These titles are not new, but it takes me awhile to get through my professional TBR pile as I prefer to go slow and focus on fewer titles. Do you!
Literacy as Liberation, Visible Learning for Literacy, and Cultivating Genius
Literacy is Liberation by Dr. Kimberly Parker
First, I am so excited to read Literacy is Liberation. Dr. Parker and I know each other through the Book Love Foundation, of which we were both grant recipients. She is such a thought leader in our discipline. We agree that literacy is about social justice–I can’t wait for her to push me on how to enact that justice.
Cultivating Genius by Dr. Gholdy Muhammad
I purchased this book in 2020 (ack! I know!) and now there’s a companion text out called Unearthing Joy. Excited to read both of these because I love a framework that celebrates students assets, agency, and joy. These are what I’m building my teaching around next year (stay tuned).
Visible Learning for Literacy by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Okay, I know these authors have written tons of books and this is an oldie, but I still want to read this aggregation of literacy research. I’m always looking for touchpoints as well as reminders of what works.
Professional Reading for Teachers
Looking for something else? Check out my full bookshelf here.
I always set goals for myself to read more actual research, but I rarely follow through. In this post, I’ll share some research from 2020 and later on independent reading that I actually read. Yay!
What comes first–print exposure or reading skills?
van Bergen, E., Vasalampi, K., & Torppa, M. (2021). How Are Practice and Performance Related? Development of Reading from Age 5 to 15. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(3), 415–434. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrq.309
This longitudinal study asks the age-old question: are “good” readers successful early on because they have the skills that make reading easy/enjoyable or are they successful because they had a lot of exposure to books? Secondarily, what does that mean for older kids? Here are the key takeaways:
Their results agreed with the “Matthew effect”–essentially that early readers get exponentially better (i.e. “the rich get richer”). This is why early intervention is so important.
In middle school, students’ skills were positively influenced by reading material of interest (greater print exposure), but the absence of feedback in independent reading limited its possible positive impact.
More research needs to be done–nothing they found was causal.
Print exposure and reading skills have a reciprocal relationship that slightly favors reading skills at this time.
This study makes me think about how tough it is to help high school readers. If you’ve had a lifetime of disinterest and not gotten the skills you need, why would you invest now? It’s like deciding to go pro in a sport but you never played it growing up. It feels way too late. This is why I think high school students need special attention to interest and also direct skills instruction. They are way too intertwined.
Can literacy clubs boost reading?
TICHENORq, M., PIECHURA, K., DIEDRICHS, R., & HEINS, E. (2020). Building a Culture of Independent Reading through Literacy Clubs. Reading Improvement, 57(1), 11–15.
In this study, small groups of upper elementary students were paired with pre-service teachers to read books.
One group was a “lunch bunch,” where the pre-service teachers would read to the students while they ate and then discuss the book. The students were of “average” reading ability. Books were chosen from awards lists. The students were surveyed and found the experience positive and wanted to continue it.
The boys’ book club was for boys labeled “at-risk” in reading. Also meeting during lunch, the students chose books that were of interest to them and that the pre-service teacher could access. This group increased its classroom and standardized reading scores, as well as the volume and rate of their independent reading.
The third club was a STEAM club that met after school. The students each chose their own books on the topic and shared them with classmates, which often led to informal recommendations. This group increased its standardized test scores and read more complex books independently.
This study was not done at the secondary level and listed no limitations, so take it for what it’s worth.
Should teachers use independent reading in the classroom?
Brannan, L. R., Johnson, R. B., Giles, R. M., & Kent, A. M. (2020). The Beliefs and Practices of Second Grade Teachers Who Implement Independent Reading and Its Effect on Students’ Reading Achievement and Reading Volume. Language and Literacy Spectrum, 30(1).
In this mixed-method study, the researchers were trying to square the idea that independent reading isn’t research-based or effective, as has been stated in other studies.
They examined 6 second-grade teachers and found all the ones who met their definition of “highly effective” to use independent reading, but the result was not statistically significant, as it was too small of a sample size and not randomized.
The teachers emphasized quantity and quality of independent reading, often linking it to classroom reading. They used some method of accountability with the students.
During conferences, they used student data, asked open-ended questions, assessed students, helped them set goals, taught them new strategies, and took advantage of teachable moments.
The classrooms were not silent. Students engaged in partner reading and discussion during independent reading time.
This study makes me think about the absolute intentionality that must go into independent reading, and that we cannot just assume it’s working for all students because it possibly worked for us.
Is independent reading important for gifted students?
Churchill, S. (2020). Left to Chance: Gifted Students and Independent Reading. Knowledge Quest, 48(5), 24–31.
