Building Reading Cultures: Our Reading Ambassadors

November books we were reading.

C looks at me and inquires, "Can I make a book recommendation for the news?"

"That's a great idea," I agree wondering how in the world we will accomplish it.  To make matters more complicated, we had less than fifteen minutes left in our meeting.

I can tell by the look in her eyes that C, a quiet fifth grader, already has a plan.  Walking to the computer I log into my VoiceThread account.  C sits down, pushes the video button, holds up her book, and records a recommendation for The City of Ember by Dallas Middaugh.

Before the meeting is over, she has placed her review in the news and helped two younger students create their own book recommendations.

Reading Ambassadors
Since moving from a classroom to working as a reading intervention teacher I've had to rethink community.  I've had to move from thinking about my classroom community to considering the school community.  Last year, I hosted a Slice of Life club in March for first through fifth grade writers who wanted to step up to the challenge to write everyday for a month.  I joined the first grade team in hosting Poetry Place for our school community in April.

This year I decided our school needed a group of students to inspire readers.  Students applied for the position of Reading Ambassador.  I wanted a group of students that would keep the book buzz going around school.  I also wanted a group that had readers who were already committed to reading and a few that were on their way.  From our applicants, I selected one student from each class in grades 1-5 to represent their peers.  We meet two times each month after school and help with reading events in our school.   Our meetings always begin with --- you guessed it --- reading.  We read for a few minutes, share our books, and then get busy with the business at hand.

Some of our projects include:

• Growing our reading lives (talk about books we're reading, keeping book lists, etc.).
• Building the buzz about books.
• VoiceThread book reviews for our school news.
• Creating reading posters.
• Making book trailers.
• Building a blog with our sister school for book recommendations.
• Recommending books in our library for other readers.
• Supporting our "free little library" in front of our school. 
• In January we'll be working with our media specialist to get ready for the upcoming Caldecott Award announcement.

Readers as Leaders

During our first meeting in October, I decided to ask the students what they thought an ambassador should do and their ideas were amazing.  They had much better suggestions than I would have ever thought of myself.  In a recent blog post:  Going Schoolwide with Reading Engagement, Matt Renwick, reminds us that students have to have ownership in these groups.  His metaphor, "I know what to do with the new marker:  When ready, hand it over to students," is essential to remember.  

When C took over the computer I had no idea how we would make recommendations work, but in the push of a button she was able to lead us through the tricky part.  I'm looking forward to seeing where our ambassadors will lead us this year.  

Let's Do It Together: Shared Experience in the First Days

Yesterday I was invited to a friend's house as her family gathered to make dolmades (grape leaves).  For years I have wanted to make dolmades for our family.  My husband and oldest daughter love dolmades as well as many other Greek and Lebanese dishes, but trying to make dolmades on my own seemed a bit overwhelming.  For weeks I have looked forward to joining my friend's family as they make this traditional family dish.  Each year they gather on Labor Day weekend to make hundreds of dolmades to have across the winter months.  

When I arrived the kitchen was already full of family with many years of experience making dolmades.  I watched as they prepared the filling, listened to tips for assured success, and sat beside the family as we rolled grape leaves together.  It was a delightful day for me.  As someone who has never made dolmades I was given the opportunity to watch the family of experts work effortlessly in the kitchen.  The risk was minimal as I just worked alongside everyone and did what they did.  As I worked I couldn't help but think about the students in our classes during these first days of school trying to figure out routines, working to get back into the groove with all they know, and feeling uncertain in their new communities.  I couldn't help but think about the hard first days of school.  

Shared Reading and Writing

In my role as a reading intervention teacher, I am moving from room to room getting to know the students I will likely support this year, watching students who may be of concern, and noticing students who are finding the first days of school a bit more challenging.  I've looked carefully at the data a bit earlier than I would have as a classroom teacher.  As I go into classrooms I am using the previous year's data to inform who may need support.  I'm also noticing students who were at grade level at the end of the year, but seem to be having difficulty using what they know in these first days.  As I am sitting beside these students I'm reminded of the importance of shared experiences in the first days of school.  These students are not yet sure of the routines and expectations of the classroom.  They're just getting back into their habits with books and writing.  They're not yet comfortable with their new peers.  

