My Favorite 2015 Posts

Yesterday I shared the reader favorites of 2015.  Today I thought I'd highlight my favorite posts of 2015.  Here are a ten posts you might have missed:

Growing Independent Learning Time with Our Youngest Readers:  How do we grow the amount of time our youngest readers are able to sustain independent reading?   This post discusses some ways we can work to grow this time for primary readers.

Close Reading with Primary Children:  I always catch my breath a bit when someone says "close reading with primary children."  I'm continually wrestling with whether this is an appropriate practice for our youngest of readers who still need to feel the words singing in their ears.  I'm continually wrestling with how much we slow reading down for those who are still trying to make figure out print.  We have to be careful with our youngest readers who are still finding their way into the world of literacy.  What do these readers need to know about reading closely?  What does it look like for our youngest readers?

Shared Reading in the First Days and ALWAYS:  Sometimes in our busy teaching worlds, we can overlook the power of shared experience.  Shared reading still has much possibility and provides new opportunities for supporting readers.

Reader's Workshop:  Listening for the Gems:  Ever start a lesson and you weren't really sure where you were going exactly?  Ever think, I want students to know this --- but what is the language we need?  When this happens, I like to throw things out to the students who seem to continually come through with the gems that help us to continue to move forward.

Intervention and Classroom Instruction:  Side by Side:  Supporting readers in their classrooms has opened new doors for students, but it also comes with many new questions.  What does working side by side in classrooms with students who need intervention look like?  What works?  What do we need to remember?

Keep It Moving:  Moving around our classroom during learning times is essential.  This post talks about the benefits of teachers moving to students instead of having students come to them.

Before They Arrive:  This post might be worth a reread as we come back from a break.  What are the things we need to think about --- and maybe rethink about --- to set up strong learning environments?

Digital Tools:  New Possibilities for Assessment:  How has assessment changed because of digital tools?

Have a Core of Apps:  Getting started with technology?  Choose a "core" of apps to help take those first steps.

Keeping Small Group Notes in Evernote:  I'm still working through the challenge of keeping small group notes in Evernote.  Here's one way I've discovered to keep track of small group instruction.

Top Posts of 2015

Okay, you won't find bakery treats in this post.  I guess my image was a bit misleading, but you might find some other surprised.  Looking back over 2015, I'm pleased to realize I did manage to post a little bit more (still not at that 2xs each week average).  Here are 15 reader favorites from 2015:




Top Literacy Posts

Considering Social Learning When Grouping

The First Days:  What Do Our Classroom Libraries Say to Young Readers

Reader's Workshop:  Independent Reading Time

Classroom Environments that Support Inclusive Intervention

Moving Beyond the Awkward "Just Right" Conversation



Top Technology Posts

Google Communities for Collaboration

Five Poetry Stops You'll Want to Share with Students

Have a Hub

Creating a Reading History Archive

The Problem with Being Digital



Top Event Posts 

Ten Days Until Picture Book 10 for 10  #pb10for10 

It's Coming: Nonfiction Picture Book 10 for 10

The 2015 #cyberPD Book Is...

Nonfiction Picture Book Event:  Reading Aloud Nonfiction #nf10for10

#cyberPD:  Let's Get It Started  543

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.  

DigiLit Sunday: Thinking About Screen Time

It's DigiLit Sunday.  Today I'm pondering screen time...

Recently I was leading a session around technology in the classroom when a teacher inquired, "Don't you worry about screen time?"  It's a smart question.  One I think a lot about.  However, I'm not sure the question is "How much screen time?" instead I wonder if we should be asking, "What kind of screen time?"  For example, yesterday was a day with a lot of 'screen time' for me.  I woke up early and wrote a post for this blog, read a book on my phone as my husband drove us to Bowling Green, and spent time creating a list of meals for break.  The reading and writing I could have done in paper formats, but I prefer to do both digitally.

