The Reading Practice Intensive is a program set up to guide teachers through the development of ideas and plans that will allow us , not only to be better teachers of reading for our students, but to have the tools we need to share, and help our fellow teachers through an area of learning that is hugely critical to the success of our students.
Below are the otes and reflections from our first session.
Overview
Acquiring content and practice which can impact disposition or attitudes towards reading to help students become independent, life-long readers.
Apply knowledge acquired from RPI and pass on that learning to our school.
Reflect on learning w/ mentor and organise 15 min observation (1 per session)
Critical for Manaiakalani teacher’s to accelerate learning in order to create an equitable future for our learners.
“Reading ability has a considerable impact on both educational attainment and wider life outcomes. Research finds robust connections between reading ability and educational success. Reading enjoyment and behaviour appear to be the key mechanisms in this relationship” (Mulcahy et al, 2022)
What characterises a good reader?
- Curiosity and hunger to learn more about topics they find engaging.
- Reads for enjoyment and for entertainment, as well as for learning purposes.
- Patience and focus to read for extended periods of time.
- Understanding of how to access and find texts.
- Strategies to make meaning & build their confidence (self-efficacy) to tackle texts which can be challenging. Believing they are capable of carrying out an action to achieve a goal.
- Participate in communities of learning (classrooms, friends, family etc.) to add further learning related to texts through discussion and conversations
- Acquiring, using/applying the knowledge they gather through reading.
- Read a wide variety of texts which engage them with different ideas, and styles.
The use of forms can be critical in this respect as it allows teachers not only to gather data on their attitude towards reading but can also give us an indication of student interests, and self-efficacy when it comes to personal reading choices. This information can also be used by teachers to encourage students to try different texts, and to delve deeper into topics, subjects, or genres that they’re interested in in order to follow the T-Shaped literacy
Teachers as Readers
Teachers help students become readers when they understand the importance of reading for pleasure and are reading role-models.
This requires us to know our students, know the literature they’re reading and to share OUR enthusiasm for reading.
Reading Across the Curriculum
Reading & writing are things that we do across a wide range of topics, not just something isolated to literacy lessons. (Finding a wide variety of texts/types of texts related to a topic area (T-Shaped Literacy))
Using the library as a valuable asset - used both in teaching context, but also a place for students to explore their own interests and learning areas through a variety of different learning opportunities and resources.
Making explicit connections between content/concepts and other contexts.
Students interpreting and analysing their own/their classes' reading behaviours and attitudes (in a mathematical/statistical analysis context), not only allows us to teach/talk about literacy in a cross-curricular way, but can help students to feel encouraged, and enthusiastic about improving their reading aptitude and attitude because they take charge of their own learning.
Students encouraging other students, through things like Book Chains, seems to have a really positive effect on student’s attitude towards reading where it is not just something they are being made to do, but rather it’s a form of entertainment that they can share with their friends, like watching a cool new movie, or trying a new video game.
Giving student’s self-directed opportunities for follow up activities is a great way of engaging students with a text through a task that they find interesting/relevant to them and their lives (like TikTok profiles, or text conversations)
I think students encouraging others to read helps them to take the “personal” element out of it which could potentially be discouraging, and turns it into a larger picture of how to change achievement across the class.
A Discussion about Texts
There is a reinforcing reciprocal relationship between oral language influencing reading development, and reading influencing oral language development.
Opportunities to verbalise their ideas is a critical element of learning, but in order to do this we need to have clear, and explicitly taught ground rules around how to talk with one another in these contexts;
- Actively listen (includes not talking over others);
- Respectfully take part giving ideas, reasons and evidence;
- Ask questions; Be inclusive. invite the participation of others (this is of particular importance when encouraging reciprocity with students);
- Stick to the topic;
- Look at other sides of the issue (e.g. fully informed to think critically & make best decisions)
We got into breakout groups of about 5 teachers, and it was interesting to see how some of the pitfalls that our students will experience were similar to the pitfalls that we encountered, in particular encouraging and inviting others to join the discussion. We need to make sure that we are listening to understand, not listening to respond.
How to grow good readers
Providing balanced book collections at all grade levels is vital to engagement during both reading instruction and self-selection. This work suggests that a balanced collection includes lots of informational titles and a variety of print materials. (Gambrell, n.d)
Reflections:
What did I learn that increased my understanding of the kaupapa and pedagogy of the Manaiakalani Reading Programme?
It was great to be able to synthesis so may of the different practices I have been taught, and have used in my career as both a secondary English teacher, and as a primary teacher, and how many of these same strategies (self-reflection, explicit teaching of group talk, student choice) are relevant across all learning levels.
What did I learn that could improve my capability and confidence in teaching reading?
I begin the course very confident in my ability to teach reading, and feel reassured that many of the strategies I have put into practice are effective.
What did I learn that could be used with my learners?
That including a variety of text types also includes variety in the type of texts they have available (both non-fiction and fiction). I will also be including more student-selected work options for post-reading activities t account for different interests, and learning styles.
What did I learn that could be shared within my wider community, with either colleagues, or whānau/aiga?
That modelling reading is critically important, firstly, it begins with reading at home, whether that be reading to kids, reading for enjoyment so that the kids can see, or even just having books in the house that are available for them to pick up, examine, and potentially enjoy.
