A Love of Reading

One of my core beliefs is that every child can become a reader. Every child. When I meet children who don’t like reading, I assume they haven’t met the right books yet. That being said, it is easier for some than others. Not because they were born with a special ability, but because of the homes they were born into.

See, while I think everyone has the potential, I think that if your parents value reading, you have a huge advantage.

I have met many kids who love to read and were not taught that at home. For some, reading becomes an escape. For others, their parents see reading as a hobby, one they simply don’t share. But for kids who have parents that are readers, kids that grew up watching their parents read, grew up taking trips to the library, grew up having books given as gifts, reading is expected. Sure, there might be the child in that house that doesn’t read, but I would argue that the odds are lower than in other homes. Reading is important. Reading is valued.

I have two boys. Their path to reading was completely different. For one, it was easy. For the other, it required a lot of intervention and work. Both ended up as readers. Now, their reading lives are different. Luke is in middle school. He’s busy. His friends are of high importance in his life. So are video games. While he has always loved reading, it takes a back burner. I see my role with him as the reminder of this hobby that he used to hold dear. I will be the raft to get him through these middle years, keeping this connection afloat, until he returns to it on his own. Luckily, he’s a pretty easy child. When I remind him that he has to go to bed early, needs to read, he does it willingly. We lay together often so I can ask him what is happening in the book he’s reading, continuing the conversation. I leave picture books and graphic novels laying around the kitchen when new ones are shipped to our house, knowing that neither he nor his brother can simply walk by without picking them up to read. He is a reader, but one that is debating hibernating a bit. I won’t allow a full sleep.

Liam is reader who has fully awakened. Where it might have been a spark of interest before, it is something he does whenever there is free time now. He loved books before fourth grade; now he is devouring an entire series in the span of a week or two. And what I love to see even more is that he is connecting beyond the books. After reading Sasquatch Escape, he went online on his own to see what other book were in the series. He came to me with notes, would I purchase the rest of the series? Could I preorder the new one out in early 2015? You bet. Then he wrote a letter to the author as part of a school assignment. Looking over my shoulder at my computer one night, he asked if I followed her on Twitter. I hadn’t, so we fixed that.

Then he met Origami Yoda. Like his brother had been, he quickly became obsessed. He has flown through the first three books in the series. I have a new note, telling me which books he needs his own copies of. At lunch with his grandma the other day, I turned and saw he was reading. When asked, he said he was at a good part and simply couldn’t pause yet. I took a photo and shared on Twitter and the author, Tom Angleberger, responded. Liam was beaming. He whispered that he wanted to write Tom a letter, even though he didn’t need to for school. So sweet. Finding him in my classroom after school yesterday, I saw a picture of concentration – book before him, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth, brows drawn. What could possibly inspire this? Then I saw my origami paper. He was making his own Origami Yoda based on the directions Tom gave. We have a reader, ladies and gentleman.

My two readers, both at such different stages. Both blessed to be in home where that is a priority, reading is valued. Where their parents will nurture their growth and not allow them to let that love disappear. And at school? My seventy-seven kids don’t all have that blessing, so I try to become that role model, that cheerleader for them and only hope it will be enough to last a lifetime.

Progression of Readers

A few days ago I posted a blog about boys and reading. I was a bit frustrated by the message being sent out in the media that boys don’t read, when I have found the opposite to be true. Of course, some boys don’t read – but some girls don’t either. What I have found to be true over eighteen years of teaching is that when a student of any gender doesn’t enjoy reading, they are usually either struggling with their actual reading ability, or haven’t found a book to hook them yet.

In the comments to my blog post I had a reader ask for advice. Her younger son isn’t a reader. I mentioned that maybe I should write out a timeline or post about my own sons and their progression as readers, because each got there in their own way. This is that post.

Luke and Liam

I have two sons – Luke is eleven and in fifth grade. Liam is nine and in third. They are very different in every way, including reading. They both encountered roadblocks in route to becoming readers, but would now identify themselves as readers if you were to ask.

Reading came relatively easy to Luke. I’m sure he was never at the top of his class in reading, but we never worried about it. He could read anything his teachers sent home, memorize any list of sight words, but he didn’t love it. I found that Luke reminded me of many of the boys that entered my room in the fall when I taught fourth grade. They just didn’t see books that interested them. They’d read a book flawlessly, summarize it beautifully, but not find any connections or joy in the act of reading. With Luke, I had to search. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series began to pull him out of his reading rut in second and third grade, but it was The Lightning Thief that really turned things around. Towards the end of second grade he begged me to let him read it. I knew that it was far above his reading level. I could have told him to go ahead and try, but I didn’t want him to be discouraged. Instead, I got the book on audio and asked him to follow along as he listened to it. He was mesmerized. We talked about Percy, why he made the choices he had, and Luke talked about what he would have done. From that point forward, he began to identify as a reader and hasn’t looked back.

