Building an Independent Reading Life in Upper Elementary Grades

LCCS Educator’s Institute March 2015Maureen Nosal

Fasten Your Seat Belts! Here We GO, Thinking Together About Kids and Books!!

Walter Dean MyersNational Ambassador for Young People’s Literature 2012-2013

“When I began to read, I began to exist”

RIP

The Power of Reading Volume

Reciprocal influences on the cognitive domains of:

• vocabulary• reading comprehension• critical thinking• general world knowledge

Cunningham

How children view themselves as a reader

Children’s reading self-concept develops very early and in response to initial reading experiences

(Chapman & Tunmer, 2003; Lynch & Cunningham, 2005)

Research is consistent withperspective arguing a child’sreading self-concept is formedas a consequence of patterns ofsuccess or failure

(Corglioni & Cunningham, 2006; Pintrinch & Schunk, 2000)

Learning Identities and Attachment Theory

• Students need to have goals they value and a belief they can make it. Confidence is created by expecting success for motivation. The first step in reaching these goals and community spirit is by engaging students with a context they can be successful in. Students need relevance for learning.

• When creating a social awareness, which

fosters learning, the attachment theory needs to be in place. The attachment theory involves being attached to the academic world, to the world of numbers, to others in the classroom, and to see the larger social world outside the world of their own. Secure attachments in the school world are essential for fostering success and learning.

Dr. Ernest MorrellDirector of Institute

for Urban and Minority Education, Teachers College

Effective Learning CommunitiesErnest Morrell

Winning Back Reluctant Readers

• Know the students• Know the books• Seek creative ways to connect the two

Pat Scales

Be a Book Whisperer!

• According to the Kids and Family Reading Report, the most likely reason our reluctant readers avoid reading is that they have trouble finding books they want to read.

The “Home Run” Book

• Jim Trelease has suggested that one very positive experience can create a reader, one "home run" book.

• Alfred Tatum writes that our textual lineage includes the things we have read that have been significant in shaping our identities

• Take a moment to recall an important reading experience in your life. What was the book, and what do you remember about both the book and the experience that changed you as a reader?

On the Back

• Who is part of your reading community (as an adult reader)?

• Who do you go to for book talks, recommendations, social reading experiences?

• Jot a list on the back of your “home run” book paper and be ready to share

What Does it Mean to Be Part of a Community of Readers?

• Who are *WE as Readers?

Reading has the powerto change lives. How dowe harness that power?

#shelfies!

Help Kids Name and Share Their Passions Ruben Trejo Mata

Why do reading habits matter?

We are creating school time readers rather than lifetime readers. (Trelease)

• If children only see reading as something they do in school, then they are vulnerable readers.

• Reading is a critically important life skill.

Leisure ReadingIRA Position Statement

• The position statement's recommendations are based on these principles:

• Students should choose their own reading materials.• Students are better able to choose engaging and appropriate

reading materials when teachers and family members scaffold their selections.

• The benefits of leisure reading are increased when teachers scaffold school-based leisure reading by incorporating reflection, response, and sharing in a wide range of ways that are not evaluated.

• Students should be encouraged to engage in self-selected reading outside of school.

Listening to Authors

In his own words ….. What strikes you?Why is this important? Or,

how does it help us think about our role as teachers?

• http://billmoyers.com/episode/junot-diaz-on-how-a-library-changed-his-life/

Junot Diaz

Invite the Ambassador into Your Classroom

• http://digitalcampus.heinemann.com/reference-library/resource-detail?rid=f0efc3ab-b295-4b77-abca-02048e406c9b

What Are Some of the Books We Need in Our Classrooms for Independent Reading?

• Series• Genres• Text Bands• Authors• Favorite Read Alouds and Old Favorites• Balance of Classic and Contemporary

“Books as maps”

Book Smarts

Five authors every child in grade __________ should know

are__________, __________, __________, ___________, and_______________.

Professional Texts

Resources for Real Wild Readers

• Lists• State Books• Newbery, Caldecott, Pura Belpre and other

ALA Awards• Blogs, websites, goodreads• Author pages• Friends, Book Clubs, Librarians

Consider the Place for Comics and Graphic Novels in Your Library

Lunch!

“Please Mrs. Nosal, help me! He only wants to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid! I don’t know what to

do with him!” ~ Daniel’s mother

74 BOOKS!

I was feeling her urgency clash with his agency!

Looking at Our Units with a Lens on Texts

• Which texts feel important to our teaching?• Which texts feel less relevant lately?• Do we have books in our libraries to support

the range of readers in our classrooms?

Read Alouds at the Center

Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read.

~ Marilyn Jager Adams

Kate DiCamillo

PSA for Reading Aloud

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0c9-JMmvoo

Ulysses – Superhero Squirrel!

Benefits of Read Alouds

• They build community• They expose children to books, authors, or

genres they might not discover on their own• They provide prime opportunities to introduce

students to genres they often avoid• They support developing readers• They reinforce that reading is enjoyable

Read Aloud

Focus for Listening• Theme / Message?• Book of the Month?• Text Sets?

The Promise, by Nicola Davies

Revisit Curriculum

• Talk with your colleagues at your tables about your curriculum

• Are there books and/or authors with whom our kids can “grow?”

Reading Tools

• What systems of accountability are working for you?

• Which systems are working for your readers?• Are the systems that work for you working

also for your readers? (and vice versa)• What would you like to try with your

students?

Beyond Leveled Texts

• http://digitalcampus.heinemann.com/reference-library/resource-detail?rid=769f6001-aeaf-462b-9ac9-be1543fee652

“I’m a challenger … I know what I like and what I don’t like as far as books go.”

71BOOKS!

Share Out

• What resonated with you today?• What are you looking forward to trying with

your students?

Happy Reading!

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think … Harper Lee