The battle between 'the rules' and 'what's right'

The district is focusing on reading.

I thought that was kind of nice, when I heard it. I mean, it would have been good if they'd started promoting reading a while ago, but better late than never.

Of course, it's all very nice to say we're focusing on reading at the top level. But then it filters down to the school level. And at my school, that means compulsory guided reading. More specifically, every child must participate in a guided reading group, every week, in every classroom across the school.

When I first heard this, I was uneasy. Guided reading can be great when you want to focus on a particular book/topic/skill (it worked wonderfully with The Arrival), but I tend to use it as a 'some of the time' part of my Reader's Workshop - applying it when I think it will be most useful. Other times I focus on one on one conferences, slightly longer mini lessons, or getting through the endless reading testing they also insist we complete. Also, I was worried that the need to get through every child, every week would lead to surface reading, not the deep reading I desperately want the students to reach.

Since I first heard about this last year, I've continued to read about reading. One of my recent books was More Than Guided Reading by Cathy Mere. Althought this was aimed at the younger grades, a lot of her findings rang true with me. In her experience, just focusing on guided reading meant students were more dependant on the teacher, lessons tended to be teacher focused and the students were actually doing less reading. Guided reading was one tool, not the main tool.

And there lies my problem. Reader's Workshop has been working in my classroom over the last year and a half. I can see the results in the way students read, in their responses to text, in the way they write. And their test results are backing this up. But in the service of 'being consistent', I'm expected to drop or change this to follow their 'rules'.

How do we fight the battles of right and rules when those in charge don't read the research, or worse, the local research is so badly done? (I no longer trust any research coming from the University I went to). How do we teach for our students and our administrations? And when will administrations realise that teachers are individuals with their own individual strengths as well?

Picture from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Unfair and Unrealistic Assessment

Each year in Queensland, our Year 4, 6 and 9 students are required to complete QCATS, Queensland Comparable Assessment Tasks in English, Maths and Science. These are supposed to be more 'realistic' tasks, similar to assessment we complete in the classroom. An alternative to the standardised testing that is NAPLAN. But . . .

Well, to be honest, I'd rather have my students doing NAPLAN at the moment (and I do both, so I know what they're both like!). Standardised tests are unfair, but a smart student can do well at them. This year, the English Year 6 QCAT is all about celebrating mediocrity.

There's three parts to the English task - 2 reading and 1 writing. (So far we've spent 5 and a half hours on this task and some are still going) The first part requires students to identify textual features (mostly) of a stimulus text. The stimulus text, two persuasive forum responses are quite poorly written. Students are asked to identify adjectives and adverbs in those texts, but one of them contains no simple adverbs (the types that are obviously describing a verb) even though the marking grid requires students to be able to list an adverb to get a D mark. Just to add insult to injury (we had tears on this section) we got an email over the weekend saying that the adverbs on the 'sample A response' were incorrect . . . . even the writers of the task couldn't accurately complete it.

Part two compares a visual text to the stimulus. Here, like in the first part, the questions want them to find examples, to prove their point. However the space provided is minimal, one or two lines. It's an interesting mix of wanting a lot (justify your answers -expecting more than one response - using examples from the text) and expecting little (but you only have 2 lines to answer this question - better not have big handwriting).

There has been an emphasis in the standardised testing world to ensure that tests at least try to be relevant to most of the students taking it. However, in a state with a huge number of indigenous and rural communities a long way away from owning many of the technological goods that clutter urban life, a task which requires them to discuss those goods is clearly unfair.

Part three is the writing part. Students are given a good topic, nice planning space (though written on the back on the writing part, so kids have to keep flipping back and forward) and reminders of what they are required to do. But the killer is that this 5 paragraph essay needs to fit under 200 words.

40 words a paragraph? Really? A persuasive argument with a topic sentence and supporting evidence? With adjectives and adverbs?

As teachers who give and support this task and then have to mark it, where are we supposed to go? Do we simply disregard the word limit and potentially have our hands smacked at moderation? Or do we insist that students give us substandard work, not the best they can do, with limited supporting evidence?

Although I admire those who move into renegade teaching, I've never really thought of myself as a renegade teacher before. Sure, I refuse to join in on 'highlighter reading' or 'whole class novels', but I've never wanted to deliberately 'break the rules.' Yesterday I did. When my best writer was forced to write a one sentence conclusion and was despondent about her writing, I broke them. I told her to remove the word limit, to aim for 250 words, to just simply write the best persuasive text she can. Sure there might be repurcussions, but I'll wear them myself. There are things worth fighting for, and requiring our students to complete the best possible work is one of them.