In this case study, a librarian-researcher looked at how to support the reading of gifted students, whose needs may be neglected in favor of more disruptive or blatantly “needier” students. She interviewed 11 students, so again, this is a small sample. Recommendations included
facilitating peer groups to increase motivation
engage in reading conferences but do overdo the accountability measures (students who read A LOT may find this way more laborious than slower readers).
stretch them with new titles, classics, a wide variety of genres. They may gravitate toward fantasy and science fiction, so deepen your own resources for those titles.
not chaining them to reading levels (can only read “advanced” books). There is a point at which book levels becomes truly meaningless.
protect reading time in class.
attending specifically to the needs of male readers, who are less motivated to read, no matter their “level”
This study echoes many of my own recommendations for advanced students in my Creating Readers Workshop, but I like the reminders to keep things social, approach some expectations differently, and to attend to male readers.
How do you create readers?
I have a straightforward process I use to create readers of every student. This short workshop will be opening up soon, so if you’re ready to create readers in a research-backed way, join me. Check out the details and join the waitlist.
There are lots of positive thoughts students have about reading independently, but this post is about the negative ones, why they’re valid, and how we as teachers can respond. You can see an Instagram live version of this post here.
What Students Think About Reading Independently
Here are some of the most common thoughts I hear students say.
1. I’m being forced to do this.
Teachers tell students it’s “choice reading” or “independent reading,” but the book is the only thing they are allowed to choose, and usually with parameters. They’re not wrong that they are forced, but that word certainly doesn’t help them reap any possible benefits.
2. No one does this.
What they might mean is that they never see any of their friends or family read (nor do they read). And that might be true. Even if they are readers, they probably never time themselves to read for just 10 minutes in a room full of 30 people doing the same thing. That’s not how most readers read either.
3. I’m bad at this. I must be doing it wrong.
Students collect evidence from their teachers’ corrections that they are “doing reading wrong” or that they are bad at it. When they get those labels year after year, it’s no wonder they think being “bad at reading” is a fixed trait, not a by-product of consistently not being included in the reading done in school.
4. Ten minutes a day isn’t going to suddenly make me a better reader.
Teachers often try to reason with students, explaining research about the thirty-million word gap to get students to read. Even if students buy into the now-suspect study, it doesn’t take a researcher to see that 10 minutes a day isn’t going to come close to closing that gap. If students don’t buy into the study (as they shouldn’t), it still begs the question–isn’t there something a teacher can do to help me read better? If the secret was just books this whole time, why is English Language Arts even a subject?
5. The teacher doesn’t trust me.
Students have to fill out all this paperwork to prove that they read–the thing teachers wanted them to do. If teachers thought that reading was that great, they wouldn’t need to double-check. They would trust the books and the reader to just do it.
6. The teacher just wants me to be quiet.
The first ten minutes of class are reserved for everyone sitting still and not talking. If the teacher is only offering admonishments to be quiet and read, a student may wonder if the teacher is just looking for some peace and compliance.
7. This isn’t important.
They might think this if, after reading time, the class goes on to something else–a whole separate unit–and the reading doesn’t come up at all. If it were really important, it would be the main thing. Again, this is a thought I can totally understand.
8. Reading is boring.
In school, we certainly have a lot of ways to make something boring, but I also believe that boring is a mindset. If you expect something to be boring, you will often find that it is. Other people have a different mindset–they find the exact same thing fascinating.
Using a Thought Ladder
You cannot argue someone out of a thought. They must decide to choose a different one for themselves, and they often need evidence and support to make that shift. One of my favorite personal tools for this is a thought ladder.
A thought ladder comes out of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Sometimes, when we identify a thought that is no longer helping us, making the jump to the exact opposite creates too much cognitive dissonance for our brains. If a student tries to go from “I’m bad at reading” to “I’m an awesome reader,” their brain will come at them with a dump truck full of past memories of why they are not-so-awesome.
Instead, we start small, like climbing up one rung of a ladder.
Observing One’s Thoughts
Here’s an example.
A student is maybe thinking that they are forced to read.
A teacher can mirror back to them, “So you keep thinking you are being forced to read.”
This phrase, “you keep thinking” or “I keep thinking” is the first rung up on the ladder. It creates just a sliver of distance between the thought (which sounds like a fact) and the fact that it is a thought. Now the student can observe what they “keep thinking” and decide if they want to keep thinking it.
Thinking Neutral Thoughts
Next is often a neutral thought, which is an actual fact: “Part of class everyday is for reading.” This is true. It removes the connotation of “forced to read.” Also, no one is forced to read. A student can always not do it; they just might not like the consequences (if the teacher includes some).
If going to a neutral thought is too big of a jump, because the student may be really angry about reading, you can try this thought with them: “What I’m asked to do in class is not what I want to do.” Again, can’t argue here, but we are taking out the force.
