Showing posts with label shared reading. Show all posts

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Shared Reading in the First Days --- and ALWAYS

Posted by Amazing People, on 5:38 AM
Walking into one of our first grade classrooms, the teacher has a Keep Book projected on the large whiteboard.  Students are gathered side-by-side on the carpet, their eyes focused on the text as the teacher points and reads.  Their voices chime in and out with hers as they enjoy the story.  None of them notice I have entered the room as they are so engaged in the story.  As I watch I can't help but think about the ways shared reading has changed since my first years of teaching.  In those days, shared reading truly was limited to the big books you had in your classroom --- and big books were pricey.

We are nearing our sixth week of school.  We've spent much time getting to know our students as we watch them interact and work in our learning spaces.  We've completed assessments.  We've build up our communities.  As we begin to look closely at the information we have gathered in our first weeks of school, we pause to celebrate all the strengths of our students and we begin to plan next steps.  In looking at information we've collected, we've noticed our students need support in solidifying concepts of print.  We need to help these young readers begin to build their reading strategies.  Of course, we also want to begin to open up new possibilities in reading to them.  As we've talked and planned we have spent much time talking about the power of shared experience.  Our conversations have started to focus on the possibilities through shared reading to help these students get started.

Gathering to read a text together through shared reading allows us to scaffold young learners and set the stage for the next steps in their reading.  This highly supportive learning context also helps students to feel safe in taking risks and making new discoveries.  It also provides opportunities for the teacher to put strategies and language in place that will support reading instruction in other contexts in the days and weeks to come.

Possibilites in Shared Reading:
  • Build Community:  In the first days of school, shared reading provides a shared context for learning together.  This connected experience can continue to hold a group together across the year.
  • Create a Common Language:  As we start our year, and as we introduce new strategies and concepts, shared reading provides a context for creating a common language across our learning community.  
  • Master Concepts of Print:  With our youngest of readers, shared reading provides opportunities for us to develop concepts of print including:  directionality, return sweep, one-to-one matching, concepts of letter and word, and other important book handling skills.  
  • Develop Reading Strategies:  Shared reading can allow us to teach and model reading strategies that young readers can use to sustain reading.  These strategies include using pictures, utilizing visual cues, thinking about meaning, rereading, reading on, and other strategies to help readers successfully read new text.  Shared reading also allows us to help students learn strategies to help them monitor and self-correct as they read.  It can help with strategies for improving fluency as well.   
  • Support Word Study and Word Explorations:  As young readers develop the knowledge to utilize more visual information, shared reading can help them look at words in new ways.  Moving from using known words, beginning sounds, checking endings, using more efficient chunks, and looking through words, toward flexible utilization of visual information in reading can be supported in this context.  Word explorations and word study work can also be discussed in shared reading opportunities.  
  • Grow Comprehension Conversations:  Of course, reading is always about meaning.  Understanding the author's message is essential.  Continued comprehension conversations can be developed through shared reading.  Comprehension strategies such as connecting, predicting, inferring, synthesizing, determining importance, and visualizing can be taught through careful text selection in shared reading.  
  • Foster a Love of Reading:  Yes, this one maybe should have been first!  There's something enjoyable about shared reading.  Chiming in together as words flow with ease from our mouths and pour gently into our ears.  These rhythms, patterns, words, and stories shared together, often quickly find their way into our story telling and writing.  Being able to revisit our shared reading titles independently in other parts of our day can help students to grow in independence.  
Considerations for Shared Reading:
  • Shared reading can occur with an entire classroom community or a small group.
  • Choose texts that are just above where students can read independently, but will allow readers to successfully revisit these texts independently at a later date.
  • Texts selected need to have the characteristics of the texts students will be reading independently. 
  • Choose shared reading texts that fit student need and work toward your focus of instruction.  
  • Have shared texts available for independent reading opportunities.
The possibilities for shared reading have certainly changed in our digital age.  No longer are big books our only option.  Digital texts, picture books, magazine articles, poems, songs, and so much more can now be used for shared reading.  This shared experience provides a high level of support for helping our readers take next steps.  By having individual copies (or links) to shared texts, students can continue to revisit their favorites for continued practice and enjoyment.  No matter the grade level or time of year, shared reading is a strong first step in learning together.  

If you have favorite books or thoughts about shared reading, I hope you'll stop by to leave a comment and join the conversation.

Be sure to visit Elizabeth Moore's Post:  What is Shared Reading? for more information about shared reading.  You'll find this article and a few other links about shared reading here:  

Follow Cathy's board Shared Reading on Pinterest.

Monday, September 7, 2015

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

Posted by Amazing People, on 5:16 AM
Yesterday I was invited to a friend's house as her family gathered to make dolmades (grape leaves).  For years I have wanted to make dolmades for our family.  My husband and oldest daughter love dolmades as well as many other Greek and Lebanese dishes, but trying to make dolmades on my own seemed a bit overwhelming.  For weeks I have looked forward to joining my friend's family as they make this traditional family dish.  Each year they gather on Labor Day weekend to make hundreds of dolmades to have across the winter months.  

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

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

To help students get back into their routines of reading and writing, shared experience is a powerful tool for the first days of school.  Opening a book for shared reading, writing together, or creating a post for a class blog together can help students get back to what they know, grow in understanding, and build common knowledge/language for future learning.  For our youngest of literacy learners, shared experience can remind students how to orient to the page, use concepts of print, and think about the story.  For older literacy learners, shared experience can help students to reach in reading and writing.  Some benefits of shared experience:
  • Builds Community:  shared experience allows groups to talk together and share common experiences that can be foundational in the first days of school
  • Creates a Safe Environment:  in shared experience students can try things that might be hard for them to do alone and share success with peers
  • Grows Common Language:  shared experiences provides opportunities to begin to grow and share common language around learning the community will use across the year
  • Develops the Sounds of Language:  shared reading and writing can help students get to know the sounds and rhythms of words as well as build vocabulary
  • Reinforces Known:  shared experience can help students get back to what they know (in youngest literacy learners this might be reminding students of 1:1, using known to monitor, using pictures to help solve with meaning, etc.)
  • Nudges Forward:  shared experience can be use to subtly introduce a new idea within this context of high support
In the first days of school (and across the year), students can benefit from shared experience.  There is safety - and new opportunity - in doing something together.  As the dolmades simmered in the pan, I was reminded of the power of shared experience.  I had learned a lot in the day that would help me when I went to make dolmades on my own.  The task no longer seemed out of my reach.  The shared experience helped me to feel comfortable in this new task.  Shared experience makes new things possible.  This week as I step back into classrooms, my experience in the kitchen will remind me of the power of shared experience in learning.  
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