As a classroom teacher I think there are different kinds of screen time.  Even pediatricians are rethinking screen times as our world changes.  When I see students work to make video book trailers, digital responses to their reading, or share their process in solving a math problem, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  When students are creating a digital composition, reading an eBook, or connecting with experts around the world, I see that as a different kind of screen time.  In my mind, tasks that could be done on paper and pencil, but the learner has chosen to work digitally as they learn, are a smart use of screen time.  Digital tools create new opportunities for us to create, connect, collaborate and work purposefully in new ways.

When I'm asked this question, "What about screen time?" I do pause.  What about it?  Recently someone forwarded an article about student learning which included an image of every student working on an iPad at the same time.  I wondered about choice when I saw the photo.  These were young children, and while there may be times everyone is on a device, I couldn't help but wonder:  What were they doing?  Was everyone completing the same task?  How long did they spend each day on devices?   Did they have opportunities to work with paper, markers, scissors, and paints?  Did they have choice between a variety of tools across their day?  Did they have time to collaborate and talk together about their learning?

I'm excited about new digital possibilities.  As someone who uses digital tools to create, learn, collaborate, and connect, I continually find new ways to work purposefully that weren't possible years ago.  However, I want digital tools to remain a choice.  I hope to create opportunities in which students can determine their purpose, choose their tool, and work with intention.  However, I'm thinking the question is less about "How much screen time?" and more about creating balanced learning opportunities for our students.  When thinking about technology use with my students I think about:

• Who is deciding when technology will be used?
• Is technology one choice among other tools in the classroom?  
• Are students using technology to work in ways that weren't possible before?
• Are students working with intention as they make choices about their learning?
• Are students using technology to connect with others and create new learning opportunities?
• Is technology growing their learning community?  
• Are students using technology to amplify their voice? 
• Are students using technology to create and grow their thinking?  
• Who is doing more work:  the device or the learner?  In other words, who owns the learning:  the teacher, the application, or the student?
• Is technology balanced with realtime conversation, play, and other activities necessary for continued growth and development?  

What are the questions you consider when thinking about screen time?  How do you help balance opportunities for your students?  

You Might Like:
Technology's Impact on Children's Brains
Debate Continues as to How Much 'Screen Time' Kids Should Have with Devices

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

DigiLit Sunday: Sketchnoting in Evernote

It's been awhile since I've had something new and exciting to say about Evernote, but today is the day!  This week, while in a meeting, I once again noticed the small pen icon at the top of my note.

I gave it a click to discover it would be possible for me to handwrite notes while working in Evernote.  That's going to be big news for some of my friends who prefer to handwrite their notes.  It was pretty exciting news, but honestly my handwriting is sometimes hard to read; it's often reason I type in the first place.

However I've been playing a bit with sketchnoting.  Though I'm not an artist, I find the way sketchnoting requires me to think visually to be a fun challenge.  I decided to give sketchnoting a try during the meeting.  Creating a sketchnote requires much more synthesizing of information.  It really requires me to listen in a much deeper way.  I'm not sure as teachers we would find a student drawing to seem like they were truly listening, but I promise if you try it yourself you will begin to realize the challenge involved.

Here's a note I created:

The handwritten information or sketchnote then lives within the Evernote note page that has been created.  You can reopen the note to add more information.  

What I liked:

• ease of use (much easier than using the Skitch app embedded EN)
• palette had several color possibilities
• I could change the width of the pen/marker
• dots on page make it easier to add lines and consider space
• saves within a note in the same way images do 

What I might improve:

• the bumpiness of some parts  (That could have been my stylus.)
• a way to enlarge parts of page for more detailed sketching
• a way to share just the sketchnote or writing page without sharing the entire note or taking a screenshot (Maybe it's there and I haven't figured it out yet.)
• I missed the ability to pull up the shield that allows you to place your hand on the iPad while  you work

I'm so excited about the possibility of this new tool within Evernote.  If you love Evernote, you'll want to give it a try.