Entertaining Positive Thoughts
After the student seems to accept the neutral thought (which may take a week or more), a teacher can inch the student toward a more positive thought: “The part of class used for reading could be beneficial.” The phrase “could be” makes it easier to accept. It’s not for sure. It just could be.
Once the student has secured a few reading times that were actually beneficial or enjoyable, you could help them practice the thought that “Reading benefits me.” Again, not saying always. There are times I read and remember nothing (no benefit!), but certainly a better mindset to approach the time than being force to do it.
Creating Lifelong Readers
Perhaps the most important thought we want our students to think is “I am a reader.” This represents an identity shift. With this thought, many of the thoughts above will dissipate.
The thought ladder I use to get students there is a key part of my upcoming Creating Readers Workshop. This is my last call to join the waitlist. Details are coming soon!
Have you seen those Instagram vs. reality videos and memes?
Photos by Geraldine West
This is like that for how educelebs say independent reading should look versus how it actually looks. I am having a little fun with this post, but I really do appreciate an aspirational lens and am inspired by people who capture these perfect moments in their highlight reels on Instagram. But for anyone who may be seeing their own independent reading program and thinking it lacks or is not good enough because there’s such a gap, this one’s for you. For a video version of this post, check out my Instagram live.
Instagram: All students start and stop reading at the same time.
Your beautiful meditation timer chimes the start of reading time, books open and heads go down for 10 blissful minutes until the chime sounds again.
Reality: the students come wandering in late, take 8 minutes to settle down, and stop early. You hear their books snap shut before the timer goes off.
Instagram: All the students keep perfect lists.
Everyone knows what books they read all year. They can take before and after photos with the stacks of books they’ve read (a smaller stack for last year and a bigger stack for this year). The students even know which books they’ve abandoned. And how many pages they’ve read. Their records are as accurate as an accountant’s.
Reality: they rely on you to remind them what they read and find how many pages it has. They forget the titles and remember just a plot point or the cover. They lose whatever paper where they were keeping track of things.
Instagram: They take books home to read.
They actually check out a book, put it in their backpack, and carve out time to read each day.
Reality: they might shove the book back on “their spot” on your shelf and also keep their class papers in it, leaving your classroom unencumbered each day. When someone else actually checks out “their” book, they are incensed.
Instagram: They read one book at a time.
They read a book from start to finish and then they start a new one.
Reality: They are reading multiple books at once, and one of them is on Wattpad. You have to create a special sheet to track their progress across books and a special page conversion rate for books read on cellphones. You wonder if they really are reading all these books or if it is a “fogging” technique meant to throw you off their trail
Instagram: The shelves look nice and all the books are away in their correct spot–or maybe even in rainbow order.
It doesn’t even look like any books are checked out!
Reality: the books are toppling over where books are missing. You find romance mixed in with horror as the students put the books back in the first open space they find. Even when the shelves are full, the worn books look a little messy.
Instagram: They read at their actual pace.
They completed a ten-minute timed read to find their page rate and are reading that amount of pages consistently.
Reality: you time it out and find that they are not reading for the full time or are reading even slower in the right amount of time. Other kids are reading, like, an obscene amount of pages, like 12,000 in two weeks. They out-read you (and their rate) by a mile.
Instagram: They choose to read a wide variety of books.
The students pick up new kinds of books based on their wandering interests and conversations about books.
Reality: once they finally find something they like, they stick to it. Only through cajoling and multiple invitations do you get them to branch out.
Instagram: They volunteer to talk about their books at length.
They call you over, reread part of the book (that they have also written down in their notebook in some artistic way.
Reality: you ask them how it’s going and they say fine. If you ask a better question, you get the answer to that question and little more.
Instagram: They all love to read.
If you survey the students they say they love to read.
Reality: most say it’s fine or that they only do it for a grade. Some say it’s boring. A few say they hate it.
Before you lose hope…
So this list can leave us feeling depressed, like there’s no hope for creating a beautiful environment of inspired readers, but let’s turn this list inward for a sec.
Do I start and stop reading on time? Absolutely not. Not in class, where I find it hard to read while students are reading. Not at home, where I stop and start again.
Do I keep a perfect list of all the books I’ve read? I have books on my Goodreads list that I have been “reading” for a few years.
Do I take books home to read? No. I have home books and school books.
Which means I also don’t read one book at a time.
Are my books at home organized? Sort of, but they require a reset from time to time, and even so, it takes me awhile to find what I’m looking for.
Do I read at my actual pace? I have no idea, because I would never time myself in that way. That’s a school thing we do to track progress.
Do I choose to read a wide variety of books? Honestly, not as much as I used to. With my current time frames, I focus on the specific genres I need to function. Juicy horror. Informational. Early readers with my daughter.
Do I volunteer to talk about books at length? Every once in a while when I want to make an impassioned book recommendation, but not to analyze anything.
