Reading Differences

I was really moved by Tovani's description of fake reading (Tovani, 2000), and the trials and tribulations of her class for poor readers. Students are so good at hiding what they are not good at, like the ELL student whose spelling and conversational English is remarkable, yet has no reading fluency and little comprehension of grade level texts. In those shoes, I would become a fake reader too. It takes a tenacious teacher to stay on point with something that has become an embarrassment for the child, it is good, hard work.

It is a similar quality in the teacher, that is sensitive to different English dialects, so as not to shame or embarrass the student. Understanding the cultural foundation of the student, the traditions of the story form and language usage, enables the teacher to meet the student in their realm and enriches the classroom experience. Delprit points out how hard this is, as most teachers are white middle class women, like myself, teaching an increasingly more diverse student population (Delprit, 1995). It takes a concerted effort to expand your cultural awareness to be inclusive and not judgmental. But, that inclusiveness needs to be balanced with the value proposition that Standard English presents. It is important that all students learn the currency of success in our economy, and that starts with Standard English. The usage of which is an indicator of educated person in our society.

I really liked Delprit's practical suggestions for introducing dialects including Standard English through role playing. In this way, a student does not reject his home culture. but learns an additional role in a different interpretation of English. She also reminded me of my own language assimilation experience in college living in a group house with a bunch of students from Long Island, N.Y., people were always asking me what part of New Jersey I was from. Of course, I am from Michigan and I was attending the University of Wisconsin, (another dialect I can pick out anywhere), I was pretty offended, and I was talking "funny".

With the other readings this week, I was particularly interested in the reading disability perspectives presented because I have two students in my main placement who have significant difficulties with reading comprehension. One of them is on an IEP and is getting services, the other is new to the school and the teachers here were thinking that her difficulties stem from the Montesori program she came from, but clearly this is not the case. Her inventive spelling, even when copying text and non-fluent reading are red flags. My MT is now working with the family to carefully find a path for this student to catch up. So as I start my fulltime teaching I will looking to see how these two students progress, and what I can do to support their learning.

Fake Reading

When I read the phrase "fake reading", I thought "hey, I've done that". I did not even need to read the various techniques. It is easy to fall into the trap of fake reading the text is too difficult or you are uninterested in the information presented. When I came to the University to study art and took countless required art history classes, I tried everything to penetrate the text. Ironically, the pictures were not that helpful. After I faked the entire series of the History of Western Art by putting the book under my pillow, combining science and art using osmosis, I realized I was going to have to fulfill my electives with topics I cared about which were inter-disciplinary approaches to Greek Art and Archeology, and Northwest Indian Art and Anthropology. I was important that I find something of interest to me to make the text accessible. This seems very ego-centric in retrospect. this experience supports both Routman (Routman 2003) and Tovani (Tovani, 2000).

As an elementary teacher, I think there is a danger of creating fake readers when we require students to read a certain amount of time at home, with parental sign-off (of course). It is a practice that could lead to a fake reading habit. The student is no longer reading for enjoyment, only to prove they spent time with a book.

The key to setting students up to be successful (good) readers lies in providing instruction around text that they enjoy. When habits of comprehension strategies are mastered with text they love, they learn how to tackle texts that they are not so engaged with, whether that is an English Lit requirement or a tax form later in life.

The idea that all students leave elementary school as good readers is challenging. As the characteristics of the texts become more complicated in middle and high school, it only stands to reason that teachers at those levels need to continue to teach and support comprehension strategies. In my dyad placement, a middle school math classroom, the teacher modeled using a yellow highlighter, both as direct instruction and as a a shared activity. With homework that included a re-cap of the new concepts taught that day, she would highlight sections of text that were meaningful to the math lesson. It was a very effective way to bring the students attention to the content they needed to master as well as giving them a tool to help identify what was important in the text. Modeling appropriate reading comprehension strategies in this way was a very easy segue into the homework example. It is only one strategy, but the right one for this application.

Reading Comprehension, huh?

Once you know the words, what do those darn sentences mean anyway? Both readings this week provided instructional strategies that support student's independent and active monitoring of their own comprehension. ONe chapter was more tactical, the other more conceputual.

Routman (Routman, 2003) makes the point that comprehension is a personal process. Making meaning is most easily taught with text that students are interested in. When a student is interested in the content, they will be motivated to comprehend. This chapter focuses on text selection and prioritizes what should be modeled. She makes the connection of modeling within the context of the text you are reading.

Cooper (Cooper, 2009) sees teaching comprehension strategies as a isolated concept and suggests using visual cues in the way of posters to remind students throughout the year of the strategies they can employ to make meaning from what they are reading. I thought that the posters would only be useful to teachers, reminding them of the process of the comprehension strategies. Out of context, the posters seem like a waste of wall space, unless comprehension was a unit onto itself.

Cooper's reference to multiple intelligences is important to consider, and is illustrated by the multitude of results in Routman's survey of teacher's comprehension strategies. But I think this plays out differently than posters on the wall. That different strategies work for different learners and when reading for different purposes should drive instruction. This is a complex puzzle.

In my placement we have one child who is on a reading comprehension IEP, and several who are reading below grade level. On these same students desks I see large chapter books that they can't possibly be understanding. I know my MT models comprehension, but I think the missing link is modeling with just right books for these readers instead of with some of the more difficult literature the class is reading. Student interest is the key.

Reading Conferences and Goals

When you talk to students about their reading you elevate the importance of their effort.Reading becomes a developing skill and not just something you do. When I look at the conference framework that Routman outlines (p. 104-105), the act of talking to a child about something he/she has chosen is very empowering. These questions you would also ask a friend who is reading a book you are interested in. Book selection is personal enough that you are connecting more deeply with the student than you might i other curriculum areas.