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

When Lessons Bomb, What We Can Learn

Last week I chose a book for one of my first grade groups.  Because I needed a bit of time after our lesson to check in with a few readers, I chose a book I thought would be on the easier side.  The text had a repetitive language pattern with only two lines of print per page.  It had a core of known words students would be able to use.  The pictures supported the print.

This group of readers was having a hard time building reading strategies.  When things were tricky they would just stop, unsure of what to do.  I was trying to help them to learn to reread when they weren't sure.  Rereading gives readers an opportunity to think about what makes sense and take a closer look at print.  It seems to give the powerless power, and give just enough time for extra thought to solve the problem.

They started off doing quite well.  The pictures helped them to figure out the pattern of the text.  In the story, a witch sneezes and blows everything away.  Page after page she blows something away.  They struggled a bit when the picture began to show more than just the one thing she was blowing away, but most worked through that.  When the story took a turn, they fell apart.  In the pictures at the beginning of the story each page shows something getting blown away and everything is a mess.  In the end, she sneezes one last time, but blows everything back into place.  The picture shows the chaotic scene has now become a beautiful house with flowers and calm.

A book that should have taken three minutes felt like it took at least fifteen.  I was caught off guard to say the least.  When lessons bomb, we have to ask ourselves why.  Why did they have such a hard time with that book?

Here are the questions I asked myself:

• Was today's lesson just a poor book selection or should I be asking bigger questions?
• Was today's introduction appropriate for the book or have I been giving too much support in book introductions?
• Have I been using too many books that are structured in a particular way (this book had more of a problem/solution structure and most books we have read have been quite story-like in form)?  Do students have a sense of possible text structures?
• Are students using their picture walk to begin to focus on the meaning of the text?
• Do students have a true sense of story?  
• Are students reading for meaning or just trying to get words right?  

Had that lesson gone well, I would have packed up our supplies and gone about my day.  However, the lesson taking such a turn made me slow down and wonder what I might need to be doing differently.  It made me ask myself new questions about what I might need to do to better support these readers.  It made me realize I need to take a closer look at their strengths and needs as readers.  Do I really know everything I need to know about them?  

We've all had lessons that haven't gone as planned.  I might be as bold as to say that most of our lessons don't go exactly as planned --- sometimes they go better and sometimes they flop.  It's not the fact that lessons don't go well that matters nearly as much as what we do about it.  When lessons bomb, we have to ask ourselves some questions to help us get back on track:

• Where did the lesson take a turn?
• What did students know that might have helped them?
• Where did they get confused?
• How could I have changed my language to better support students?
• How could I have made my lesson more visible (modeling, visual charts, etc.)?
• What would I do differently next time? 

This lesson was a reminder that I can't become complacent in the daily structures of our lesson.  I need to continue to watch, listen, take careful notes, and be thoughtful in my decision-making.  For these students, every day matters.  

Growing Independent Reading Time with Our Youngest Literacy Learners

In the first weeks of our reading workshops we take careful and intentional steps to set the tone and develop routines for the work we will do as readers.  As readers, students will need time to read, think, and grow.  As teachers, we will need time to confer with our readers and work in small groups.  How do we build time for independence when the books students read can often be completed in less than five minutes?  As a teacher of readers, I value time, choice, genuine conversation, and opportunities to extend reading beyond the text.  Here are a few ways I find useful in stretching our time we spend with books and learning in reader's workshop:

Teach with Intention:  The focus lesson should set readers up for the work they will be doing.  The focus lesson starts our workshop and helps students to know what they will be thinking about as they go off to read.  Whether it is a new reading strategy or a way to think about the text, readers consider a plan of action that will help them to learn during this time.  Making time to share at the end reinforces this focus and celebrates the discoveries made during learning time.  Considering this focus and language to support new learning in conference conversations and small group work helps readers to make sense of new learning.

Develop Story:  Listen to students talk about the stories they are reading.  Do they point to pictures and discuss each page as a separate event or do they weave them together as a story?  Build story language in focus lessons, small groups, and peer conversations.  Help students learn to take the time they need to talk through the pictures when a book is too challenging, preview before reading, or to retell books they've read using story language.