Do I love to read? Heck yes I do (but also not all the time. I love lots of activities). And still, even though I show up as reality and not Instagram, my love is no less perfect.
What Happens Next
I’m really excited to dive into independent reading in the classroom in an unconventional way. My independent reading workshop will discuss
Title: 9 Rights for Teachers of Reading to Reclaim
1.The right to not read what your students like.
You hate fantasy? Hate YA? Good for you! Do your research to provide what your students like and build affinity groups of students to recommend books to each other. Then, model what it is to be someone who has unapologetically taken ahold of their literate life and read what you darn well please.
2. The right to donate or throw away (recycle?) books.
I confess to being a book hoarder. Just in case a student would want to read the book someday, but the students never picked up the old books that I knew were good but looked…not so good. Not every book you find should be kept in your classroom library. There is an art to classroom library curation. The library is only as good as the reader’s ability to find anything worth reading.
3. The right to decide how to use independent reading.
When your principal asks what the purpose is, there are lots of other things to show her besides completed worksheets and book projects. You can use it to
transfer standards to independent practice. It can be assessed through conferences, peer conversations, or student book talks.
build background knowledge. Students make connections to what the whole class is working on during a whole-class activity.
develop social emotional behavioral health. Use it as a brain break or transition to class activity. Take the time to check in with students and make connections to the character’s emotional journey in their books.
use it as an extension activity. Pull small groups of students who don’t want to read to engage with you in a way that will help them open up to the possibility of reading. Let the students who already love it just enjoy it.
4. The right to trust the process.
Let go of trying to control other people through compliance measures. You don’t have to take off points for kids’ pages (or lack thereof), bathroom breaks, talking, or fake reading. You can observe what’s happening and lay down more invitations. Check out my suggestions for motivating students.
5. The right to include independent reading your own way.
Lots of edu-celebs (and randoms like me) have opinions about how you need to do independent reading for it to be “good.” You may have internalized some of these opinions and then shamed yourself when they didn’t work or you were inconsistent. You don’t have to do book talks or First Chapter Fridays. It can be loud during “Silent Sustained Reading.” You can take days off. You can start or end class with it. Like your reason for what you’re doing and refuse to beat yourself up if it’s imperfect.
6. The right to put the right book in the hands of the kid who asks for it.
Gentle Reading Teacher, use your miraculous combination of book knowledge, past experience, and deep knowledge of that student in particular to create magic, one book at a time. This is relationship building at its finest.
7. The right to feel however you feel about states legislating against these rights.
Angry. Depressed. Frustrated. Anything. Or nothing. Whatever your feelings, they are valuable information.
8. The right to choose how to respond to state legislation.
You can sit with, numb, repress, or react in any way you choose. We are all responsible for how we decide to act in response to our emotions. While the legislation may feel (and is) restrictive, there are still so many choices (even if you don’t like them, and it’s okay not to like them). Teachers will make different choices in reaction to the legislation, and that’s okay too. You can
Quit teaching
Close your classroom library
Just keep doing what you’re doing
Raise funds to pay fines for you and other teachers
Hide unmarked books all over your school
Redistribute your library to free little libraries around your town
Let students read on their phones and bring in their own books
Have students write and read each other’s writing instead of published books
Get newspaper and magazine subscriptions
Hire a lawyer and exploit loopholes
Teach more historical documents and speeches from the public record
Use juxtaposition and lens work as employed by the #disrupttexts movement
When reading a longer whole-class text, amplify the parts that emphasize race or sexuality (spoiler: they exist in every single book ever). Let the students notice and name it.
Sponsor an anti-censorship club. Let the students lead.
Do your civic duty: sign petitions, call your legislators, participate in protests, walkouts and boycotts
Use your radical imagination
Want to Learn More?
If you are feeling more passionate about independent reading than ever, but want support in your next steps, I’ll be sharing details soon about a workshop on independent reading. To be the first to know, join the waitlist.
We all studied motivation for at least a nanosecond in our teacher training programs. I remember them focusing on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. When finding ways to motivate students to read, we tend to focus on extrinsic. Positive reinforcement, like sticker charts, raffles, and prizes. Negative reinforcement, like losing points for not reading (or not reading enough). The studies always said that intrinsic motivation was better, but how can we impact that?
For an Instagram live version of this post, go here.
4 Unusual Ways to Motivate Students to Read
How to Encourage Students to Read for Pleasure
Many ways to motivate students to read involve increasing the pleasure!
Make reading at home a date. Tell a student to take a book on a date for 10 minutes that night. The next day, if the date was bad, they can break up and go on another date. This lighthearted approach makes the reading feel temporary and nonthreatening. You don’t have to fall in love with the book (though we teachers dare to hope!). If the date is a flop, no big deal. There are plenty of fish in the sea (or books in the library).