About Reader's Workshop: Camp and the Problem with Standardisation

So, once again I'm coming back from a short break. This has become a bad habit, one which I really should endeavour to break. Though, part of it is completely explanatory.

Each year, our Year 7s go on a week long camp. It's near the beach, and there's a tonne of fun activities which students would have no chance of doing in their regular lives. (Yes, we go to the beach in the middle of winter) I wasn't supposed to go, but two weeks before the camp, got the call up. I was so glad I did go. When you get the students outside their regular environment, you get to see them in a totally different light. You get to interact with them differently and build a trust with them that you might not otherwise build.

How will this translate back into the classroom? I'm hoping that the relationships they've built with each other will continue to hold strong. I hope it means they'll trust me when I say 'you'll really like this book'!



Unfortunately coming back has meant that it's time for QCATS. This is another form of standardised assessment, except this one requires us to give the students (Grades 4,6 and 9 do QCATS) a booklet full of 'classroom like' assessment.

The English one this year is a mixture of reading and writing, and as with all standardised testing, it's trying to be all things to all people. What you end up with is something that is rather uninspiring and frankly quite depressing. (Rinse, lather and repeat in maths and science). What bothers me most is that to get an A, you don't have to think deeply or creatively about the text you've been reading. You don't have a chance to talk and think through what you are reading, to develop a shared consensus. You just have to tick all their boxes.

And there is my problem with standardised testing. It's been developed to fit students into the little boxes or else they've failed. That's not going to develop the critical, thoughtful readers we need going into the future. Just people who like filling in boxes.

Photo from Flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Making Books Accessible

When I was writing my post about the reading habits of my students, one of the things I thought about was how my students were going about procuring their books. They all borrow books off me, of course. Many of them now use their local libraries (now that the councils are amalgamated there's a pretty huge choice), are common visitors to their local bookshops and even get brothers and sisters to get them books from the high school libraries.

But very few of them borrow from our own school library.

Why was this? I mean, there's a big resource there in the school library, they have access to it before school, during lunch breaks and after school, plus we go as a class once a week - so why aren't more of them borrowing?

It could be the time. During our borrowing time we only have fifteen minutes to look, choose and borrow. If we're running a little late, the class before us is late or the class after us is early, our time is cut down. Books in a library can be quite overwhelming, and most of these are spine out, so they take more time to look at. Do the students need more time to take in the books, to make plans about what they want to read, like they do in the classroom?

It could be the collection of books. Money to buy books in the library is always tight, and our librarian has to make some really hard choices about what books to buy and which ones not to. There's also less books for the 11-12 year olds, though that has improved over the last couple of years. But because the librarian is buying for 600 students, compared with me buying for 27, there will always be less books 'meant' for my students.

One thing that really struck me was accessibility. Our students are not allowed to borrow unless they have a library bag. I understand the theory here. Library bags keep library books together, they protect them in school bags, they let parents of younger children know that the children have borrowed. But when the students reach grade 6 and 7, they seem to be less comfortable with carrying a bag for library books around. I think it also makes them feel like they can't be trusted, and since they can be trusted with classroom books, which they can just throw in their school bag, or carry in their arms, they'd rather borrow those.

So, how can I make the books in the school library more accessible? I can't change the library policy on library bags, but maybe there's some way we can make the library more interesting, or more open to the students. What are the borrowing habits of your students?

Photo from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Talking- The Problem with Why?

I've been reading Tell Me by Aidan Chambers as I talked about here. A lot of the things that Chambers writes about is how teachers can use talk and language to enable readers to come to deeper understandings.

Chambers points out that one of the worst phases to use when talking about reading is 'Why?' as in 'Why did this happen' or 'Why did you like it'. I know from experience that this question often leaves students grasping for an answer that they think I want to hear - it really places the teacher in the position of power, rather than creating a real community. Chambers suggests that 'why' also encourages students to give questions that don't have a tonne of meaning. Instead he suggests that teachers should provide a starting point, a detail that gives readers a place to move from.

Developing understanding from texts should be developed organically, Chambers points out. If we want to build up understanding from students, we should do it by asking them to tell us what they like or dislike from the text and then move through what puzzles them. Often by talking it out, students are able to see what they know as well as moving on to new understandings.

How does this apply in a reader's workshop classroom? Well I had a couple of thoughts about how I would be able to use it . . .

