Reading Identity – Page 21

being a teacher, Literacy, parents, Reading, Reading Identity

A Parent’s Role in Protecting the Love of Reading

June 4, 2016June 5, 2016 Pernille Ripp

Protect your child's love of reading as you would their health; it is vital for a happy life pernille ripp

I have not hidden the fact that my oldest daughter has been a developing reader for the past 2 years. That something that came so easy for me, has been a fight for her, where the words stammered and stuttered and her frustration grew. But. We just received word from her teacher that she is at grade level as she finishes 1st grade. That all of her (and their) hard work has paid off. That it now is up to us to keep her reading to keep building on the momentum she is on.

Thea is lucky. She has been in a school where they value creating reading experiences above everything else. Where they work with each child at their level and try to keep reading magical. Where each child is given time to read self-chosen books, receive one-to-one or small group instruction, and the emphasis is on reading for fun, not reading for requirement or prizes. As a school, they have said no to so many things we know can harm the love of reading.

Our role as parents has been to uphold the expectations they have created; reading for fun, reading as a natural part of our day, reading as something that becomes part of the conversations we have every day. We have gladly embraced it. We have not had to protect our daughter’s burgeoning love of reading from some of the practices such as reading logs, reading for rewards, AR, or forced daily reading reflections we see around schools, but what if we did? What can we do then?

We can ask questions. I think of all of the well-meaning things I did my first years as a teacher that I thought would help children read more that I now cringe at; reading logs, rewards, book reports and projects, reading reflections every night and so on. No parent ever asked questions because they assumed I knew what I was doing, but the truth is, I was still developing and learning. I did these things because I thought that is what good teachers did. Whenever parents ask questions, it may at first be off-putting, but in the end it always helps me grow. It always offers me a chance for genuine reflection, a chance to re-visit the components that I teach. This is never a bad thing even if it feels that way at first.

We can share the research. These ideas of protecting a love of reading are not just based on momentary whims. Research has shown time and time again how for example external factors such as points, scores, or even food negatively impact a child’s desire to read. (For a great article on reading logs see this). If a school has misguided practices in place, then perhaps they have not seen what is out there that can help them grow? There are nice ways to present research that doesn’t involve chastising other people, especially since it is not always the choice of a teacher to do some of these things, but instead that of a well-meaning district. So share research and don’t be disappointed if it makes no difference, sometimes even the best research only plants a seed that we will not see come to fruition for a long time.

We can lie. I know that sounds terrible, but as far as Thea’s kindergarten reading log, I decided to sign it every night and not show her. She didn’t need to know that she was working toward anything, nor did she need to know that I had to keep track. So I didn’t tell her and I didn’t keep track, instead I rummaged through her backpack every night and simply signed so her teacher could in turn sign off every morning. Thea was a reader but even readers take a night off her and there.

We can say no. No one wants to be THAT parent but sometimes we have to be. Saying no to a school-wide practice such as reading logs or the use of AR can be a daunting task, but we have to remember the bigger picture; protecting a child’s love of reading. In Thea’s first kindergarten class, she was presented with a reading log on the 2nd day of school, all in order to be included in a pizza party. When I asked questions about it, I was told that in later years the reading log would be a part of her grade for reading and that if she didn’t do it, her reading grade would suffer. Her grade! While, at first, this startled me I soon realized that I was fine with that. So be it if her grade was lower because she didn’t participate. Her grade didn’t matter as long as she found reading enjoyable and not something you did to earn something. Sometimes change will not come until parents speak up, so be the voice of reason and if you see something changing your child’s reading habits for the worse, then do something about it. Don’t just expect it to be ok in the end. Protect your child’s love of reading as you would their health; it is vital for a happy life.

We can create our own enjoyable reading experiences. Sometimes we have to be the counterpoint to the environment our children are in. If we know that self-selected books are a major component to creating pleasurable reading experiences then that is what we should strive for. While the parent in me often felt panicked that Thea was not making the necessary gains as a reader, the teacher in me knew that it simply would take time. That forcing her to read more books every night, or even write more about her reading, would only make the experience miserable for her. So keeping reading fun, making it a family event (see this blog post for lots of summer reading experience ideas) and making it a natural part of your day are all choices we can make, whether or not our child’s school believes in it.