My fourth grade class is lead by a teacher who shares her love of literature, talks about books she loves, reads aloud to the class daily and maintains an extensive class library. She is aware of what each child is reading. Half of the class participates in the Global Reading Challenge every year, which introduces the students to a broad sampling of multicultural stories. We read the Weekly reader together with our juice on Fridays.

While this is a wonderful 'readers class', what we have not been able to do is conduct reader's conferences. My master teacher has pointed this out and lamented it, as if she is failing both me, by not demonstrating it, and the kids, by doing it. It is a big class in a small space, with a number of children with special needs (behavioral), who are struggling to work independently. The class is unable to stay on task is such tight quarters long enough for a conference. It is our hope that with a second adult in the room (me), reading conferences will take place.

From the beginning of the year, we have been moving kids into chapter books and setting limits on picture books and graphic novels. The students keep reading logs and keep track of how many minutes they read at home, setting their own or parents goals, if they want. By reading the next more difficult book aloud, my teacher raises expectations. Our daily silent reading at the beginning of the day and daily read alouds before lunch, bookend the morning instructional time.

Back at BF Day

I was happy to return to my main placement in the fourth grade this week and one of my first activities was to complete a bulletin board with the kids Thanksgiving writing assignment, "What I'm Thankful For". I read as I stapled, and was completely uninspired by the topic and the kids lack of imagination, with the exception of one essay in which the student was remarkably thankful for her very large immediate family and provided good detail in the reasoning. The class was given a new writing assignment this week, a story, both draft and final copy due in the morning. The writing prompt was "I looked out the window and saw the principal flying". I was not looking forward to reading these.

In the second assignment, unlike the first, the teacher did not model anything. She just stated her expectation for a quality final draft. I did a silent double-take. I was not hopeful.

Since the first assignment the class has been participating in Writers-in-the-Schools, and while I have not been in class during these sessions, it is clear that they are having an impact.The stories that came back were well written and imaginative. The usual over achievers wrote as well as one might expect, but the two best stories were from students that are not usually singled out for achievement. Actually, quite the opposite, the two students struggle academically and are often singled out for behavioral issues. One story had great voice and charm, with a surprise ending. It was fun to read silently and out loud. The second story had amazing detail giving it a strong voice as well, but was so hard to read because of the inventive spelling employed. Both stories were read to the class by their authors.

The one student's lack of spelling skill has been a topic of discussion because she is so far below grade level. Our ELL students are better spellers. There is no spelling instruction in the class, the teacher feels spelling tests are not good pedagogy in the fourth grade. So now the question is what to do for the one, whose spelling is clearly getting in the way of her storytelling skills.

Daily Practice

There are three huge ideas in the Routman book that struck me, The most important being the need to have daily writing practice in the classroom. In my fourth grade placement we start everyday with FRED time (free reading every day), which lasts about 40 minutes. It covers the time from the beginning of the school day until all the buses have arrived. The buses are chronically late. This time is also used by the teacher to conference with students. The kids are really well read, and about half of them participate in the Global Reading Challenge. Yet, their writing is painful, and laborious. I think if we alternated the FRED time with FWED time (free writing every day), that students would experience writing differently. Given the choice of topic and audience, students could practice telling their own stories instead of those assigned.

Secondly, looking at writing holistically instead of by characteristics or skills to be mastered, gives students a sense that their story is important to tell, and inspires them to make it better through revisions and Six Trait applications. I visualize this as chewing around the outside of the idea, circling and circling until you find the core, throwing away the extraneous ideas to find the essence.

Lastly, the idea that the student (or any writer) needs to know who their audience is. It gives the writing purpose and makes the writer responsible to the audience. To simply write a essay on what your are thankful for, a common Thanksgiving assignment, can be pretty dry stuff if you don't know who you are telling this to. A letter to Santa is so much more effective than a list you hand to your parents of want you want for Christmas, the audience inspires the difference.

On that holiday note, I am stop and make some cookies.

Assessing student writing

I would like students to be less obsessed with grades. I can do that by grading less, and evaluating some. The need to know where you are in relationship to your peers reinforces a culture of haves and have-nots. Writing should not be competitive.

Peter Elbow's arguments for various forms of assessment were well presented and I agree with his hierarchy of application; reduce ranking (grading), use evaluation instead of ranking, but judiciously; include un-evaluated free-writes so that all writing does not have the pressure of evaluation layered on it, and learn to like your student writers. Assessment can put the teacher/student relationship into an adversarial framework. By creating community instead and getting to know your students through their writing, you counteract those negative forces and open yourself up to liking them. As a student I saw the teacher (evaluator) as the enemy. I feared feedback, and that is not what I want for my students and me.

The other big idea I was struck by was the limitations of writing evaluations. There are parallels between assessing the fine arts and assessing writing. Both being creative endeavors, it is necessary to separate the idea from the craft. Evaluating the craft is relatively straight forward, the spelling, editing, etc., but the content, the idea being expressed through the medium of writing, is more subjective, it depends on the reader. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As an elementary school teacher, the task is teaching and then assessing what was taught, with the goal of nurturing the students budding relationship to the joy of writing.

Teachers need to like their students (Elbow,1993) and need to like writing themselves (Routeman,2005). To elevate writing from the drudgery of sentence structure and grammer and celebrate it a form of self-expression is the ultimate goal. I would love for students to be as excited about writing as they are about art. As a teacher I want my new found enthusiasm for writing will be contagious.