Some of the most daunting tasks going into any school year, for me, have consistently revolved around my students' reading identities. Evaluating, nurturing, and modeling reading for 100+ students seems an insurmountable feat. But, just as consistently, I am reminded that methodical preparation married to enthusiastic flexibility gets the job done.
It isn't matter that simply unfolds itself, of course. There are several combinations of tools and processes that go into supporting a cohesive reading life for your students. Here I've compiled several of those which have made the most difference in my classroom, in order to help jump-start, streamline, or inspire your reading culture and implementation.
Goal-Setting
One of the first sets of data I collect from the students, a reading survey is helpful in allowing students to see their reading identities reflected back to them, while helping the teacher to gauge the reading terrain of their class. My department operates on a tight pacing guide, jumping into curriculum early on in the school year, and therefore I need to be economical in the ways in which I collect information from students. I don't want to survey them out within the first few days of school, but I also need to extract data efficiently. Because I can only play the survey card probably once or twice, I choose to spend it on my reading information, and here's why: I can send the survey results back to the students for them to reflect upon, and provide them with a sort of key that corresponds to the possible outcomes of the survey. This way I can get a picture of their readerly identities, while empowering them to think about their practices, and guiding them toward creating goals for themselves. Other getting-to-know-you information that might be helpful to have toward the beginning of the year can be collected in other ways, such as identity webs or "Where I'm From" poems. I've included not only the survey, but the corresponding guide students use to craft their reading goal(s) as well.
Negotiating Choice
You'll read opinions and expertise that fall all along the spectrum of whole-class text to personal choice reading material. Sound arguments on all fronts means there's no one right way to conduct reading, especially when you also have to take into account your team, building, or district guidelines and expectations. Triangulating all of these, I have broken up my students' reading in the following way:
the only required common text for our grade is a novella, which I use while teaching literary analysis, and as a mentor text for certain crafting techniques and syntactical structures
one department guideline is that the students read two "personal choice" books per marking period (8 books total) and so...
in order to reap the benefits of both book clubs and individual endeavors, I have the students read, in total, 4 books in book clubs and 4 book independently
It's important that students have choice, because that's the key to getting them to truly engage with their reading. If you can get their buy-in with choice in texts they're interested in and motivated to read, you'll be more likely to hold their attention for the times you need to teach them the also-necessary strategies for reading texts imposed by institutions they may encounter later in their schooling or in life.
Tracking Progress
Much of my recent thinking on my Language Arts class in general has been influenced by Sarah M. Zerwin's book Point-less, but particularly students' roles in contemplating and evaluating their own learning. I've always been a fan of the idea of badges, but the sheer management of such a system deterred me from even attempting it. With a slightly shifted philosophy, however, I feel completely comfortable in having my students be co-creators and -executors of the system. Having digital badges eliminates the likely-endless hours at the Cricut I would spend making dozens of designs for 120 students. And moving to a student-centered assessment model, I can present all the badges to the students, and they can grab them when they see fit. Not only does this apply nicely to domain 3d in the Danielson framework, but it also can serve as a springboard into specific discussion during reading conferences ("Wow, I can see you've earned the Word Wizard badge... show me how you determined you were ready to grab that one!"). Similarly, carving out specific spaces in their digital notebooks, while adding a little more to my front-load work, proved to be extremely helpful in signaling to students the effectiveness of goals for enriching their reading lives, and keeping their reading goal on their radar.
And one final tracking component I'll mention here is exposure to diversity. Their reading practice should allow them to find their grooves and learn about themselves as readers, but it should teach them how to challenge the familiar and comfortable as well. Upon completion of each text, students fill out a form, which I push out into a spreadsheet that they can view. After they've read a couple texts, I nudge them toward analyzing what they've read so far in order to plan how they might diversify their intake. Using the form, they keep track of information about their books' authors, characters, topics, and more, highlighting trends the different areas in which they might branch out.
Advertising My Reading Life
Showing that I'm an active reader helps students see the long-term importance of the practice, and also helps with buy-in, since they can see that this isn't something I'm imposing on them arbitrarily. In other words, I'm not asking them to do anything that I'm not doing myself. I keep my own Reader's Notebook that I take out during class, I update my email signature to include my current read (a move I borrowed from our Media Specialist), and keep my bulletin board fresh with "just finished," "currently reading," and "up next." I make sure to read a range of material, from the YA that they are reading (which I happen to be interested and enjoy anyway) to grown-up books that my friends and colleagues recommend me. Through this, I can engage with them in an authentic way in discussions of those common texts, and they can feel that same sense of authenticity when they see me reading content that's not directly related to our class; the more willing they are to believe that I engage in a genuine reading practice and identity, the more likely they are to see themselves as continuing to develop their practice beyond school.
To be sure, none of this is to suggest that I've pinned the process down completely, nor that our reading lives are predictable, static. These are simply a reflection of the type of paradigm that helps me keep moving toward putting more students in touch with their reading selves. This facilitation of goal-setting and progressing allows for emerging readers to more potently connect with the practice, and for practiced readers to deepen their levels of engagement and meaning.
What do you do in your classroom to keep literacy alive and thriving? Comment below, and follow Teachy Keen's social media for other bite-size ideas on topics like reading identities!
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