To help students get back into their routines of reading and writing, shared experience is a powerful tool for the first days of school.  Opening a book for shared reading, writing together, or creating a post for a class blog together can help students get back to what they know, grow in understanding, and build common knowledge/language for future learning.  For our youngest of literacy learners, shared experience can remind students how to orient to the page, use concepts of print, and think about the story.  For older literacy learners, shared experience can help students to reach in reading and writing.  Some benefits of shared experience:

• Builds Community:  shared experience allows groups to talk together and share common experiences that can be foundational in the first days of school
• Creates a Safe Environment:  in shared experience students can try things that might be hard for them to do alone and share success with peers
• Grows Common Language:  shared experiences provides opportunities to begin to grow and share common language around learning the community will use across the year
• Develops the Sounds of Language:  shared reading and writing can help students get to know the sounds and rhythms of words as well as build vocabulary
• Reinforces Known:  shared experience can help students get back to what they know (in youngest literacy learners this might be reminding students of 1:1, using known to monitor, using pictures to help solve with meaning, etc.)
• Nudges Forward:  shared experience can be use to subtly introduce a new idea within this context of high support

In the first days of school (and across the year), students can benefit from shared experience.  There is safety - and new opportunity - in doing something together.  As the dolmades simmered in the pan, I was reminded of the power of shared experience.  I had learned a lot in the day that would help me when I went to make dolmades on my own.  The task no longer seemed out of my reach.  The shared experience helped me to feel comfortable in this new task.  Shared experience makes new things possible.  This week as I step back into classrooms, my experience in the kitchen will remind me of the power of shared experience in learning.  

Supporting Readers: The Global Read Aloud

The Global Read Aloud
The last few years as a classroom teacher, I've participated with my classes in the Global Read Aloud.  I was thrilled this year that an author active in social media was chosen for the event.  Over the next six weeks, students all around the world will be reading the same books.  Within the last few years, a picture book author study component was added.  I found this focus to be a better fit for my young readers who are just learning to navigate text.  As I've participated in past years, I've found the conversations are deepened by the interactions with other students.  Students are motivated by the connections made around the world.

Growing a Reading Community
This year, I wanted to find a way to participate with the readers I support in our building.  As I've watched my students in their classrooms, I have realized that it is as essential that I connect them to a community of readers as it is to help teach them to read.  This year's picture book study uses books written by Peter H. Reynolds.  I really wasn't sure how this would look working with small groups across the day, but decided to just dive in and figure it out.

The first week's book was The North Star which was impossible to locate.  Thankfully, the book was available in a digital format at Fable Vision.  Though the illustrations are more powerful in the picture book, I wanted to get started while I waited on my copy so I printed QR codes to the site, brought in iPads for students, and away we went.  First graders followed text and listened as the story was read aloud.  Second grade readers participated in a shared reading of the story.  Students were excited to be part of a global reading discussion.  Many had friends participating in The Global Cardboard Challenge and were excited by the opportunity for global collaboration.

Connected Conversations
After reading the book, we talked about what happened in the story.  In some groups, we discussed the message of the author.  Here were two of my favorite responses:

Students wrote about their dreams.  Some wrote about dreams for their future, others dreams for today.  It was a reminder to me of how important it is to support these young readers who have big dreams for today and tomorrow.

We then joined the conversations at #gra14 and #graPeter.

This!

Great Conversation:  It seems discussing big themes engages readers.  Groups had interesting discussions about the author's message, their dreams for today and tomorrow, and the challenges the character faced.  We've carried these higher level conversations into our thinking in other texts.

Community Connections:  Joining the Global Read Aloud is helping us build our connections to other readers in our school as well as around the world.

Connecting Readers to Books:  When I went into my last classroom yesterday afternoon.  One of the readers I work with came over with another Peter H. Reynolds book she had checked out at the library.  She had selected next week's title:  I'm Here.  She wanted to read it….and how could I resist?

Looking forward to seeing where this takes us.

You can connect with our community at:

• Merely Reading
• @DarbyCreekReads

Support That Makes Sense

Walking into the first classroom as the day begins, I smile to myself as I look around the room.  This classroom has already established important morning routines which allow learning to happen even as students settle into the day.  Students greet one another quietly as they move about.  They smile, chat, and then continue to begin the day.  Some students are unpacking book bags.  Others are signing in for lunch.  Others have already settled into reading their poems or collections of books placed on tables for independent reading.  As soon as Amber sees me, she gets her reading bag and returns to her table.  Her class is adding a poem to their poetry notebooks today so instead of beginning with her familiar reading, we start with her poem.  This all happens seamlessly as everyone is busy learning.  She reads her poem.  We discuss it.  Friends at the table join our conversation.