• This approach provides an angle/language for conferring with students. I sometimes have problems with conferring, when students come to a dead end and you're not sure where to take them next. By starting with 'tell you what you like/dislike' you give the students a really comfortable place to begin - as their confidence builds, they are able to build their understanding.
• This approach could also be used in small group lessons. As a group, students would be able to contribute to and build on an understanding together, contributing to their shared understanding. The questioning could be changed/adjusted to the aspects you want to discuss with the students.
• You could also use this when working with read alouds. In my experience, talk is the best way to assess student understanding of read alouds, and this provides a good way for students to talk about a book, without feeling like it is assessment.
• Students could be taught to use this language with each other. Book/reading buddies can be a really powerful way of sharing knowledge, and if this approach is modelled and taught, students could use it before writing book letters, or completing tasks. Alternatively, it could be used as the students are finishing their individual reading, to help them clarify their opinions and understandings right after they have read.

I'm definately going to be spending more time thinking about the use of language when talking about reading. Chambers has made some good points about language which halts conversation or prevents students from really coming to better understandings. I like the idea of letting understanding build organically, it makes a lot of sense to work that way. Hopefully this change in language will allow that to happen a lot easier


Photo from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Creating a Reader's Life

One of my goals this year has been to develop skills that will allow students to become life long readers. Interestingly, I've discovered that the students in my class, some of them non-readers before this year, have been teaching themselves their own skills or learning them from family and friends. They've taken on the life of readers. Here's some of the things I've noticed:

Students are becoming more creative at getting books
I have a tonne of books in my classroom. However, I usually only have one copy of each book, or there's certain books I don't have, or they don't have access to books on weekends or holidays. I have noticed students are moving outside of the classroom, and indeed the school to get their books. One tells me how he goes out with his sister and father to the book shop each week, even if they don't buy anything.  A lot of them have gone back to visiting the local libraries to stock up on books. Some of them have even managed to convince older siblings to procure them books from the high school libraries.

Students are getting more creative at finding time to read books
 One of the things I've taught this year is sneaky reading. Basically students are encouraged to read when they get a spare moment - when they are waiting for a teacher or have finished something early. We take our books with us to assemblies, and read while we wait for the assembly to begin (I collect the books before it starts, though). A lot of students tell me about their reading habits at home - a few of them have snuck in reading by flashlights under the blankets at night :) - but most have taken to finding other moments where they are able to read.

Students are beginning to set reading goals
A lot of the students are beginning to set goals of what they'd like to read. Particularly with the holidays, students are organising what they want to read, how many things they want to read. I also noticed that students were organising meetings on the holidays to swap books over with each other.

Students are becoming more confident about talking about their reading
Students are talking about their reading more and more. They talk about what they like, what they want to read. They write blogs reviewing books, and mention books in conversation. They're also beginning to make connections between books in their conversations.


All these things - selecting books, making time to read, setting goals, talking about books are all things that confident adults readers do. It's really nice to see the students beginning to take on these habits, starting to create reading lives.

Photo from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Flat-Earth Readers

As I have been reading Aidan Chambers' Tell Me: Children, reading and talk, I came across the best term- flat-earth readers. We all know them (in fact, you may, like me, have been one of them.) They are the readers who only ever read one style, or one author. They are the students who won't move past Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or move away from the Star Wars novelisations. In my case, it was Baby-Sitters Club books or later, Sweet Valley High. They see the reading world as flat, with dragons or other nasties at the edges.

What prevents the students from creating a more rounded world of reading? Chambers suggests three things in particular: the danger of boredom - other books might be boring compared to the books the reader is used to; difficulty - other books might be harder than the books the reader is used to, and the reader lacks the self-efficacy to read harder books; and the fear of exhaustion - that the other side of the reading world may never end (the I'll never read enough of the world's books fear)!

Obviously we don't want students to remain flat world readers - after all, we want the students to become better readers, readers who are willing to take risks and explore a range of books. But how can we assist students to experience a more rounded world of books?

One place to start is the classroom environment, and even little things can make such a difference. I never had a huge amount of success with getting students to read until I was able to turn my books around so the covers faced outwards. Placing them in baskets for different categories, allowed students who were interested in one type of book (for example, my Star Wars fanatic was interested in other science fictions books and ended up extending to new authors and harder books). Having an extra rack of books also allows me to display new books.