Place Books Everywhere:  The less movement in a workshop the easier it is to work with readers.  Young readers haven't developed the stamina of their older peers and books take much less time.  Having baskets students can take with them for workshop and placing books all around the room will make it easy for students to find a place to nestle in to read.

Grow Book Conversations:  Help students learn to talk with peers about the stories they are reading.  Retelling, making connections, questioning, thinking about characters, comparing books, and learning to consider the author's message are all ways to build our understanding and engage in book conversations with our peers.

Value Thinking:  Allow flexible (optional) response.  The addition of digital tools has really grown the way we can respond to our reading.  Yes, we can use post-its, paper, or a notebook to draw and write about our thinking, but we can also share our thinking using digital tools that can be shared to expand the reach of our voice.  Blogs, creation tools (sketch noting, Educreations, Explain Everything, Pixie, etc.), and other digital spaces can help students expand their thinking beyond the text.  

Teach Balance:  We can't expect students to spend all of their time with leveled readers, but we also need them to be making smart choices.  If students understand balancing reading choices, they can not only spend time engaging as readers, but can begin to make intentional learning decisions.  I read books of a variety of challenge.  I spend the least amount of time with challenging books as I find I need time to think about them so I read in short bursts and spend much time thinking later.

Grow Possibilities:  Keep in mind the power of read aloud and shared reading for growing possibilities for young readers.  Choose books to read with students they will be able to return to and read independently after the whole class experience.

Keep Workshop Conversations about Learning:  If we're not careful, it can be easy to find ourselves talking about behavior over learning in our workshops.  When students are having a hard time engaging as readers we need to ask ourselves why and what we can do to help.  Is the task too challenging?  Are books available that match the reader's interest and ability?  Are students focused on learning and developing plans to grow as readers?  Does the classroom library need a lift?  Are students focused on new learning and thinking about books?  What do students need in order to be successful?


You Might Also Like:

• Getting Started with Reader's Workshop
• Tools for Reader Response
• Planning for Independence
• Real Reading
• Growing Our Community:  Learning from Older Readers (talking about books)

Hilliard U: A New Kind of Professional Development

This year my son, John,
a SACC employee and education
major, spent the day with me.
He was a big fan of all of our
technology sessions.

Personalized Professional Development
As educators, the internet has opened the floodgates of ways we can connect, collaborate, and learn with others across the globe.  #Edcamps have popped up near and far to allow educators to come together and self-determine the professional learning experience they need without cost to the participant.  Professional books, virtual book talks, MOOCs, and social media platforms allow us to shape our own learning.

Teachers collaborate, look at resources,
and plan as part of a literacy session
to help find focus.

If you stop by this blog much, you know I'm a proponent of personalized professional development (related posts).  No longer does professional development look like a meeting with information being sent out in lecture-like formats about topics in which we have no control.  Sure districts have some common conversations needed for systems to work efficiently and effectively, but there are so many more opportunities for us to learn and grow.

Hilliard U

Brian Kight, of Focus 3 Culture,
led the Hilliard U keynote.
(Great post about the R Factor
 by Craig Vroom at
Fueling Education -- and love
Nicole Roholt's Sketchnote
featured here).

For the second year in a row, our district is hosting a day of professional learning that allows educators in our district to personalize their schedule for the day to meet their needs.  On "Hilliard U" days our entire district comes together to learn.  Keynote speakers keep us working within a common message, but break out sessions allow us to personalize our learning.  Educators, and other district staff, host sessions applicable to the work we do each day with children.  It's an opportunity to collaborate with others across the district and to see the many things going on in classrooms across our school system.

While Hilliard U has an #edcamp feel, sessions are planned in advance.  Sessions cover a range of topics including:  literacy, math, technology, growth mindset, unique student needs, and so much more.  For me, it is an opportunity to connect with educators across the district.  The atmosphere is charged with engaging conversation.  Food trucks line the perimeter of the school as participants grab a quick bite to eat, share in conversation, and enjoy a bit of entertainment (and this year the weather was divine!).  There are collaborative rooms set up for meeting with others.  I'm grateful to all who work behind the scenes help make this event work --- and to all who are willing to share.