We have been so lucky as we look back on Thea’s short reading life. As she switches school this coming school year, I can only hope that it will continue. We may sometimes wonder about the policies that directly influence our children, but we should never feel powerless. As parents, we have a right and a responsibility to protect our child, we must ever forget that.

If you are wondering why there seems to be a common thread to so many of my posts as of late, it is because I am working on two separate literacy books. While the task is daunting and intimidating, it is incredible to once again get to share the phenomenal words of my students as they push me to be a better teacher. Those books will be published in 2017 hopefully, so until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a teacher, books, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, students, students choice

Find Them a Book

April 15, 2016 Pernille Ripp

It was just before school ended that I realized that he hadn’t really read any books. That my feeble attempts at finding just the right book had been just that and that he had successfully managed to mostly fake read throughout the entire year. I remember the feeling of how I had failed, wondering how I could have been so blind. Chalk it up to 120 students. Chalk it up to my first year as a 7th grade teacher. Chalk it up to 45 minutes or to the demands of all the new, but still how could I have let a student slip through my fingers that way? How could a kid fake read in our classroom when my mission is exactly the opposite?

So I wrote a post-it note to myself and taped it to the wall by my computer. Nothing fancy but a stark reminder of what I needed to do the following year. “Find them a book…”

A year later it still hangs there. New tape applied when needed. No fancy script or colors. Yellow, slightly faded, yet so important still. Find them a book, indeed, and then find them another, and another, and another, until one day they no longer need me and they find their own.

I think of this as one student, a self-identified child who dislikes reading, has just finished sharing with me how The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is the best book he has ever read. How nothing will ever compare to that book, but that he will continue searching for one that might, but he might need my help. That he loved that book so much but now is not sure what to read.

So we book shop together and I dig deep for all of the books that he may like. I stack them high and walk away hoping that in that pile he will find a book that will move him forward on this new fragile path. That in that stack he will see glimpses of what it means to be a reader.

Because we may tell our students that they just need to find the right book to fall in love with reading. We may spend hours helping them dig into who they are as a reader. We may put book after book in front of them in the hopes that they will find The One. But it is not just about The One. It is about the one after and the one after that. It is about the many. Because it is in the repetition of falling in love with a book that we fall in love with reading.

So when a child finds their book, we must pay attention, because this is when reading is at its most precarious. This is the moment where they start to see that one great book was not just a fluke, but instead a taste of what is to come. What is waiting for them on our shelves.

So find them a book. Then find them another and another. Fill your classroom and schools with titles that beg to be read. Teach them what to look for and know when to walk away. We may start our journey with reading when we find the first book to fall in love with, but we choose to continue that journey when we find the next one.

This post is a part of the Age of Literacy that ILA encourages all of us to participate in on APril April 14th. How are you a literacy leader? If you are wondering why there seems to be a common thread to so many of my posts as of late, it is because I am working on two separate literacy books. While the task is daunting and intimidating, it is incredible to once again get to share the phenomenal words of my students as they push me to be a better teacher. Those books will be published in 2017 hopefully, so until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity

Reading Conferences With Students Within the 45 Minute English Class; Yes, It’s Possible

April 8, 2016April 19, 2016 Pernille Ripp

Confession time; I am terrible at conferring with my students. This once proud foundation of my elementary classroom is now a crumbling pillar in my 7th grade English class. Call it a victim of the 45 minute I have to teach everything in. A victim of the so much to do. A victim of not quite knowing how to make it productive. Whatever it is, the conferring that I know I should be doing has simply not been getting done.

Yet a few weeks ago, I realized that the one thing I needed the most (besides more time, more books, more knowledge) was the simple conference. The one to one interaction with every single one of my students if even for just a few minutes. Because conferring is the one way I can really reach all students. Is the one way we can connect the best. Is the one way that I can really see what each child needs. Conferring is the best way for me to be a better teacher to all of the needs must of us are faced with. So even within the 45 minute English class, with almost 120 students spread over 5 classes, there had to be a way. There had to be tweaks that could be made to make it work so an experiment began.

So what has worked and what have I discovered?

Reading conferring happens within the first 10 minutes of class. Every day we start with 10 minutes of independent reading. While nothing new, I now am much more purposeful with how I spend the time. So that 10 minutes is a perfect time for me to confer with students., therefore when the bell rings and the timer starts, so does my mission.