In my new position as a reading intervention teacher, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to go into several classrooms to support readers.  Setting up a schedule wasn't easy.  Trying to balance classroom schedules, student needs, and teacher preferences when developing a plan for support took a bit of time and flexibility on everyone's part.  In a few cases I bring students to our reading classroom, in other cases I go to students in their classrooms.  Working with readers who need to catch up to peers, I continually have an eye on instructional moves that are intentional and intensive enough to keep readers moving forward.  I've known it would be a challenge to make these embedded learning opportunities intentional, systematic, intensive, and inclusive.

Reading Donalyn Miller's book, Reading in the Wild, over the summer has helped to remind me that intensive instruction is only one piece of the puzzle for readers needing support.  Readers, especially those working to catch up, need to be able to connect learning to their classrooms.  Readers, especially those finding their way, need to belong to a reading community.  Readers, especially those working to make progress, need time to read independently.

Here are the benefits I have noted in classrooms in which I go to students for reading support:

• Reduced Transitions:  This is not only helpful for students who do not transition easily, it also is helpful for entire classrooms.  The transition as I walk into classrooms to provide support seems to get less attention than students exiting the room.  Additionally, we seem to gain minutes by not traveling.  
• Connected Conversations:  Sitting in classrooms it is easy for me to pick up on the routines, the focus of learning conversations, and the shifts classroom teachers are trying to make.  It is easy to begin to connect these conversations in our work together.  For example, I came into one of my classrooms at the end of the focus lesson for reader's workshop.  They were talking about asking questions as they read.  It was easy to incorporate this discussion into our conversation during our small group lesson to connect this learning for these young readers.  
• Belongingness:  Readers needing support need to belong to their reading communities.  Meeting students in their learning communities helps them to stay connected to the other readers in their classroom.  
• Big Picture:  I can't find the perfect word here, but going into classrooms allows a better system vision.  It is easy for us to include students not in intervention who still may need specific support in new learning.  It allows me to keep an eye on students I am watching to be sure they make continued progress.  Newer students, students previously needing supporting, and students who seem to just inch along are easily monitored in inclusive situations.  It also keeps my vision on where readers are in the classroom and the gains students receiving support need to make.  This change allows a more system driven network of support.  

There are still pieces we continually want to improve.  Is the support intensive enough?  Do students have enough time to read independently?  How do we carve time for these readers to meet with their classroom teachers and with me for additional support?  These, I believe, are the same challenges readers face when leaving the classroom for pull out intervention.  I'm excited about the barriers we are removing for young readers and the connections we are helping them to discover.  

Opening Doors: Stepping Inside a Learning Community

It's hard to believe we've nearly completed the first month of school.  With assessments nearing completion (that's another day's story), it feels good to be getting into the routine with students.  Yesterday, I was afforded the opportunity to come in to read aloud to Deb Frazier's first graders.  Next week, I will begin going into her classroom during reader's workshop to meet with readers needing extra support.

Upon entering I found her students gathered around the carpet engaged in a deep conversation about living in other places.  I had to smile as I listened to students share their stories of visiting family around the globe.  It wasn't long until the conversation turned to their reading lives.  Many families had started Shelfari shelves and friends were deciding "what they knew about the reader" based upon the books resting on their shelves.  Deb led the discussion linking students' home reading lives to the books available in their classroom library.  "If you read this _____, you might want to check out _____ basket."  This class is beginning to develop as a reading community.  It was obvious students were already learning to categorize books, developing a reading niche, and beginning to build conversations with one another.

Deb and I had decided to use the read aloud I would be sharing, My Pet Book, as part of the focus lesson for the morning.  I can't lie, it felt good to be holding a read aloud and sharing it with a live audience.  If you haven't read the book, a boy decides a book is the perfect pet for him.  It doesn't need to be fed.  It's quiet.  You don't have to carry a scoop when you take it for a walk.  It's perfect --- until it runs away.  Oh no!