The Food Truck Line

Here is a Hilliard U Storify with tweets of the day from participants across our district shared by Scott Morrison:

To give you an idea of the extensive course offerings (and hopefully an opportunity to see more about sessions you may have missed)  please stop by to visit or link up with this Hilliard U session collection.

An InLinkz Link-up

Moving Beyond the Awkward "Just Right" Book Conversation

Helping readers to choose just-right books is always an uncomfortable conversation - especially with our youngest of readers.  Sometimes I feel like I am talking out of two sides of my mouth.  I want you to read everything, but....

I want you to choose, but...

Spending time with texts they can read significantly supports growth in reading.  How do we honor their interests as readers while they are still taking those very first steps into books?  How do we put books in their hands they will love and they can read?  How do we help them to find books that will help them grow as readers?  I want to honor their choices.  I want to see them fall in love with authors.  I want them to want to take home the book I read aloud to the class.  I want them to come back from the library excited about their new choices.  I also hope a significant portion of their reading time will be spent on books they can read instead of books which are too challenging.  What to do?

Self-selected reading is something I want my readers to have the opportunity to do.  At the same time, I know the importance of students reading books that are a good match for them as readers.  Experience has taught me if I can help students to make smart choices, they make faster progress as readers.  I do want them to learn to make these choices on their own.  I've never been one to want my students to shop for books from leveled baskets.  I want them to be able to select books from our classroom library so they can go to a library or bookstore utilizing the same strategies to find a book that works for them as a reader.

This is always a tough conversation because I want my words to be just right.  I want students to hear the love of reading in my voice.  I want them to know that I pick books for a variety of reasons.  I want them to know I sometimes choose books that are more challenging, but that I can't spend all of my time reading challenging books.  It's actually exhausting.

The conversation to help students self-select doesn't happen magically in a day.  It's a series of conversations woven together across time.  In the beginning days, there are picture books I love to read to help students understand there are books that fit us now and books we will grow into later.  To help them to begin to think about balancing their choices, I use a system where students determine who will read a book going home at night:

• me (I'll read it)
• you (mom or dad will read it)
• us book (there are parts I can read)?  

This has helped to honor their choices as readers a bit, but it has never felt concrete enough.

This week I was talking with a first grade teacher after school.  We began to talk about this challenge of honoring students hearts as readers while helping them to choose books they can read independently for understanding.  We don't want to limit our libraries.  How could we support young readers in this conversation?  As we talked we began to think about what we wanted students to be able to consider in these beginning steps.  As we talked we realized we wanted students to make choices based upon their heart, head, and eyes.

HEART:  A book should always feel good to our heart.  There's just something that made us pick it up.  Maybe we can relate to the character.  Maybe we love the author.  Maybe the illustrations are calling us.  A book that is a good match for our heart will be a book we want to tell other readers about.

HEAD:  A book needs to be a good match for our thinking.  When we read we are trying to determine what the author wants us to know.  This means paying attention to the text, understanding characters, inferring meaning, and thinking deeply about text.  A book that is a good match for our head will be one we can think, talk, and write about.

EYE:  A book needs to have readability.  We need to be able to use our eyes (and some good reading strategies) to read the book.  This is quite simplified, I realize, but we want students to be able to choose a book they can read independently.  I don't want students to think reading is about getting the words right, but I want a way to help them understand readability is one part to consider in making book selections.

As we talked we felt that talking about these three aspects of book choice with our readers will allow us to honor all students and their choices, while giving us a way to talk about the aspects of our selections we may need to think more about.

In this way, we can honor the choices readers make for a variety of reasons in our conversations.  We can talk more about the reasons for our selections and begin to help students to think about book choice in new ways.  It will allow us to also work toward finding the sweet spot for choice where books work for our heart, our head, and our eyes.  This will allow us to talk about balance in our reading lives.  It's okay as beginning readers to pick books that speak to our hearts as that is what readers do, but some days - and more and more days - we need to choose books that bring all of the pieces together.