Also successful is read alouds. I've talked about read-alouds before (here and here) and why I think they're important, and I have found they're great for moving flat-earth readers. A lot of students go on to read the books when you're finished, or search for similar books. The read-aloud has assured them that there are other good books out there and that they may not be too difficult or overwhelming.

Incidental book talk - or what Chambers calls book gossip - is another powerful tool. Earlier this year, the younger boys in my class went through a massive 39 Clues phase, talking about the books before school, in class, at home online. A lot of them have moved on from these books to the CHERUB and Alex Rider books. They want to share in the world the other boys are sharing in. I'm particularly lucky in this aspect as I have a multi-age classroom and a lot of the time, the younger students want to follow the older students in their reading. This definitely led to the success of The Hunger Games.

We also have formal books talks. These can be a little hit and miss. Coming from me, they're generally pretty solid. I'm lucky again, in that I've taught some of these students since 2007 and they trust me to find good books that they'll enjoy. Especially if I'm really enthusiastic (Percy Jackson, Out of my Mind) a simple book talk from me can have the whole class buzzing. When the students book talk, it often depends on the student. Some have a great pull in the class, others less so. Some give great book talks that make you want to go out and buy ten copies of the book, others are still developing their public speaking skills.

Recently we've had a new place to talk about books, through the use of kidblogs.org. A lot of students use their blogs to talk about what they're reading and what others should read, which means we've had to have lessons on spoiler warnings and other reviewing niceties. :-)

Despite pressure from other sources, the least success I've had in expanding the world of readers is in set books, or even 'choose from this list' books. Often students approach the books with a certain amount of resentment, especially if they'd prefer to spend reading time reading 'their' book. They take little ownership in the book, and it's difficult to get them to read 'similar' books. I have had some success, particularly when nominating books to small groups, but all in all, it's not a particularly useful way to expand the world of readers.

Of course, if you want to know more about moving readers through different types of books, you can't go past Teri Lesesne's Reading Ladders, and if you can get your hands on Tell Me, I recommend it too - so far, a really great thoughtful read.

What stories of flat-earth readers do you have? Were you one yourself? What made you move on? How do you approach flat-earth readers in your classroom?

About Reader's Workshop: Talk and Reading

So, I'm three days into my winter holidays and I was getting slightly bored so I picked up a book from my massive pile of 'teaching books to be read'. This one, Tell Me by Aidan Chambers, was picked up at the Lifeline Bookfest, so is a little older (published in 1993). However, it highlights the importance of talk in reading.

I'm finding this particularly useful for a number of reasons. First of all, how important is talk in reading? Can we develop any kind of successful reader, let along life-long readers without emphasising the place of talk? Secondly, how do we use talk throughout the school life of a child - what talk are we successfully using with Preps? How do we translate this into Grade 7s or Grade 12s? Thirdly, how can we use books to help talk? We have growing numbers of children arriving at school with speech difficulties. Can books/reading be used to work with these children?

The other thing Chambers points out is that without a 'reading environment' (a topic he's written another book on) it is very hard to cultivate successful talk about reading. It's interesting to think about how one piece fits in with another.

I'm only just into the book, but no doubt I'll be posting some of my ideas here as I go through it. So let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, musing on talk and reading and how they go together.

Photo from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: The Lifeline Bookfest

Books, books and more books, as far as the eye can see.

That's the scene that greats you at Brisbane's twice a year Lifeline Bookfest, which I attended on Saturday. If you're there at opening time, and you're lucky enough to be one of the first people though the front door . . . well there's nothing better than two massive halls full of books.

I've been attending the bookfest for a number of years now. It has two benefits. Cheap books for the people of Brisbane, and money raised for Lifeline, a charity which provides counseling services. In fact, I attended earlier this year. Unfortunately, then, I was only four days out of surgery, which made the whole experience pretty hard, so I was looking forward to this event.


The anticipation that builds up around this event is pretty huge, and you'll see so many different types of people there. Parents, children, grandparents, students, people seaching for the one elusive book, people trying to get as many as possible. And teachers. In fact, so many teachers go each year, that they even give a special shout out over the loudspeaker.

But it's no surprise they go. Where else can you pick up good quality books for you classroom library, and teacher resources and textbooks, all under $5 each? What surprises me (and saddens me) is that I'm the only teacher at my school who regularly goes. I did run into one of my old students though, who very proudly told me that he'd moved on to really thick books now.

We're really lucky to have this event in Brisbane. The whole thing holds together on the good will of volunteers, but it's an event which allows everyone to be a reader, to leave clutching a book of their very own.

