Week 8: READ

  

READ

The single most important act a teacher or parent can give to our students  is a love of reading and to surround the learning community in a culture of literacy. The Literate Environment Standard (ILA) focuses on the need for candidates to synthesize their foundation knowledge about content, pedagogy, the effective use of physical space, instructional materials and technology, and the impact of the social environment to create an environment that fosters and supports students’ traditional print, digital, and online reading and writing achievement.

This standard recognizes that candidates must create a literate environment that meets the diverse needs of students and facilitates connections across content areas as well as with the world outside the school.

The Teacher Who Reads

Adapted from The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillilan

I had a teacher who read to me,
Tales of pirates who scoured the sea,
Swords clenched in their yellow teeth,
"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.


I had a teacher who reads of high seas,
Tales that are sure to please;
Stories of now and long ago,
Adventures for every child to know.


I had a teacher who read me tales
Of lions and tigers and pirates that sail,
Tales of dinosaurs, dragons, and dogs,
Cinderella, pigs in wigs, and frogs on logs


I had a teacher who read me the things
That sparks the hope that a story brings,
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each teacher of children were such!



You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be--
I had a teacher who read to me.

adapted by Claire Patricia Hansen

How a Book is Made

Don't miss Lauren Oliver's 8 part series about the making of The Spindlers, go behind the scenes and follow the book publishing process from start to finish in a seven-video. Begin with the trailer at https://youtu.be/x0ZavODe5PM. Each of the segments are less than 5 minutes, with the exception of the last which reads part of the book (31 m).

The Importance of Reading Aloud -- a must read

Robb, L.  (2019 Nov/Dec) The importance of reading aloud. Newsletter.  2:4.  Retrieved from http://bit.ly/Readingaloud

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Promote Independent Reading

Teach Thought Staff. (2018 January 8). 25 Ways Schools Can Promote Independent Reading. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/25-ways-schools-can-promote-literacy-independent-reading/. 

Get some great ideas here - and adapt for your situation. Two things I will react to. 

1. Substitute writing for the word reading and you have many ways to promote daily writing as well. Don't think you have to correct their writing any more than you need to correct their daily reading but the daily writing will provide a resource for them to pull ideas and expand when you need to have a writing sample for their portfolio etc. 

I feel passionate about this topic.  Many promote the value of classroom libraries - and I totally support having rich libraries in the classroom but unless your school has unlimited funds it is not feasible to have the type of classroom library that supports curriculum, and teachers should not be spending their own money on books for children to read. 

My solution -- support and utilize your school library and in order to have some books readily available in your classroom, ask the librarian to cooperate with you and allow your classroom to have a traveling library for 30 days at a time.   This works extremely well in the elementary/middle school classrooms where the classes generally have longer blocks of time for a class period.

In the high school, if time to go to the library is not convenient, I would ask the librarian to booktalk a large selection of books and ask them to use a portable scanner to check-out the books to the students directly from the classroom.  Share what ideas you have to get books into the hands of readers.  High School teachers will want to devise a way to adapt this idea that works for them.

• Once a month on a set day, take your class to the library.
• Each child choose 5 books to check-out to the classroom (NOT TO THEIR ACCOUNT) these books are classroom books checked out to you/your room.
•  Ask for a master list of books that have been checked out and retain that for quality control.
• Take the books back to the classroom and allow the students to read them whenever in the classroom (no check out no taking home).
• Students can sort the books in bins by categories that they devise, even by color if they want - great practice in categorization. And books are readily available.
• If a student wants a particular book to continue reading (such as a novel) they simply place it back on a to continue reading shelf - with their bookmark in it. The specific student can access the book anytime there is individual or class reading time.
• At the end of the month the books are returned to the library - individual students can check out specific titles at that time in their own name.

This classroom library rotation does NOT substitute for regular visits to the library for research, browsing etc. time, or for checking out their own titles to take home. 

If you get the excuse that the library does not have enough books to rotate a library collection here are responses: 

1. We are wasting a lot of money on books for individual classrooms because we are duplicating titles. 
2. Our classroom can not sustain enough books that children will have a true choice of titles. 
3. If we don't have enough books - I'll help and provide support for asking the administration for a larger budget. 

And meanwhile, during the time the library is being beefed up with a more substantial collection - ask for a similar arrangement from the public library - many will issue institutional cards, Some areas such as in Iowa have area educational libraries which can provide rotating collections. These would need to be teacher selected or requested but it will suffice for a time. However, working for a well stocked and up-to-date central school library with professional staffing is paramount to promoting literacy and raising reading proficiency. 

The Dr. Seuss Controversy

Westernfeld, Adrienne. (2021, March 5). A Dr. Seuss Expert Cuts Through the Noise on the Cancel Culture Controversy. Esquire.  http://bit.ly/TSG-controversy  -- similar controversies plague many classics at the secondary level, e.g. Huckleberry Finn.  Think about the perspectives that might be involved.

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Reading Rockets has a great article that will provide some ideas if you are still searching.

Breiseth, L., Walker, R., Reading Rockets. (n.d.) All kinds of readers: A guide to creating inclusive literacy celebrations for kids with learning and attention issues.  Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/all-kinds-readers-guide-creating-inclusive-literacy-celebrations-kids-learning-and-attention

Many of these ideas will be geared toward elementary and middle school - be creative and figure out how you can take the idea and adapt it to a meaningful celebration in your specific situation. 

Literacy and Technology

An article that shares some real-life examples of schools that have successfully integrated literacy and technology.
Take a look at this article - some ideas may resonate or you may reject all of them. Just read and see what you think.
Smith, T. (2018, January 8). Reading, writing, & thinking: Cross-curricular literacy initiatives. T&L Advisor Blog. Retrieved from https://www.techlearning.com/tl-advisor-blog/reading-writing-thinking-cross-curricular-literacy-initiatives
 Are there any ideas here that you just have to try? Will you have to adapt some of the ideas to appeal to your older students?  What do you think?  Any ideas of worth.

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In June at the annual 2018 ALA convention -The American Library Association voted unanimously to accept the ALSC Board's recommendation to expand the definition for and the name of The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and going forward the award would be titled: Children's Literature Legacy Award.  Research the pros and cons of changing this name and why the award name was changed.

• Why the change was recommended?
• What was the rationale for making the change?
• What statement is being made with the name change? If any.
• Was the change appropriate? Why or why not?

This award is mentioned here not so much for the award itself as it seems to focus on giving the award to authors of books for the younger child.  However, the situation of renaming an award, a building, excluding an author from our shelves because of their prejudices, behavior, etc. is all a focus for discussion.  What do you think about this decision?  How does this relate to other situations that involve behavior, prejudices, etc.?

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End of Week 8 newsletter