Other Post of Interest
Catching Readers:  Leveled Books - Questioning Our Practice Part I and Part II
Reflect and Refine:  Home Reading: It's a Reader's Choice
Reflect and Refine:  Real Reading
Jennifer Serravallo:  Choice During Independent Reading:  What's a Teacher to Do?
Education Week:  Roadblocks to Reading:  An Interview with Richard Allington

DigiLit Sunday: Digital Reading Opportunities for Primary Learners

As I work with primary students it seems most of the digital tools they use independently are for creation.  Where would we be without tools like Padlet, Pixie, Educreations, Voicethread or Kidblog?   Among other things, these tools allow students to share their thinking in reading, publish their writing in ways we can share with the world, and build thinking around topics.  Digital composing is a part of our literacy workshops.

Finding sites for primary digital readers is something of greater challenge.  Many of the sites we use work well for shared reading.  Some of these sites students can return to, but for emergent and early readers many digital reading sites are too challenging.  Just as in reading print books, I do work to find digital texts that students will be able to engage in independently.  This is a much greater challenge when we are talking about our youngest readers.  Since participating in the #cyberPD conversation around Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass, I've been working to build the possibilities for the young readers I support to experience digital texts.  Here are a few of my favorites sites for emergent and early readers:

Tumble Books:  Tumble Books is a "read to me" site.  I have been a fan of this site for beginning readers for years as it has a wide variety of books available.  Many digital sites have books created specifically by developers for their sites, but Tumble Books has many of the popular picture books and early chapter books students might check out at their library available.  The only challenge of Tumble Books is that it is a paid site, but it can be accessed through many libraries including our local Columbus Metropolitan Library Tumblebooks site.

National Geographic Kids Young Explorer Magazine  Looking for informational text for young readers?  National Geographic has really kept up with needs of student readers.  No matter their product, print or digital, students enjoy finding out more with National Geographic.  The Young Explorer digital site allows readers to view and/or listen to past National Geographic magazines.  There are two versions available for reading:  Scout and Voyager.  Of course, a stop by the National Geographic Kids website can always provide additional digital material for students.

The Poem Farm with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater  It's true, I'm a bit of a poetry fan so I like to make sure digital readers have the opportunity to experience poetry.  Amy LV's site is the perfect stop for teachers as she shares so much about her writing process.  Honestly, Amy's site is one of my favorite stops for digital writing mentor texts.  You'll find her site to be helpful in planning for poetry mini lessons.  You can look up poems by topic and technique making it a great stop for shared reading as well.  However, this post is about digital reading for kids so I digress.  The reason I like this site for our youngest readers is that Amy always includes a SoundCloud version of her poem.  Students can revisit poetry and listen to her read it!  There's nothing quite like hearing a poet read her own poetry.

Storyline Online Beginning readers need to hear the sounds of books.  There's something about those wondrous words whispering in their ears through read aloud.  Storyline Online has many titles available to listen to as they are read by readers you just might know.

Unite for Literacy  This website is a must see for young readers.  Displayed as a digital bookshelf, readers may click on a title of choice.  Students can read the book independently or have a narrated voice read for them.  Words are not highlighted and the narration is a bit choppy, but this is an excellent stop for finding digital books.  Additionally, you can adjust the language to have different different languages read.  When I switched the narration I was still viewing the English text, but with the other language narration.

eBooks with Narration  Recently I noticed in my library's Overdrive site that digital titles are becoming available "with narration."  In a recent stop to Overdrive, I discovered that books are becoming available with narration.  This allows readers to view the text WHILE listening to the story being read to them.  Game changer for younger readers!  I've tried to find out more about this, but haven't been able to really get to the heart of what is available and if it will be sustainable shift in children's books.  Anyone know anything more?  Check out your library's digital reading section to see if titles are available.