As for me, I was actually a bit more conservative this time. I had a time limit, so I had to choose well and choose fast. Still, I managed a number of excellent bargains, including Cathy Cassidy's Dizzy (completes our classroo collection), Jerry Spinelli's Loser, Morris Gleitzman and Gary Paulsen books and some excellent looking books on reading.

About Reader's Workshop: Fostering Enthusiasm

There's nothing quite like enthusiasm in the classroom. I like the way it bubbles up and completely dominates a room. You can't help but be swept away from it, and you know you're going to learn something on your journey.

Yesterday, I went out to help with a school fundraiser, primarily because a lot of my students helped to organise it. As I got there, one of my students ran up to me, and before either of us even said hello, she blurted out "The book is soooo good!"

Her enthusiasm was catching. I felt my spirits rising a bit as I asked her which book she was talking about, and she told me which bit she was up to. We went to our respective jobs, but she kept returning to it the whole time I was there. Her enthusiasm for reading, and for this book, was definately dominating her day.

How do you foster this enthusiasm when you're getting kids to read? Well from my own experience, there's a few things you can do . . .

• Be enthusiastic yourself. If the kids' enthusiasm is infectious, what about the teacher's? If you come in and are excited about the book you're reading, they'll cotton on to that and realise that there are books out there worth being excited about
• Have a range of books available. I had a student last year who was mad about Star Wars books. It was so easy to move him on to harder science fiction books from there. But if I'd had no science fiction, if I couldn't lay my hands on it immediately, the enthusiasm may have died down a little. As I always say, the classroom library is the most important part of the class.
• Harness the student's enthusiasm. If they're excited about a book, they'll do more to sell it than you can. Let them! Let them talk about the books, create book buddies who share referrals, have occasional activities where they get to express which books they love, create favourite book lists.

What do you do to foster enthusiasm for reading?

Photo from flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Assessment

Hot on the heels of national assessment week, we now have classroom assessment in the lead up to report cards. One of my struggled has been balancing the school demands for assessment with the students I teach (getting them to read out loud to me doesn't tell me a lot when they never make a mistake!) and the demands of Reader's Workshop.

One thing I reularly ask the students to write is a book letter. Sometimes they're really short things, which keep me up to date with their latest reading and their thoughts on character or main idea. Other times they're much longer. The one we're working on at the moment, covers character, main idea and connections, although the students can choose which one they'd prefer to concentrate on more.

In terms of formative assessment, I often use discussion and book talks to see where the students are at, where I can move them forward, where they might be missing something etc. Unfortunately, we've moved to an entirely task based assessment system this year, so I have to disregard these when it comes to writing report cards. Which leaves you falling back on the old standbys - comprehension tests and reading miscues.

I have some ideas for more creative assessment - I'd love to do a Post Secret style activity with the class - but would love to hear how you balance the needs of assessment and reporting with the philosophies of reader's workshop and reading programs. Let me know!

Photo from Flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Balancing the Elements

I've been obsessed with ballet for as long as I can remember. Throughout my school years I took lessons, moving through into fairly high levels. When I finished school, I taught ballet for ten years. Then when I was finished with that, I took up adult ballet classes.

They really are a blast. The regular teacher, a former ballet dancer, puts together fabulous exercises, and works us pretty hard, but there's a lot of focus on making it lyrical and beautiful and really dancing it. We work hard and we laugh a lot.

Last night we had a guest teacher, also a former dancer. His class was fantastic and technical. It encouraged lots of delicate footwork, making us work those basic we started learning when we were five or six years old. Despite my sore feet this morning, it was amazing. But I don't think I could manage it every week - once every now and again is just fine!

This morning I was thinking about it, and I realised how well it correlates with Reader's Workshop. We focus on the technical, those skills which made us readers, and will make us better readers in small doses. Then we get to move to the lyrical - the reading - the stuff that makes your heart sing. When we focus too much on the technical, we get bogged down in instructions and corrections and never get to really move. When we focus entirely on the lyrical, we never really get better. It's all about finding the balance.

That photo is me dancing my first ballet solo in our school christmas concert - I was the sugar plum fairy . . .

About Reader's Workshop: Replacement . . .

Well, it finally happened.

The classroom library copy of The Recruit, the first book in the marvellous CHERUB series broke. Completely fell into two different pieces (part one and part two, a student informed me)

While I hate to see any book in this state, a part of my rejoiced to see it. I've had that book in the classroom for 2 and a half years now. It's survived around 40 different pairs of hands, seen the insides of 40 school bags, chair bags, library bags or tidy trays. It's been rushed through and devoured by some, and lingered over and savoured by others. It's been read by girls and boys (and a few parents too). It's had a very good life.