That my individual reading conferences focus on reader identity rather than on typical mini-lessons. There is no way for me at the moment to do one-on-one lessons and still make it to all of my students within about 2 weeks. So I instead focus on their reading identity and gather clues for what types of mini-lessons I need to create for small groups. That being said there are exceptions to the rule if I uncover a particular dire situation where a child is then given the full 10 minutes of time. This purpose for the conferences allows me to do quick check-ins and get to more kids.

That within those 10 minutes of independent reading I can shoot for meeting with 3 students. I come to the students, equipped with my binder and pen, ready to ask them questions. By me moving we save time and they can get as much reading time as possible until we meet.

That I need just one question to start every conference. I used to prepare for all of my conferences by coming up with several questions aimed at a specific child. Now every conference starts with, “What are you working on as a reader?” The direction of the conference then is directed by their answer.

That I need a simple system to keep track of notes. I used to take a lot of notes during my conferring but now find the need really just for three different things; my observations, their answers, and next steps. Every student therefore has a sheet with three different conferring boxes on it, each class has its own 1-inch binder for me to keep track and I write down only what I need to better teach the child. That means I am working on writing down only the essentials, in the moment, and still try to think of what to help them with.

So how has it been? Pretty amazing actually. The concentrated 10 minute effort means that I am fully attentive to what the students are saying ant thinking of other things. The short note-taking sheet means that I am ore focused in what I write down as well as what we need to work on next. The students seem to like it because they are getting more attention and still getting reading time. And the things I have uncovered? They are things I would not have uncovered no matter how many reflections I had students do, no matter how many small group lessons I would have conducted.

FullSizeRender (2).jpg

FullSizeRender (1).jpg

So while the 45 minutes of English class will never be ideal, it will never be enough, it will never feel like I can provide each child with the type of learning experience they deserve, it cannot hold us back. It cannot hold me back. And I cannot be the only one that is trying to do this. What has worked for you?

PS: As far as writing conferring, I use the entire class-time when we write meeting one-on-one with students. This has proven to be more effective for the students than doing a mini-lesson for the whole class since their needs are so diverse.

being a teacher, being me, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice

Let My Students Read

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 Pernille Ripp

My friend John Spencer had shared this on Facebook tonight

As I got ready to share the quote myself, the comment below it caught my eye…

“It’s also the job of the school to push children to read books that challenge them and take them out of their comfort zone.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, and Captain Underpants are fine for kids to read and enjoy at home, but teachers should not permit them in the classroom. They provide no educational benefit.”

And I knew I couldn’t stay silent. I knew I had to respond even though I try to not get into it with anyone on Facebook. Even though I didn’t know the commentator and that I might be opening myself up to an argument I don’t feel like having as I wind down on a Sunday night. But when something like that is said, I have to say something back. After all, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, and yes even Captain Underpants all reside in my 7th grade library. Their covers are torn and tattered, they are often replaced. They are loved by many, myself included, and not because they are easy to read, but because they make students fall in love with reading.

So I took a deep breath, pushed my snark aside and wrote this reply…

Not true at all, for some students a book like Diary of A Wimpy Kid is the first time they have felt like they were a reader at school. Our job is not to be gatekeepers of which books students read but instead provide them with successful reading experiences in whichever books they choose so that they will continue to read. Then we can help them stretch into more challenging texts.

But what I really meant to say is that we must not censor.

That we must not think we know better when it comes to what a child needs to read any day.

That instead of judging we should support.

That we must create environments where students choice in books will be celebrated and discussed rather than dismissed and banned.

That it is not our job to be the gatekeepers for our students as Teri Lesene has said so many times.

That if a child is choosing to read books like those mentioned then they have a reason for it, even if that reason is that they do not know what else to read. Our job as teachers is to help them discover why they love the books so much and then expose them to more, just like we would with any book that a child chooses to read.

I speak for the child that this year has read Diary of a Wimpy Kid every chance he got, always turning the page, rereading and laughing every time with joy when he came to beloved sections. He tells me how long he spends reading, how it is his favorite thing to do, how every time he revisits that same old book, he discovers something new.

I speak for the child that never felt like a reader until Dav Pilkey created Captain Underpants and they finally had a character they could relate to.