Digital books with narration.
Columbus Metropolitan Library

  

You can see how I have been able
to locate titles available with narration.

I'm hoping to grow the list of sites available for my youngest readers.  I'd love your recommendations.

Here are some other favorite digital sites (not all are for beginning readers):

Follow Mrs. Cathy's board Reading Websites on Pinterest.

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche.  

Creating a Reading History Archive

Some readers are already starting
to add response to their digital archives.

Talking About Our Reading Lives

Last year as parent-teacher conferences rolled around, I decided I wanted parents to be able to hear from their children.  Using Evernote presentation mode, I collected snapshots of work samples (more here) and began to create a story of these young literacy learners.  I wanted parents to be able to hear from their readers so I decided to voice record a few discussion topics for parents.  I had three basic topics of conversations with students that I recorded for parents:

1. Tell me about yourself as a reader.
2. What are your strengths as a reader?
3. What are you working to improve as a reader?

I was quite surprised at how hard it was for my students to speak to these topics.  When asked to talk about themselves as readers they didn’t really know how to begin.  I would have to stop the recording to explain they could tell me anything:  books they enjoyed, authors they loved, favorite spaces to read, topics they liked to read about, where they liked to get books, who read to them - anything.  There were so many possible answers, but still they struggled to respond.  Strengths and goals came easier as we talked about these in our reading time each day.  It was at this time that I knew I needed to do a better job of helping my students to see themselves as readers and to begin to think about their reading lives.

Our Reading Lives

This is my second year working as a reading specialist supporting primary readers.  These young readers receive intervention to help them make quick gains.  Of course, this work requires teaching of many aspects of the reading process, but the part that is equally important is often the first part that gets lost in busy schedules:  developing a reading life.  Readers receiving support often have less time than peers for real reading.  It’s not uncommon for them to spend more time in groups and be given the books they are to read at home.  This leaves little time for them to find themselves as readers.

As a classroom teacher, there are so many more opportunities to support conversations around our literate lives than in the thirty minutes I have with students each day.  When I was a classroom teacher, my students kept track of the books they took home each evening.  While this helped us when books were temporarily misplaced, I found its greatest purpose was in talking about our choices in our reading lives.  Since students chose their own book to take home each evening, it became a place to begin our conversations about reading choices.  By looking at the recorded titles we could discuss the types of books selected.  Did students have favorite authors, topics, genres, or other interests?  We could also discuss the level of challenge of selections.  Were students selecting books of appropropriate challenge?  The record allowed us to look for patterns and push ourselves to grow past our places of comfort.  In reading intervention, I needed to find a way to create these same opportunities in smaller windows of time.

Rewind to my first year in reading intervention.  Families were used to a calendar that was to be initialed each evening to show students had read.  As I didn't want my students to be discouraged by the cumbersome work of writing titles, I decided to continue the practice of a calendar signature.  It wasn't long, however, until I was missing the benefits of archiving our reading history.  Without keeping track of the titles students had read, I couldn't consider their choices.  We couldn't talk about favorite titles or books that didn't really work.  We couldn't push past our places of comfort.  Most of all, I don’t think students realized how much reading they were really doing.  They weren’t seeing themselves as they readers they were becoming.  I knew I needed to find a better way to help students get to know themselves and archiving their reading life seemed a good place to start.  

Archiving Our Reading History 

There is much debate about keeping reading logs, and I am not talking about a logging system.  In an extensive search I could find little written to support their use in a classroom.  I think this is because often logs are used as a measure of accountability.  Students are given a particular system, often parents are expected to sign and enforce, and parameters are placed on reading.  This is really the opposite of what we hope to accomplish.  We really hope our systems will ignite a fire in our readers, yet this rarely happens.  Unintentionally we seem to discourage our real readers and frustrate those we are trying to bring on board. We hope our systems will:

• encourage student ownership of reading
• provide opportunities for choice and self-selection
• connect home and school reading
• help readers connect with other readers
• open a world of reading opportunity for our students
• begin conversations around reading with peers and in our reading communities
• help students to grow into different types of reading
• shift students toward intentional decision making
• make students more metacognitive about their reading lives
• most of all, fall in love with reading

This year I wrestled for weeks about archiving reading.  There are systems available through sites like Bookopolis and Biblionasium.  There are possibilities for keeping track of reading in writing or using Google docs.  I didn't want a cumbersome system, but I did want to be able to talk about choices.  I don’t think the vehicle matters as much as the purpose.  