And I bought a new copy yesterday to replace it - there's a line up waiting to read it next.

About Reader's Workshop: The Critics

Almost every Thursday morning, we have our full school assembly. This consists of the full school sitting in a crowded hall, listening to awards and presentations and warnings about behaviour. Because of my need to 'be on time', we're usually there early, so we take our books along to pass the time (keeps them quiet, sneaks in some reading). I then collect them before the assembly begins (I'm not silly - I know they'll read during assembly if they can)

We were sitting there, admist the chaos, when a boy from another class - a student leader - came up and sneered at them. "Does Bob know how to read?" He asked me.

I was, well honestly, annoyed, shocked and saddened. Bob is an excellent reader - he reads adult novels as well as Young Adult novels, he reads quickly and thoroughly. He's also an excellent football player and loves his sport. I responded back, but the sneer stayed with me.


So now I'm searching for proof that you can be a sportsman/woman and read. I know I've heard stories of sports coaches insisting that their players read, I know there are sports players who read - I just need a way to present it to the kids to show that it's great that they read too. Any ideas? Please leave me a comment!

About Reader's Workshop: Introducing the New Student

At the beginning of this term I got a new student. It was probably the height of bad timing- I was one day back from my trip to Japan, with National testing (which doesn't concern her, she's in the non-testing year) looming over the top of me. I was assured that she was a reader, and I assumed (oh no) she would just fit right in to Reader's Workshop.

Except she hasn't. I know she's not reading books properly. She'll get right into them, assure me that she loves them and suddenly skip massive portions of the text. She has no idea of the main points of the story. And then I did the tired-teacher routine and got cranky with her.

Leaving her for a moment - yesterday I received my copy of Teri Lesesne's Reading Ladders. Excitedly, I plunged into it, and I'm already half way through. But somewhere along the way, I was forced to think about this new child. Do I know what she likes to read? Not really, I neglected to give her the survey the other students got at the beginning of the year. Have I talked with her about the expectations of Reader's Workshop? Again, not really.

Today I intend to fix that. I'm going to take the time to talk with her one and one. I'll remind her that I don't want people to lie about finishing books, but I'll also tell her that I want her to find books that she can really sink her teeth into. I'll grab the book recommendation lists we made last year and first term, and we'll sit down and talk about choosing a good book together. It might take a few days to really get into it, but I'm sure we'll get there.

She was a very good reminder that Reader's Workshop is as much about the relationship we have with each other as readers as it is about the relationship we have with books and settings and characters.

Image from Flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Building on the Information Interest

Yesterday morning I posted about my aims in promoting informational (non fiction) texts in my classroom. 

I organised two big boxes of books up the front of the room yesterday, filled with the very best of my informational books. Everything from An Inconvenient Truth to Ancient Greek history. The students began the lesson by grabbing one of those books and looking through for elements which were different to fiction. We made a list of those elements and then I encouraged them to read one of the books over the next two weeks. Some immediately kept reading, while others put them aside for their novels.

Later in the day, we began making a list of topics they want to read more about. Their list included World War One and Two, to the American Civil War, to Australian landmarks, lots of Ancient History, space, forces, flight, animals, sports and interestingly, September 11. (I keep forgetting that these guys are too young to remember it.)

Today, we're going to talk about the difference in reading fiction and informational texts, and I'll begin book bundling. Our reading workshop is in the library today, so I'll make use of that space and their resources :)

If you have any recommendations for those topics - particularly September 11, please leave a comment - I'm desperate to get good books they'll want to read!

About Reader's Workshop: Introducing Information

For the next six days that I am at school, I want the students to get some information. More specifically, I want them to delve into the world of informational (non-fiction) books.

I've come to the realisation that I've been giving informational books the rough end of the pineapple, so to speak. Sure, they're there in my classroom, but I don't spend a lot of time on them. They're kind of hidden, up behind the desks. We don't talk about them, or promote them nearly enough.

Personally, I love informational books. Some of the best books I've read in the last year have been teaching books. I went through a stage of devouring information books written about Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and later Spooks). And when I was little, I used to sleep with my great big book of Questions and Answers. But, sadly, I feel that their use in the classroom has been hindered by their availability (the reading level seems to jump from year 3/4 to upper ends of highschool in a lot of cases) and their cost. Personally I wish there were more books written like Who Was Abraham Lincoln? and Who Was Amelia Earhart? which are short, but written at the perfect level for the students I teach.

