, support personnel?

Make assessment and evaluations part of the daily routine.  This can be done through conferences, shared writing, shared reading or word work.  In this way lessons can be adjusted to meet the interests and needs of the students.  Regularly evaluate students regarding the texts they are reading during independent reading time.  Do this in an informal manner and with all students.  During the conference make sure the student has his or her book with them at the conference.  Questions to ask during the conference are:

With fiction:

·         What’s the problem in the story so far?

·         What’s the main character like?

·         Tell me about the setting, where the story is taking place.

·         What’s your favorite part so far?

·         What’s happening in the story right now?

With nonfiction:

·         What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned so far?

·         What’s your favorite part?

·         What else are you hoping to learn?

·         How is this book organized?

Answer to these questions will help you figure out whether or not the student understands the book.

Child-Friendly Read Goals

·         Reread when meaning is unclear, when something doesn’t make sense.

·         Think about what you are reading and what’s happening.

·         Make sure you can decode and understand the words in the books you select.

·         Think about why characters act and behave the way they do.

·         Make connections to your life and what you already know to help you understand the story.

·         Read in your mind. Don’t move your lips.

·         Make a picture in your mind to help you understand.

·         Try reading in another genre.

·         Read more, at least thirty minutes a day at home, plus thirty minutes in school.

·         When you don’t know what a word means, use surrounding words or read the next sentence or two to help you figure it out.

·         Use the pictures (graphs, charts, visual aids) to help you get meaning.

·         Other goals may include, read in a specific genre, become familiar with specific authors, or increase vocabulary.

·         For younger students add goals related to handling books, understanding concepts of print and use phonics strategies and other cueing systems.

Teach intentionally to the state standards.  For example, if part of the state standard for student to be able to use and understand the main idea or essential message of a story ask them “What is the main idea or essential message of the story?”

Plan for and Monitor Independent Reading

As we have reached a time in education where there is such an emphasis on standardized test scores many teachers have come to a point where there is so much focus on guided reading and using a structured reading program and activities and little time is actually spent on students practicing what they are learning, which is to read.  As with anything that we want to be good at we must practice and teachers need to allow 20-30 minutes per day for students to practice reading independently. 

Independent reading as we will talk about today does not mean allowing students to choose any book of their liking and then read or pretend they are reading without being closely monitored by the teacher.  Teachers must plan for and monitor students reading throughout the independent reading time.  This varies from silent sustained reading in that in independent reading a students are allowed to choose any book to read, but teacher may guide selection.  Students are reading 30 minutes or more versus 10-30 minutes in a silent sustained reading program.  In an independent reading program there is an excellent classroom library.  Students are reading mostly “just-right” books, teacher monitors comprehension, student keeps a reading record, teaching occurs during a conference and the teacher and student set reading goals.

Connect what students are reading with teaching and evaluating.  As students are reading ensure students are:

·         Matched with a book (or other reading material) they can read and understand.

·         Reading a text they enjoy.

·         Practicing and trying out strategies that have been demonstrated and working on in class.

·         Being monitored, assessed, and evaluated on the books they are reading.

·         Being taught strategies and how to apply them to problems solve and read independently.

·         Setting and working on goals to further improve their reading comprehension.

Occasionally, you may want to direct independent reading by offering and then following up and evaluating the following examples:

·         Try using the strategy we’ve been working on.

·         Notice how your character is behaving and what makes him behave that way (for fiction).

·         Visualize a setting the author describes.

·         Make a connection to your life.

·         Be on the lookout for a strong chapter lead- an enticing beginning.

·         Reread when you lose meaning.

·         Use what you already know to figure out what words mean.

·         Note how an illustration or visual helps your understanding.

Use structured partner reading as part of an independent reading program.  By participating in partner reading, students become less dependent on the teacher.   Partner reading increases reader involvement, attention and collaboration.  Model with another student what partner reading looks like and great guidelines such as:

·         The reader holds the book.