Liam had a tougher journey to reading. He had a severe speech delay that made the words he said and the words on the page form a mismatch. Decoding was tough. Fluency, forget about it. (Spelling is another post entirely.) But, we persevered. In first grade Liam’s amazing teachers talked to me about his reading. He was performing well below his peers and already receiving Tier 2 services for RTI. They suggested he continue with that, but also get some Reading Recovery help. I was all for it. Liam did a lot of reading work in that first grade year, but we had ground to make up! Each night he dutifully read his reading class homework, his Tier 2 homework, his Reading Recovery homework, and did any work that went with them. We also made sure to add “fun” reading in there as well – often something from the Elephant & Piggie series where we could act out the voices. While it was a lot of reading, Liam needed to close a gap and he wasn’t going to do that by reading the same amount the rest of his peers were. In one year, he caught up. In second grade, he found graphic novels – thanks to some Babymouse books I had lying around – and took off. He tore through every graphic novel I owned in second grade. In third grade he found Big Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I think the format of the books with less text on the page helped him feel successful. Liam reads all of the time, typically at least an hour a day (as does Luke – by choice, my request is twenty minutes) and always without prompting. He is now far ahead of where he needs to be grade level wise, but truly that isn’t what matters to me. He loves to read.

Beyond having the expectation that my kids would read and providing them with materials, there are just a few other things we’ve done that I think matter. As someone mentioned in the comments, they see me reading. They see my husband reading. They know my parents are readers and they often ask what the boys are reading (and my mom reads the books they do so they can talk about them.) They’ve seen me curled up in bed, reading See You at Harry’s and sobbing as I read. When they asked why I would continue with a book that made me cry, I replied, “Sometimes a book is so beautiful, so moving, that it reduces you to tears, and you read on in spite of that.” They will both read that book one day because they want to understand why.

I talk about how books make us better people and point that out in my own books. I ask them what they’ve learned about themselves from the books they read – how did they grow? And I ask them to give me feedback on the books I buy for my classroom. Whenever picture books arrive at the house, they often beat me to reading them. I’ll ask them what they thought of it, how I could use it in the classroom, etc. When Bluebird arrived last year, Liam read it after I did. I was still wiping away tears when he closed the book. I asked if he thought Bob Staake should have changed the ending. Liam flipped to the page where the boy is holding the bird with the bullies surrounding him. He said the book needed to be the way it was because, “Sometimes kids need to know that sorry won’t fix what you’ve done.” And then he said, “That’s what you need to teach your students, Mom.” Yep.

I guess some kids are just born readers, but mine have evolved to becoming one. I think all of our paths to reading are different, but I’m convinced that if we find the right books, give them time, allow choice, and talk to them about what they read, we are helping create the next generation of Nerdy Book Club members. 

Boys and Reading

Every once in awhile I read an article or see a headline lamenting the fact that boys are in crisis because they don’t read. I’ve seen all sorts of “reasons” for this – video games, sports, you name it. I remember hearing Donalyn Miller in a presentation once address this issue. She said something like, “Boys don’t read? Don’t tell my boys that.” I couldn’t agree more.

I have three boys in my house – Chris and our sons. Chris reads, but will always say that he is not a reader like I am. I disagree. He is a reader, one look at the table on his side of the bed tells me that.

Chris is an avid comic book reader, an occasional book reader. When he does read books, he reads compulsively. This winter he polished off as many books as I could throw at him, but then will go months before picking another one up. It works for him.

Luke and Liam are readers. When people talk to me about my boys’ habits as readers, they often make comments like, “Of course they are readers, you are their mom.” I think that devalues what we’ve done to ensure that has happened. They are surrounded by books – we even visit bookstores on vacation like we did this weekend:

Wild Rumpus Bookstore - Minneapolis, MN

They also are expected to read, and they do, daily, even on vacation. 

 

I talk to them about books all the time. I ask them about what they’re reading, what they like about the book, what the characters are doing, etc. My boys are blessed, yes, by parents who can afford to buy them books. But they have become readers because we have worked to make sure that happened.

Boys don’t read? In my family they sure do. Even in my classroom, they do. This year I have 79 fifth graders for reading. Out of that 79, 42 are boys. All of them read, many are avid readers. How do I know this? Boys rushing to meet me when I arrive at school to confer, asking about a book, or begging to be first in line in a new book. Conversations in the hall, in reading, on our way to lunch. Messages left on post-its stuck to my laptop. Or, when I’m lucky, I get an exchange like the one below.