But, we do have them in the classroom, so I'm going to go out of my way in the next six days to promote them. Here's some of the ways I'm going to do that:

1. Book talk, book talk, book talk. I'm going to try to introduce at least one new book a day. I also want to point out some of the differences in reading informational books as we go through them.
2. Challenge - I'm going to challenge the students to find an informational book, either in the classroom or the library, which they enjoy and learn something from.
3. Personal experience - I'm going to ask students to write a personal book letter about finding an informational book (either now or in their past)
4. Book bundling - I'm going to work off the popularity of certain books. Like Percy Jackson? Well read some more about Ancient Greece and Greek myths! Enjoying CHERUB or Young Bond? Why don't you try these books about spies? Reading WW2 historical fiction? Try some of these books about the second world war.
5. Committing to buying some more informational books - I might even work on this with some of the children as 'book buying experts' - I'll give them a budget, and a couple of websites and ask them to make the choices.

For a really great blog post on informational books, check out Reading Countess

Read more about Reader's Workshop Here

About Reader's Workshop: Keeping them Interested

Today I'm going to ask my students some questions about Reader's Workshop in preparation for my first professional development session on Wednesday. I want to know how they feel about it, how it's changed their reading, and how they feel about reading now.

Thinking about it reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a student who was in my class last year. We were both looking at the board which records how many books my students have read this year (overall) and how many I've read. We talked about the books briefly, and I asked how many books he'd read this year.

"Um," he looked away and then held up his hand to make a circle. "None."

This was an absolute surprise as he'd been one of my best readers last year, working his way through a number of adventure and spy books. I recommended a few that I thought he and his sister (I taught her a few years ago) would enjoy, and watched him walk away, a pretty heavy feeling in my heart.

What had changed since last year? I know he had a new teacher, but he was reading before I had him as a student. Is it time? Is it the other students around him? Is it the fact that he's nearly a teenager and reading just isn't 'done' anymore?

I mentioned yesterday that we don't have a culture of reading at our school. This is pretty evident when the students dress up as their favourite book character for book week and most of the students are dressed as TV or movie characters. The question would be, how do you create a culture of reading? Is it enough that a school has that culture, or does it need to extend beyond the school gates, to the local libraries and the community in general?

I'd love to see our school get truly interested and excited about reading. To see them promoting books on assembly and having book posters around the school. To see students talking about books, and parents coming in regularly to read with the students. To see books in every classroom, and students taking over the spaces around the school that are perfect for reading (under the mango tree, in the gardens near the buildings, in the library).

I know I can't achieve that much without some help, but I think I know where I can start. Next term, when I'm not out of the classroom so much, I'm going to begin a book club. It's time to get them, and keep them, interested.

Read more about Reader's Workshop here

Photo from Flickr

About Reader's Workshop: The Scariest Thing You'll Ever See

I've been a bad blogger this week, partly because I'm busy, and partly because I've been in a snit over an article I read last week. It wasn't my intention to read it, but our curriculum person sent it to me thinking I would be 'interested' in it. It had the words 'Reader's Workshop' in it, but was the worst perversion of the concept I've ever seen. Calling it 'collaborative', they took away student choice and independent reading time, and turned into a teacher led discussion of the same piece of work (probably with highlighters . . .)

I sat there shaking my head (and shaking a little on the inside too). This isn't the first time I've felt that I'm being pushed to make my reader's workshop more 'uniform' and teacher led. To include more 'discussion' and 'analysing text'. To remove more reading. I vented on twitter, I vented at school (to friends), I vented at home to my husband. Then I've been in a snit over it for a week.

I've kind of come to a conclusions about it all, though, which might be completely off-side, but I'm going to discuss it anyway. I think some people get scared by children sitting there, reading their own choice of book silently.

 Why would this be? Personally, I think a child reading is the best sight ever. But when I think back to the ways people used to react to me - the child who always had a book in their hands - I see a lot of the same attitudes that I see from other teachers around my school. I have a few thoughts on why . . .


It doesn't look like work

I hear this from teachers and students from other classes. We'll be sitting in the classroom, or out in the lovely garden outside our room, reading and other students will walk past making a lot of noise. "Shh," I'll say, "we're working here." "That's not working, that's reading." One student laughed.