Read them the first paragraph of a book that starts right in the action. These homerun books (with a teaser that’s cut short) will suck a student in, luring them back to the page once they get home.
Use positive peer pressure. Partner two students to read the same book. If they enjoy chatting with each other about the book or reading together during class, they can read at night so they can stay on the same page.
How Can Teachers Motivate Students to Read?
Besides those extrinsic-become-intrinsic approaches, I like to use a thought ladder. This cognitive behavioral therapy and life coaching tool works well when students can’t make the jump from “I hate reading!” to “I love reading!”
People don’t change overnight. Think of something you don’t like doing. How long do you think it would take you to love it?
Here is the process I use for students opposed to read. First, I want them to entertain the possibility that maybe there is a book they will like. This is the first rung on the ladder. Through the dating process above, the student tries a lot of books until they find one that maybe they like.
Once they find a book that they are willing to say they like, we move on to “I really like X kind of book.” To identify with something, you need to have your own tastes and preferences. This is ownership. Most opposed students spend the bulk of the year getting to this place, where they have an established areas of interest.
How to Motivate Students to Read Books They Don’t Want to Read
Many motivated students become unmotivated when asked to read outside their preferences. These students must climb another rung on the thought ladder: “I’m willing to try something new.” This is an important rung, as we all must read something we don’t want to read from time to time (a tax form, a jury summons, etc.). Being able to summon up this thought to confront the discomfort of something unfamiliar or unchosen is important too.
Motivation is a funny thing. People want to work out and eat healthy, but they don’t always follow through. Students may know reading is good for them, may even like (or love) it, and still not do it at home.
Why the disconnect?
First, their priorities may already be in the proper order. They may be choosing family, friends, extra curriculars, other homework, or working over reading. If they are secure in the order of their priorities, then they are following their own intentions. Honestly, this is what I do. After my child has gone to bed and I’ve connected with my partner, there is just a little time left for my own reading.
With these students, I like to validate what’s important to them. Then we talk about time. Usually there are a few quiet moments before bed that are the perfect time to read.
For other students, systemic barriers are the reason they don’t read, not motivation. I have students who work full time overnight and go to school all day. I want them sleeping every second they’re not in either place.
For a third group of students, it’s a beautiful learning opportunity. From firsthand experience, I know that habit change and formation is difficult. This is a student’s chance to muck around in the process with an experienced and vulnerable mentor.
Want to Learn More?
I’ll be sharing details soon about a workshop on independent reading. To be the first to know, join the waitlist.
If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet and aren’t sure where to start, you’ll get the basics from this post and somethings you can do with ChatGPT today to make lesson planning easier.
Chat GPT: What is it?
I am going to put this in super non-technical terms. I am not an expert, but I’ll give you enough for a basic idea. ChatGPT is a chatbot (a robot that can chat). You may have seen them before on website customer service pages and in Facebook Messenger ads. What’s special about ChatGPT is that it synthesizes the entire internet (from 2021 and earlier) to answer complex questions. Because this synthesis is delivered to you without sources, beware of copyright infringement.
Also, it’s still very much in a test version, so how many people can use it at a time is limited. I actually tried for a month before I could get logged in. You have to make an account, which I don’t like doing, but it does save all your chats, which is nice. If you want more detail, Angela Watson at Truth for Teachers has a great guide/blog post/podcast about how it can be used to reduce teacher workload.
Text: If ChatGPT is cheating, goodbye Google. Seriously though, no one gets ideas in a vacuum. We’ve all googled or talked to colleagues. With ChatGPT, your brain is still deciding what to ask and how to use it. You don’t need permission to make your life easier.
What to Ask ChatGPT
Angela’s podcast warns that you often have to ask a question and then rewrite it to get what you want, but I got what I wanted on the first try for the most part (#englishteacherskills). Sometimes I asked it one thing and then another so I would get two versions of something. You’ll see in my examples below using prompts that contained
a request for a specific number of answers or a specific length of answer
terms that I knew ChatGPT could find on the internet and apply
specific texts available on the internet (or I pasted in the text if I wanted it to focus on a specific part)
I focused on how ChatGPT for teachers could do certain parts of my four-move literacy lesson plan for me. The results would save me time as a teacher. I can definitely see myself taking what it gives and improving upon it in the classroom. It’s like a made-to-order curriculum, and with my added expertise, it could be so powerful.
Graphic of what to include in a ChatGPT prompt: result amount or length, technical terms, text title or pasted in text, and ready to rewrite as needed.
1. Anticipating Challenges
I will still swear by reading the text yourself, but ChatGPT can be a helpful tool in sifting through all the different challenges a text presents to help you decide which challenges to teach.