For me, it was helpful to be able to see how the readers I will be supporting interacted with their peers in book conversations.  It was helpful for me to find out how they talked about books and listen to their responses.  It was helpful for me to see how they got started as we sent them off to read.  Of course, it was therapeutic to have an opportunity to read aloud to a group of students, especially a group as eager to be drawn into the story as this class was.

Opening Doors
In Rethinking Intervention Frost reminds us, "If you want students to do well in regular classroom instruction, then the intervention curriculum has to be aligned to the classroom curriculum (p.9)."  Opportunities for students to receive added support IN their learning communities is one way to meet the needs of students.  Helping them to apply new strategies and understandings in daily classroom work will help them continue to progress.

I'm grateful for the educators I work with each day, and their willingness to work together to help make the best decisions for kids.  We've flexibly used what we have learned about students and their learning communities to determine the best way to support them today.  We will continue to flexibly make adjustments as needed to help students grow as readers across the year.  In the weeks to come, we will be moving from getting to know each other, to celebrating all we know so we can continue to build on it, and then begin taking next steps.

Developing Wild Readers: #cyberPD Week 2

The #cyberPD conversation continues to grow.  Today we are discussing chapters 3 and 4 of Donalyn Miller's book:  Reading in the Wild.

• Chapter 3:  Wild Readers Share Books and Reading with Other Readers
• Chapter 4:  Wild Readers Have Reading Plans

Stop by Laura Komos's blog today, Ruminate and Invigorate, for today's discussion. 

To Participate:

• Link in the comments of the host blog (Chapter 3 & 4 at Ruminate & Invigorate).
• Comment on the host blog.
• Tweet comments using #cyberPD hashtag.
• ???  (creativity is always welcomed)
• Add your favorite book quotes (any book) to our graffiti wall Padlet created by Amy Rudd.
• Pin related links to our #cyberPD Pinterest board (contact Michelle Nero to join). 
• Our 2014 #cyberPD jog where all posts are linked (in process doc until the end of the event).   

After three previous years of participation I can tell you I am amazed by how much I learn as I move from blog to blog.  I value the varying perspectives from other colleagues joining the conversation. Because it is the conversation that matters, I suggest reading and commenting on at least three other posts each week.  

Connected Communities 

Donalyn shares a quote by Jeff Wilhelm (loc 1760) that will stay with me awhile this year, "What's your bottom line?  What do you really want to happen for your students?  Now, how does what you do every day serve that bottom line?"  When I think about my upcoming work alongside students needing extra support as readers, I am continually drawn back to this idea of the significance of reading community.  If I want these students to become passionate about reading, I know they will need the support of their reading communities.  I'm continually asking how I can support these students in building a reading life beyond our time together.  Donalyn reminds us, "At the campus level, scrutinize every component of the school day to determine if your procedures, policies, and systems support or hinder students' reading. (loc 1836)"

To help shape the reading lives of young literacy learners I want to be able to help them to connect: connect with other readers (community), connect with a next book, and connect with story.  How can I lift readers up to help them see themselves as part of this reading community?  

• Create a reading "hub":  My hope is to recreate my Weebly site to serve parents, readers, and classroom teachers.  This will be a place to provide information to parents "about the importance of daily reading, increasing book access through libraries and book ownership, and promoting the value of reading aloud (loc 1809)" to children as well as share recommendations for books with families.  Additionally, this site will be able to house links to digital reading work students have created and recommendations for books.  Perhaps an "iRecommend" page can house blog posts and video commercials for books.  
• Create reading clubs:  Leaving the classroom is going be hard as I know I will miss being a part of this community so I'm trying to rethink my community.  How can I create a culture of reading in our school?  Creating reading clubs to provide opportunities for readers to connect with one another is at the top of this list.  
• Share my reading life:  I keep track of my reading (usually) on Shelfari, but I would like to make this visible to the readers I will be sitting beside each day.  Creating "shelfies" of my favorite titles and displaying my "currently reading" (loc 1809) books is at the top of this list.
• Provide opportunities for students to share their reading lives:  I'm thinking a display outside the room I'll be working from is one way to honor the reading lives of my students.  Displaying covers of their current recommendations with stars and explanations might be a great way to start. (Tapping into their home reading lives early is going to be a first step in this journey.)
• Lift reading voices:  With a little help from the school news team, readers can share book titles with our school community.   (Book commercials, loc 2206) 
• Book swaps (loc 2785):  I'm thinking the idea of having students bring a book from home (or choosing from a collection of books I need to weed from my old classroom library) and hosting book swaps before breaks with students I will be supporting is a great way to send the message of the importance of continuing to read.  It seems like a fun way to celebrate reading as well!
• Graffiti Walls (loc 2177):  Creating spaces, digital or paper, to share favorite lines from books would be one way to honor the voices of readers and build community.   
• Rethink grouping:  Look for opportunities to have readers learn alongside other readers within their communities to form connections to support readers across the day.  
• Develop reading plans (loc 2511):  Consider the reading plans students have during their reading workshops and when taking reading home.  Help to make connections to next books and create reading plans.  (This video with Tammy Mulligan demonstrates one way to help students learn to make "reading plans."  It is Choice Literacy premium for member access.)