I speak for the child that has always reverted back to these books until 2 weeks ago when he asked if he could read All American Boys because he had heard it was so good and now is 40 pages in and tells me it is the best book ever. Even if he not quite sure what is going on. Even if we had to go back a few pages and get a few things straight. Diary of a Wimpy Kid may not have been as demanding as All American Boys but those books made him feel safe. Like he could be a reader in our classroom. Like he could be a success story, just like everyone else.

It takes a great book to make a child believe that they too can be a reader and for many of our students that great book has been Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Why anyone would want to take that away from students beats me.

So do not tell me those books do not belong in our classrooms. Do not tell me that my students should not be allowed to read them in school. Do not tell me which books do or do not provide an educational benefit.

If my job as a teacher is to get students to read, then by golly those books, and any other books I can think of, will help me do just that.

I did not become a reader when I could read Huckleberry Finn, I became a reader when I chose to read.

So let our students choose to read. Whatever that may look like. As good teachers we know what to do. We know how to challenge them. How to make them reflect on their journey as readers. How to help them stretch into harder books and protect them when they get too far out of their comfort zone. Let our students fall in love with books so that we can help them discover more books. So that they will leave our classrooms and choose to read, even when they are busy. Even when life gets hard. Even when school is over. Let our students fall in love with reading so that they will choose to be challenged, and not because a teacher forced them to, but because they felt they were ready.

I owe so much to Jeff Kinney, Dav Pilkey and Lincoln Peirce. I think many of us do.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, Student dreams, student driven

I Don’t Read…Thanks

March 22, 2016 Pernille Ripp

Before school starts, my school, Oregon Middle School, does two days of locker drop off giving students a chance to bring their supplies in, try their new lock, and even poke around the building. My first year there, I was at work in my classroom on the first day of this event. The books were all meticulously displayed. Brand new picture books lined our whiteboards. The bean bags were fluffed and ready. Every bin had a specific book faced out. My reading poster for the summer was up and I could not wait to see the reaction of my incoming students. Surely, they would be excited when they saw all of the books waiting for them.

A mother followed by her son came into the room and introduced themselves. He was one of my future students and so I eagerly shook his hand and asked him if he liked to read. As soon as the words left my mouth, his facial expression changed to one of pure disgust. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “I don’t read… thanks.” As if I had offered him a particularly disgusting food item. His mother looked at me and then added, “Yeah, he has not read much the last few years, we are not quite sure what to do.” I plastered a big smile on my face and told her we would work on it together. He did not seem impressed by my eagerness and asked if they could go now.

I left that day wondering once again why I had moved from the incredible oasis that is 5th grade to this new reality of 7th. What on Earth had possessed me to think that I had any chance in reaching 7th graders? That I knew anything about getting 12 year olds to read. There were days my first year that I cried. Feeling so lost in my mission to make kids like school again. There were days where I felt like I failed, that every thing I did made little difference and that surely one of these days those kids I taught would call me out as the fraud that I felt like. But they didn’t. Instead, they seemed to rally around me, around us, as we figured out how to make English a better class for them. As we figured out who we were together, who they were as individuals and how their new identities could involve being readers. I felt the urgency every day to make school better, as do so many of my colleagues, to make reading something worth doing, worth falling in love with. I still do. Even if kids still tell me that they don’t do reading, and good luck convincing them otherwise.

At the end of my first year, I had not changed that boy and his dislike of reading. There was no grand transformation or success story where all of a sudden he read every single night. That is not teaching. Teaching would be so much easier if we could see the influence that the learning may have on a child, but most of the time we don’t. So we can’t expect miracles every day, even if we hope for them, even if we work for them. Because if we do, we will only see ourselves as failures. As though we cannot teach well. Instead, we must hope for small changes that will someday lead to a big transformation.

That boy, he read, once in awhile. He abandoned books, still. He had a million excuses for why he did not have a book that day, but not always. So at the end of the year when he stopped me in the hallway, I would never have guessed the reason why. “Hey, Mrs. Ripp…have you read Gym Candy? It’s kind of mature but I really like it. The librarian found it for me. You should read it.” I stood there not quite believing what my ears had just heard. He recommended a book to me. Not because I asked him to. Not because we were in class. But because within the year we were finishing up he discovered that perhaps he could be a reader after all. That perhaps there were books for him.