Vocabulary
I get overwhelmed pretty quickly when picking words for us to learn as a class, so I asked ChatGPT about it (see prompt below). The answer was great, but I will keep playing around with asking for an amount and type of word (maybe academic vocabulary next) in a particular text. I can also paste in a shorter text for it to analyze if it isn’t indexed on the web.
Image of output for the question: What are the 10 most frequently occurring tier-2 words in A Raisin in the Sun?
Background Knowledge
I also hoped that ChatGPT could help me uncover blind spots in the background knowledge that I taught. By asking it about the background knowledge needed for a particular text, ChatGPT could remind me of anything I may be forgetting.
Image of output for the question: What background knowledge do students need to read Romeo and Juliet?
Structure
I thought structure might be more difficult for ChatGPT, but check out this amazing result. Again, it gave me things I could find and notice for myself, but now I can move past finding them to focus on instructional planning.
Image of output for the question: What is complex about the structure of A Raisin in the Sun?
Theme
For theme complexities, I went with one that I needed help with last fall (better luck next fall!). I will say that this is a great start, but I would have to use my expertise. Introducing the theme with an entire novel, as #2 suggests, is something I would never do, as it would introduce a ton of extraneous detail. However, I could use this for generating new ideas to launch units and springboard from there.
Image of output for the question: Name five ways to introduce the theme of belonging to high school English Learners.
2. Every Student Reads
I also used ChatGPT to help me generate ideas for ways to read something, since I tend to get stuck in the same old ruts.
Image of output for the question: Name five ways a class could read a poem.
3. Every Student Discusses
Due to time constraints, I struggle to make daily text-dependent questions consistently well. In this example, I asked for a certain number of questions about a certain text. I would probably want more specific results in the future. For example, I could ask for questions about part of the text that I pasted in and have them be about certain topics that matched the standard focus of the lesson.
Image of output for the question: Write ten text-dependent questions to go with the Odysseus and Cyclops scene of The Odyssey.
4. Every Student Writes
In addition to daily discussion questions, I need writing prompts that are specific to a text and align to the standard I want to teach.
Image of output for the question: Write a prompt for CCSS RL.9-10.2 for “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan.
My grade team used “Fish Cheeks” for an assessment in the fall, and we could’ve used something like this as our first draft. Once ChatGPT generated this general version, I asked it for a version I could give to my level 2 English Learners. This could have helped me make sure my class aligned with the general classes. I specified the English Learner level because of the wide difference between a level 1 and a level 5. The more specific I am, the better results I will get.
Image of output for the question: Rewrite the prompt for Level 2 English Learners.
What are the 10 most frequently occurring tier-2 words in A Raisin in the Sun?
What background knowledge do students need to read Romeo and Juliet?
What is complex about the structure of A Raisin in the Sun?
Name five ways to introduce the theme of belonging to high school English Learners.
Name five ways a class could read a poem.
Write ten text-dependent questions to go with the Odysseus and Cyclops scene of The Odyssey.
Write a prompt for CCSS RL.9-10.2 for “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan.
Rewrite the prompt for Level 2 English Learners.
Applying these prompts in ChatGPT for teachers will make lesson planning with the four moves even more of a breeze. If you haven’t gotten your copy of the four moves every literacy lesson plan needs yet, get it for FREE today.
Image of the template for the four moves every literacy lesson plan needs
As I get sucked into the day-to-day of teaching, I can lose sight of the big picture–and so can my students. That’s why taking time to breathe, reflect, and dream are so important for me to do with my students. Finding activities that help us pause makes sure we focus on what’s most important. A reading and writing portfolio is good for this because the students can see their own growth, we can connect over it, and I’m ready for parent-family conferences all in one go. More frequently used in elementary schools, reading and writing portfolios are powerful for any high school ELA classroom–assuming you avoid the classic pitfalls.
Blog title: Joyful Reflections with a Reading and Writing Portfolio
Fail-Proofing Portfolios
Reading and writing portfolios have been in use for a long time. I’m pretty sure I stapled some things together for my teachers when I was in high school. That was just it, though. It became an exercise in rewarding kids who could keep track of their papers.
Instead, I design fail-proof portfolios using the following criteria.
Create a flood of opportunities. Because the four moves every literacy lesson plan needs for soaring reading growth happen everyday, there is not a kid who is too absent to do the portfolio. They may not have as many artifacts to choose from, but that is valuable information for them to reflect on too. It can really help them see how much school they’ve missed.
Use a consistent, accessible submission routine. No more lost artifacts! For some classrooms, this is electronic submission. You can also use notebooks or binders that students leave in the room. This works better in my sheltered class for English Learners, or other groups that may need support in executive functioning.
Make submission mandatory. I have grade what students have done on the due date, whether or not they are done. When time’s up, time’s up. Done is better than perfect, and not finishing is an excellent thing to notice and discuss in a portfolio.