I did want these readers to realize how much reading they were doing across a year.  I wanted them to begin to see themselves as the readers I knew they were.  I wanted them to be able to talk about the books they were choosing.  I wanted them to tell me about favorite books, authors, and genres.  I knew I wasn’t concerned about the parent signature.  Yes, I needed to get parents to help support reading at home, but it seemed to me I needed something better than a signature on a calendar.  Honestly, I knew I had students the previous year who hadn’t read, but had signed calendars and those that had read in which calendars remained unsigned.  I decided to help these readers grow their reading lives I needed to start with them.  I needed to help them own their lives as readers, connect with others, and learn to talk about books.  

To accomplish this, it seemed I needed to start with two changes.  First of all, I felt I needed to work within classroom take home systems.  Many of the students I work with are able to self-select books so I helping them to learn to make smart choices seems something I shouldn’t overlook.  Secondly, I wanted a way they could archive their reading so that they could reflect on their reading lives.

Our Reading Walls

After much consideration I decided to create reading walls for each student on Padlet.  There are many ways I could have accomplished having a reading archive, but I wanted something students would be able to own and would have continuous access. Padlet seemed an easy way to keep track of the books we were reading. We could take pictures of our books to add to our wall and easily add text or links as well.

• Each student has their own digital reading wall.
• Students have a QR code that will take them directly to their wall attached to their reading bags. This goes home with them each evening and is in the classroom during the day.
• Students just snap a picture of their book selection and place it on their wall.
• This creates a reading archive or record of some of the reading they have been doing and provides a starting point for continued conversation about our reading lives.

Isiah's Wall

Growing Our Walls

I would never want a system that makes students not want to read.  The ease of this system should make it seamless.  We will only be adding the books students are selecting for home reading.  Using Padlet will allow students to grow their walls in new ways if they choose to do so.  For me, it is important they are able to make the choices about how they will use their wall. Some ways I envision readers might want to grow their wall:

• adding books read in class
• adding books read beyond the school day
• staging pictures of books read in favorite spaces
• adding comments about books
• including a personal written book recommendation
• adding links to more information about the book
• writing reflections on paper or in digital spaces and link them to the wall

If our goal is to truly help readers to develop their reading lives, we have to ask hard questions about our systems for home reading.  Who is choosing the books?  Are students required to do certain reading?  How are students keeping track of reading?  Are our systems cumbersome for students?  Do our systems free students up to read or distract from our intent? I'm hoping I've found an authentic way for students to archive their reading histories to allow for purposeful conversation about the choices we make in our reading lives.

Graphic Novel Celebration: Toon Books for Beginning Readers

If you haven't heard, today and every Thursday in October is a day to celebrate graphic novels.  Thanks to Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading; Alyson Beecher of KidLit Frenzy; Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan of Assessment in Perspective; and the Nerdy Book Club Community for bringing this community together.  

This week I continue my search for graphic novels for our youngest readers and return to an old favorite recommendation for the celebration:  Toon Books.  Several years ago, Katie DiCesare shared the possibility of Toon Books with me.  Toon Books are small graphic stories that students will enjoy reading.  I have found this series to be a smart recommendation for young readers because:

1. They vary in level of difficulty.  
2. Students can read the book in print or digital copy (some titles).
3. The titles available online will read to students (in a variety of languages).
4. Stories are engaging.

I find Toon Books to be useful in introducing graphic formats in read aloud or shared reading to readers.  I've added several to my classroom library as students enjoy reading and rereading these stories.  If you haven't seen Toon Books, they are worth checking out.