·         Sit close enough so both partners can see the words.

·         Take turns reading.

·         Go back and reread if you don’t understand.

·         Turn and talk.

·         Problem solve with your partner.

·         If your partner is stuck on a word:

o   Give your partner time to think

o   Go back and reread.

o   Read past the work and come back.

o   Slide through it.

o   Put in what makes sense.

o   Sound it out with your partner.

o   Look at the pictures.

o   Ask if they would like your help.

o   Tell your partner what the word is.

·         Enjoy Reading!

Also, create with your students criteria for “just-right” books.  A “just-right” book for 1^st grade may be the following:

·         I like it.

·         I can read most of it.

·         I can understand it and tell someone what it’s about.

A “just-right” book for a grade 4-5 class may be the following:

·         It’s interesting; you like it!

o   The title is appealing.

o   You know and like the author.

·         You are comfortable reading!

o   The print is the right size.

o   You like the illustrations.

o   Some places are smooth; some are choppy.

·         You can read it!

o   You understand the plot and can predict.

o   You can tell others what it is about.

o   There are only a few words per page you don’t know.

Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

Why do I need a library in my classroom?

According to Routman the most effective reading programs are the ones who are supported by a large, carefully thought out classroom library.  Books contribute more to reading success than any computer program would.  Children tend to read more when they have easy access to books.  Do not belittle any reading including comic books, magazines, and picture books.  This type of reading helps students discover a joy for reading that can gently be nudge into more sophisticated literature.  As teachers we need to find out what students are interested in reading and then bring in those types of books into our classrooms. 

When evaluating at your classroom library look ask yourself:

·         When you walk into your classroom, does the library or book nook jump out at you, or is it invisible?

·         Does the library corner look beautiful and contain an inviting display of plentiful reading materials, or does it look bland and impoverished?

·         Does the library include a variety of genres and literary forms- poetry, picture books, informational books, mysteries, fantasy, popular series- or does is house mostly fiction and textbooks?

·         Are most of the books in the library written by well-known children’s authors, or are they part of a program that has been created and leveled by a publisher?

·         Do you have current books that accurately and aesthetically portray other cultures, or is your collection homogenous and dated?

·         Can children find books in which their language and culture appear, or are they unlikely to “see themselves” in the collection?

·         Have students been involved in the selection and organization, or have you made all the decisions about design, how books are grouped, and what reading materials to include?

·         Can struggling reading easily find books they can and want to read or do they spend most of their independent reading time searching for books?

·         Are there comfortable areas in which students can sit and read, or can students only read at their desks or tables?

·         Do you and your students rotate, change and add to the collection based on changing needs, interests, and curriculum, or is your collection static

·         Does your library include children’s favorite authors, books and series, or is the collection limited to what you have on hand and your own preferences?

·         Most of all, is the library a place children love to go to seek and find wonderful reading materials, or is it a rarely used appendage in your classroom?

In your classroom library do not focus on leveling books.  Instead let student interest guide what they read.  Include various non-fiction books, not only are students reading but they are reading to learn.  Make books and book talk a part of your classroom.  Model how you choose the books you read.  Provide students with opportunities to talk about the books they are reading.  One activity that the author suggests is to create a “Top Ten” book list for your classroom.  As a class students must discuss, read and persuade others to vote for the books they believe are the best they have read. 

Make classroom libraries attractive, comfortable and accessible for reading by:

·         Creating an attractive reading corner with room for several students.

·         Invite students to help you create small reading corners for one to two students.

·         Provide comfortable seating: bean-bag chairs, a special reading chair, or a sofa.

·         Small lamps add a warm cozy feel.  Have baskets of books and various reading materials available throughout the school.

·         Display books with the entire cover showing and not just the spine.

·         Use rain gutters, which can be purchased cheaply and installed quickly to display books.

·         Use baskets or bins for easy access to books.