Quote: The point of reading and writing portfolios is not compliance; it is connection.
Using a Reading and Writing Inventory To Gather Artifacts
With the fail-proof criteria in place, I collect the cornerstone work of my class, which may or may not be the same as yours. Choose what you know you can collect in light of the above criteria.
Timed writing sample. We do a timed writing almost everyday, so everyone has at least one to choose.
Extended writing project. This is typically done as culminating project to practice a longer writing process. Again, even if students don’t finish, they can discuss what they did do and what they want to do differently next time in order to finish.
Close reading samples. Typically, these are annotations on short literature and nonfiction texts. These can be done online, collected the day they are done, or kept in each student’s classroom binder or notebook.
The book that really got me starting with joyful reading and writing portfolios is Maja Wilson’s Reimagining Writing Assessment.
Wilson’s major premise is that having students tell the story of writing whatever they wrote is a much richer way to inform assessment. It gets beyond applying simple grades to holistic work that is inherently multi-faceted and contextual. Essentially, her questions that she suggests have you ask students about the work from start to finish, how it emerged and developed over time, and finally what students would do if they had more time to work on the piece. This brings closure to the assignment, given the fact that it is now “done” (in that there is no more time to work on it as any piece of writing is truly never done).
I ask very similar questions, which she intended for extended writing projects, to reading and timed writing as well, because learning is a narrative act. Additionally, I ask students to mark where in the work they meet our standards, because I think that is a key act of reflection, to see one’s work clearly.
Finally, in later grading periods, I ask about growth. I have students compare their work with that in earlier portfolios. This tells yet another story–between learning tasks rather than just within. It also makes space for the fact that the learning may or may not be linear, as any story may be told.
Making Joyful Reading and Writing Project Videos
There are loads of ways to submit portfolio artifacts and answers to reflective questions. Simple online or handwritten responses will do, and I’ve even done a fairly complex website version, but the most joyful way is through a conversation. There’s nothing like the back-and-forth of an actual dialogue.
Students sit beside me with a slide presentation based on a template I give them. If they have physical papers, they can put just the answers to questions on the presentation and show physical papers to me or upload pictures of physical papers.
Depending on your numbers and timeline, you may not be able to meet with each student individually. That’s where videos come in.
Because students typically dislike being on camera, have them make a screenshare video of their presentation. They can do this using whatever screen services are available in your district. Many districts have an LMS that allows this (for example, Canvas), but I have also used Screencastify and Flip (formerly Flipgrid).
Grading a Reading and Writing Portfolio Assessment
While most teachers agree that developing metacognitive skills in students is important, how to grade those skills can be daunting. I focus on three areas.
Sample rubric for grading timed writing. Evidence marked “E” supports the claim and is introduced and punctuated correctly. Claim marked “C” needs evidence and reasoning to support it. Interpretation of evidence providence insight into student’s experiences, context, or history with writing. Reflection on interpretation: clear sense of strengths and areas needing improvement. Teacher can mark strengths and opportunities for each criteria.
Mastery. I require students to mark evidence of meeting the standards in their artifacts. This helps us ground our work in the priorities, ensuring that we all stay focused on them. It also gives students something specific to reflect about so I don’t have to grade a bunch of vague portfolios. If the students realize they can’t mark something as mastered, I let them change the artifacts and add it. This is a more pragmatic way to invite revision, especially for “one and done” student writers and readers.
Interpretation. This is where the storytelling happens. Students must tell the story of each artifact in a way that helps me understand them better–their experiences, history, and context both during the class and before it started. The point of portfolios is not compliance; it is connection. This is where I learn valuable insights about my students that aren’t stated in their actual work. I learn about them as learners and people, which helps me make deep and meaningful changes to future unit plans.
Reflection. There is a clear distinction for me between interpretation and reflection. Interpretation is the how and why of the work. Reflection is the what next. When students reflect, they celebrate their strengths, and I build future lessons that help them to showcase these strengths in the next unit. They also acknowledge opportunities for growth and explain which ones they want to seize in the next grading period. Again, knowing this helps me customize my unit planning going forward. In later grading periods, I can ask students to look back on these goals–are they seeing any progress?
A Joyful Reading and Writing Portfolio
With a fail-proof, repeatable reading and writing portfolio in mind, I created a resource that will help you connect with students, plan future units, teach metacognition, and have meaningful parent-teacher conferences. This resource can be used at the end of each grading period. Some of the guesswork is taken out of grading metacognition with some simple single-point rubrics. This resource contains a student portfolio (fillable PDF or fillable Google slides) and rubrics for grading all or some of the portfolio pieces (fillable PDF or Google sheets that can be imported to an LMS like Canvas). Enjoy!