So whenever a child tells me they do not read. That books are not for them. That they hate reading, I always think of the little change that perhaps I can help inspire. Of the small steps we can take together. Of how we may not see the transformation but that if we make loving reading an urgent endeavor then perhaps we are planting a seed. And one day, maybe years later, that child will not feel like they have to say “I don’t read…thanks” but will instead bring a book with them wherever they go because they cannot imagine not doing so.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity

They Are Not All Struggling Readers

March 21, 2016March 22, 2016 Pernille Ripp

I think I have finally figured out my hesitance when it comes to the term “Struggling readers.” It is not that we do not have these types of readers in our midst; children where every word read is a victory in itself, where comprehension is a slow, painful discovery. Where we count their success not in books, but in pages. We all have readers who struggle. Yet, for too long, we have declared all of of our under-performing readers to be struggling. We have let a label stop us from seeing the whole child. For too long we have taken this title and applied it to a whole group of students that may not be where they should be. We have labeled our students and then not gone beyond that, instead sticking to the term and everything it encompasses. Yet, this is not enough for the very students we teach, for within this term is a myriad of reasons why the students are not reading. Of why they struggle. Because the truth is they are not all struggling readers. There is so much more to them than that.

Some are resistant. They will fight us every step of the way, not because they can’t read, but because they won’t. They often start as struggling and in that very struggle is where their new identity comes from; reading is hard and so they will use everything they can to not engage in reading. They will abandon book after book because they have long since figured out that if they at least look like they are reading, we will not be quite as worried. They will tell us proudly that they hate reading, offering up the challenge as we start a new year. Being a kid who dislikes reading is not something they are ashamed of and they wear their hatred with pride daring every teacher to change their mind.

Some are lost. They used to love reading but lost that love a few years back. Sometimes through the very choices we have made as teachers, often times through a combination of many factors both within and outside of our control. It is not that they won’t read, they just don’t know how to fall back into it, how to find a great book that will bring them back to the reading fold. How to continue to grow as a reader rather than stand still. How to unslump themselves before their new habits of not reading become a permanent fixture of who they are as a person.

Some are confused. They think they are doing ok but continue to miss the point of the book. They struggle with meaning not because they cannot decode but because their mind for some reason cannot hold all of the information needed to make sense of what they are reading. Some of my most confused readers would tell you they are doing just fine, not because they are trying to trick you but because they truly believe it. They make as much sense as they can and then move on, wondering why others have not understood the book the same way they have. They read, even if reading for pleasure makes little sense to them when it is such a tiring process.

Some consider themselves bad readers. A label they have conjured based on grouping, interventions, or other things that we have used in our classrooms to help them achieve success. Oftentimes how they self-identify becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because if you think you are bad at something, well then you become bad at it. Finding out what is causing them to think this way is a must as we try to help them back to reading.

Some are still a mystery. We cannot seem to crack the code of why reading is hard and sometimes it is because they do not know themselves. Sometimes it is because they have so many things working against them that it is hard to know where they start, and yet, we try every trick in our book and we ask as many questions as we can, trying to help them uncover a better reading identity.

There are more facets to reader identity than these, by no means is this an exhaustive list, because we teach children and children are complicated. So while I wish there was one direction that could guide my instruction, that could help me make all of the decisions I need to make when I support my readers, there isn’t. And pretending there is does nothing to help me prepare. Does nothing to help me create an environment where students have a positive reading experience, no matter their self-identification.

Sure, we could label them all struggling, but it would not be enough to help them, to support them as they have a better reading experience. We must dig deeper into who they are. We must ask questions not just about their reading life, but their reading identity. We must create opportunities where they can re-frame the essence that they carry as a reader. Our instruction must go past that of “struggling reader” and instead see the bigger reason for why they are where they are. While our journey to create passionate reading environments sometimes seems like an uphill battle, we must remember this; all children can have a better relationship with reading, all children can become readers. But they must know themselves first, they must know what helps or hinders, what motivates or what distracts. And so must we. It is too easy to be satisfied be applying one label to a group of kids, but it is not satisfaction we should be after, we should be after understanding, because through understanding we can teach better. We owe it to the kids, whether they struggle or not.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.