A little background – these texts are from my student, Hayden. Most students don’t have my cell number. Hayden’s mom and I are friends, so he’s on her phone. Our class read aloud was The False Prince. I had told Hayden he would love it. Starting it, I was confident he would find another copy and finish before I ever did, and he did just that. He moved on to the second book while I was still reading the first, and then the third. These texts came over the course of a week in which he read the second, started the third, got worried over a plot point, and then finished the series. I told my husband as I texted Hayden back while we drove up to Minneapolis this weekend, I wish I could confer with every student on my phone when we aren’t at school. I think the loss of privacy would absolutely be worth it.

Don’t those texts just say it all? An engaged boy reader. Please note, there was no grade for time spent texting about a book. J

So, yes, boys read. When I see those articles I am frustrated and I wonder – why are “some” boys not reading? Are we not giving value to their chosen format? Genre? Ways that they want to respond? How can we meet them where they are and help them to grow?

I think the best thing we can do to ensure our boys are reading – heck, that boys AND girls are reading – is to get to know each child, what makes them tick, what they love, and build those relationships. Boys don’t read? Don’t tell my boys that. 

Sidenote: while typing this entire post, my son, Liam, has lay in the bed next to me, reading. I've asked him to stop and go to bed several times only to be met with, "Let me finish the page I'm on." over and over and over. I could have just recorded our conversation in lieu of writing this post. Here lies the perfect response to "boys don't read." 

Trying Out a Backchannel In Fifth Grade

An alternate title of this post could be…When Backchanneling Goes Horribly Wrong.

After reading Cathy Mere’s post with her first graders, I knew I had to try and use a backchannel in my fifth grade classroom. I decided that the place it made the most sense to start with was during read aloud in my homeroom. To prepare I:

Went to www.todaysmeet.com

Created a room.

Picked a length of time the room would exist.

And that’s it!

During read aloud I gave each student a device. (FYI -for this lesson, we had enough iPads to have each child have one. The iPads worked great. )

Once they typed in the room URL (which you will have once you create the room), we talked about purpose.

What was the goal in allowing them to essentially text while I read? We talked about predictions, questions, summarizing, etc. I explained that their comments would be linked with their name, that I would be reading each one when I was done (you can access a transcript), and that I would be giving them a participation grade.

For the next twenty minutes, I read. They were quiet, focused, and worked to listen and comment at the same time. Once I was done and closed the book, some asked if they could make a prediction and, of course, I said yes.

Almost immediately kids began ratting each other out – telling me that someone just wrote “lol” the whole time, someone was fighting with another in the backchannel, someone spoiled the book, etc. We took a breath, I reminded them that I would be reading the entire thread, they weren’t there to control each other, and we moved on.

Later, after they headed to library, I sat down with a class list and read through the entire thread. Conservatively, I would say there were upwards of 400 comments in twenty minutes from around twenty kids. WOW. I began to code the comments on my class list. If you made a comment that contributed positively to the conversation, you got a plus, if you made a comment but it was neutral like – yes, no, or someone’s name – I gave you a check. If you just wanted to comment, but really wasted space (arguing, off topic, emoticons – which I had said not to use), I gave you a minus. With these codes in mind, I read each and every comment.

What I found was fascinating. Five kids commented more than the entire class combined. They often posted, “Stop wasting space and commenting for no reason” when the person they were talking to had done a far better job commenting than they had. They weren’t being reflective, they were swept away with the new concept and being a bit overzealous.

When I was all done, those five kids had clearly misused the backchannel. They had each commented around 35-40 times with only 1-3 comments that contributed to our growth or conversation. We had gone over directions, but in the excitement to try something new, they forgot. So, we regrouped and tried it again.

They returned from library and I shared my findings. I went over our directions again. I handed out iPads, but those five had to sit this one out. (They will be allowed to use them in the future, but we needed a breather and a reminder of what the purpose was of this lesson.)

The second backchannel was amazing. We did essentially the same activity as the time before – twenty minute read aloud on our current book (The False Prince). There was a lot going on in today’s reading. I loved watching students gasp at surprising moments and look down to type. The best part, however, was when I read the transcript.

A sample of the comments from the second attempt.

When the students headed to band, I moved to my computer. What I found fascinated me. I’ve been trying over and over to get everyone to participate in class discussions. I have many dominate voices this year and several quiet students who don’t tend to speak up. In the backchannel, they did. Even better, I saw students building on comments from others. One boy walked in late from speech and grabbed an iPad. His first comment was, “Hey guys, what did I miss?” and someone immediately summarized it for him. SO COOL!

I’m beyond excited that I tried this today. While the first attempt was a flop – there were some great comments, but overall they were lackluster. The second attempt was unreal. The comments were focused, there were amazing predictions, great conversations, and fabulous questions. I will absolutely be doing this again tomorrow and every day forward.