When considering building reading communities, Donalyn Miller shares some community building titles for middle grades (loc 2132).  It made me ponder community building books for primary grades.  I thought I'd try to consider her topic and some titles I would recommend.  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.

Communities That Read and Write

Follow Cathy 's board Books About Reading on Pinterest. Follow Cathy 's board Books About Writing on Pinterest.

Communities That Value All Members
Follow Cathy 's board Social Imagery on Pinterest.


Communities That Have Fun

Follow Cathy 's board Laugh Out Loud on Pinterest.

Communities That Care About the World

Follow Cathy 's board Go Green: Taking Care of Our Planet on Pinterest.

Join us next week as we discuss chapter 5-6 with Michelle Nero at Literacy Learning Zone.

• July 9th:  Chapters 1 & 2 here at Reflect and Refine
• July 16th:  Chapters 3 & 4 hosted by Laura at Ruminate and Invigorate
• July 23rd:  Chapters 5 & 6 hosted by Michelle Nero at Literacy Learning Zone
• To Be Announced:  July 30th @ 8 p.m. EST

Growing Our Reading Community: Learning from Older Readers

Learning from Older Readers
This time of year, I always enjoy eavesdropping into conversations about books.  Students have learned so much about how to think about books across the year and this thinking seems to be woven into the conversations they have with friends.  Still, for young readers, the value of strong models is essential.  This spring we've paired with our fifth grade book buddies to focus on having thoughtful conversations around books.  All year we've been meeting with our fifth graders and the students have developed a strong learning friendship.

Readers talk together about books.  Across the year each fifth grader has been paired with one first grader.  They've been reading a book and then talking together about it.  As first graders have developed an ability to think and talk more deeply about their reading, it seemed like a good time to take a step back and look at the power of a conversation about a book.

Modeling a Book Talk
To help support the first graders in more focused book conversations, we put two pairs together.  Each pair read the same title and then came together to talk about the book.  During the first meeting, the fifth graders did most of the talking.  In our second meeting, the four readers all participated in the conversation.  During these meetings we chose books the first graders were already familiar with from our classroom;  books we had read aloud across the year.  We wanted them to be able to concentrate on the conversation.

A few days later, a group of fifth graders came down and modeled a book club talk in our circle.  We watched and then talked about our observations.  After watching the first graders noticed the way their older friends talked to each other.

• The older readers always went back to the book to support their thinking.  
• They took turns with one another. 
• They really listened to their friends. 
• They actually passed the book to one another and the one with the book was always talking.

They also noticed the way they talked about their reading.

• They often talked about the setting of the story.
• They shared their favorite part(s).
• They talked about important details from their reading.
• They talked about the character (action, intent, feelings, etc.). 
• They made connections.
• They talked together about confusing parts.

My students observations weren't just a matter of circumstance.  Our fifth graders plan carefully for these conversations.  They know my goals for my students, and they work to bridge vocabulary and language.  They spend much time looking at the books they'll be reading and preparing for their conversations.  They provide thoughtful guidance.  My students look up to these older readers and their relationships have grown across the year.

These conversations have helped us to deepen the book conversations in our classroom and help us move toward book clubs.  Our book buddies continue to meet every two weeks to discuss books.  Sometimes readers bring different books and sometimes they bring the same books.  They ask each other questions and talk about they author's message.  Most of all, they're sharing a love of books reinforced by these special peer relationships.