You can't see the work when students are reading. They don't screw up their faces in pained expressions as they do when they're doing maths or when they're writing. They don't seem to produce anything. They actually look like they're enjoying themselves. You can't see them travelling across different countries, or back in history or forward in time. You don't see them getting into the deeper feelings of their characters (unless they start getting teary, as some of the girls have). Unless you get up and talk with them, you don't see the amazing connections they are making, the vocabularies they are building, the grammar they are resting their understanding on.

But then, when it's time to stop reading, the children stretch and yawn and look like they've been running a long distance race. They know how hard they've been working.


The teacher loses control

"How do you know they're really reading?"
"Shouldn't they be reading 'good' books?"
"We're learning about subject a, so shouldn't all reading be about subject a?"

It's pretty cool being a teacher. We get to use our teacher voices. We get to tell the students what they will learn and when they will learn it. We get to rule the world (oh, wait a minute. Not yet). It's easy to fall into a pattern of needing to know all, be all  and assign all in the classroom.

And then someone suggests that maybe the students could choose their own books.

"But they'll only choose rubbish books."

Actually, I've found the opposite of this. As long as you have good books to read in the classroom, and you promote them, the students begin gravitating towards the 'better' books sooner or later. They know they're becoming better readers, they want a bigger challenge. Sure they'll read some of the 'rubbish' books as well, but when they have the choice to read, you'd be surprised at what they'll try. Some of my boys are reading books that we would probably say are 'girl' books. My Grade 5s are desperate to read the same books as the Grade 7s and the Grade 7s want to read the books I read. 

"How do you know they're really reading?"

I've talked about this before - here and here and here. We live books in my classroom. We're excited about new stories, about discovering old stories, about the plot twists and characters and places. Students are excited when they find out that Al Capone and Alcatraz were real, and when they work out that one book is set in the same place as another. They want to share what they're reading, and you know that they are reading.

I also read a lot of the books myself. When I'm unsure, I know the questions to ask to probe a little more. I can suggest taking a step back, rereading, having a discussion with another person.


It's unknown

Sadly, we don't have a reading culture in our school. Seeing a student with a book is much less common than seeing one with a football or a hand ball. And the idea of letting students just read? Well, what about those comprehension worksheets, and class sets of books, and highlighters and fancy reading programs? Surely they have to be more useful, they're what we've always done.

I know when I started teaching, I did what was always done in reading. I gave out lots of worksheets, and limited silent reading time and borrowed class sets of books and insisted that students read out loud without a chance to read through first. It was a big step to step into reader's workshop.

There seems to be a concerted push for uniformity across the school system. Every teacher needs to do this, every students needs to know this. There's not a lot of room to move, or be different. Except, well, our students are different. And our teachers are different. And if one or more of them wants to be the loony teacher who makes children read, maybe we should leave enough wriggle room for that, without wanting them to fall in line.

Maybe we should let the children read.

Read more about Reader's Workshop here

Photo from Flickr

About Reader's Workshop: Building a Frame for Reading

In less than two weeks I'll be presenting my first professional development on Reader's Workshop. I'm fighting a bit of an uphill battle with it - I teach gifted and talented, and the upper end of the school, so a lot of people think that whatever I say, won't be applicable to them because they're lower school/learning support/special education etc. Also, there's the fact that Reader's Workshop is not particularly well known in Australia (though there were Australian books published about it a couple of decades ago), making it harder to explain where I'm coming from.


So I've been doing a lot of thinking and reading about Reader's Workshop, and trying to get my thoughts into some sort of presentable shape. I thought I'd try sharing them here first!


Reader's Workshop is a Frame

Reader's Workshop shouldn't be thought of as a program, or a set of unmovable steps, or something you can buy which will solve all your reading problems. Primarily, it's a framework, within which you are free to make alterations, changes, swaps and bends as you see fit.

The frame is a typical rectangle, with four sides - extended time for students to read, a range of books for students to choose from, student response to reading and a workshop structure. When the four sides are 'nailed' together, they hold something pretty powerful - a community of readers.

Why do we want children to be readers?
Students who are good readers

• ain an understanding of people different to themselves
• gain knowledge of places different to their places
• gain an understanding of people who are like them 
• can always amuse themselves - as long as they are carrying a book
• can explore history and the future
• perform better in all aspects of English, as well as better in maths, science and history
• develop better vocabularies - even if they're not always sure how to pronounce those big words . . .

I'll go into this a bit more next time - in the meantime, please let me know if you have any information on how Reader's Workshop works with early-childhood/learning support/special education students - I need all the evidence I can get!