Image of Reading and Writing Portfolio Summative Assessment and Rubrics
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Oftentimes at the secondary level, reading is getting meaning from text. Language arts teacher training programs almost exclusively focus on reading comprehension, with maybe a little fluency and vocabulary thrown into the mix. While this may seem to fit the majority of secondary readers, it doesn’t include all of them. It privileges those who have had neurotypical, middle-class, and/or native-English experiences. Those are also the people that teach most of our language arts classes. This becomes a problem when vast privilege in the area of English literacy biases us to assume that the students have and will learn literacy as we did.
Title image. What Reading Means: Do You Really Know?
These domains work together to accelerate reading growth for students. These are bulleted, not numbered, because they do not happen in linear fashion. A student does not need to master foundational skills before they can comprehend. When my daughter was a toddler, she comprehended the stories we read together with few foundational skills. Of course, if her foundational skills were neglected forever, she never would have unlocked delightful summer afternoons reading independently. She wouldn’t have experienced the confidence that comes from controlling your own literacy.
The reading wars were recently reignited, primarily at the elementary level. I am not here for metaphors of violence in education. Reading is such a rich, nuanced experience. We are lucky there are so many domains at our disposal that will connect with students. I’m thankful to the researchers who have examined these domains (though I’m always for more research!).
Foundational Reading Skills Strategies
Foundational skills are about learning the relationship between oral and written language. Children develop an awareness of the alphabet, the sounds (phonemes) represented by that alphabet, how those phonemes translate into written language (graphemes), high-frequency words, which are all put together to create fluency (a fluid, automatic, expressive reading of text). If students haven’t mastered foundational skills before reaching the secondary level, the abstract, multisyllabic words in their classes will prove difficult. I have listened to enough students read passages where they skip every multisyllabic word to know they have “Swiss cheese understanding” at best. I shudder to think what will happen when they must read a jury summons, sign a loan, or vote on a proposition.
By combining engaging texts with clear rules for breaking down multisyllabic words, we can include students who most likely have a reading goal on their IEP emphasizing decoding or fluency (though sometimes these students are not identified for an IEP). Beginning English Learners are also included when working on foundational skills, especially if they speak a language with a very different phonetic system or come from a primarily oral language experience.
Quote from Achieve the Core: “Fluency ability does not have anything to do with intelligence” (30).
On page 30 of Achieve The Core’s report, the authors continue, “In fact, the ability to read fluently resides in a completely different part of the brain; it is like a muscle that can grow stronger when exercised.” I love how this find divides the two. It shows how older students learn foundational skills best alongside grade-level content.
General Education Practices
When introducing key multisyllabic words, preview them aloud and have students say the words back to you. Reinforce the words with reading, discussion, and writing. The more ways students encounter and use the words, the better!
Check for understanding when students are reading. Have them mark words that they want to hear you say aloud (or show them how to use Google Read and Write to hear unknown words aloud). What matters most is that they also say the words aloud or at least go back and reread the words to internalize them.
Have students play with content-rich sentences. Pull important sentences from course reading. Have students divide long sentences into shorter sentences, combine shorter sentences into longer sentences, or turn statements into questions (or vice versa).
Incorporate 3 minutes of fluency practice daily. Mix in reading aloud while students actively follow along, partner read-alouds, choral reading (all read together), or repeated reading. One way to do repeated reading is simply to ask questions that invite students to reread to find the answer.
Make sure your school has a way to systematically identify and teach foundational skills. I love a short-term, adolescent-respectful, research-based curriculum like Rewards.
Ways to Build Background Knowledge
Practicing a skill in isolation (e.g. summarizing, tracking a theme/main idea, questioning) does not transfer to other texts because the knowledge demands are different across texts. Being able to summarize a children’s book will not help a student summarize an unrelated research article. Knowledge matters.
It doesn’t just matter for comprehension; it also increases student motivation. I have seen this firsthand from students who tell me, “We actually learn something in here!” In one study, there were also more substantial results for African-American and Latinx students. This may be because when a class intends to build knowledge, it gives everyone the same funds of knowledge. Without that intentionality, the course defaults to the teacher’s fund of knowledge, which in the U.S., is predominantly white, female, cis-gender, and heterosexual.
Intentionally building knowledge includes students who may or may not have a reading goal on their IEP for fluency and/or comprehension (though sometimes the students are not identified for an IEP but still reveal the need for fluency and/or comprehension development). Most English Learners need intentional knowledge building by their teachers.
Directly teach vocabulary that builds knowledge (specialized or general academic words that will recur in the text set and beyond).
While building common funds of knowledge is one of the great democratic practices of school, so is welcoming and centering students’ personal funds of knowledge. Include authors and experts that represent your student populations. Connect school learning to community, cultural, and/or adolescent experiences.
Read aloud sometimes. Students can access knowledge that they may not be able to read independently yet. You can editorialize to explain difficult concepts if their eyes start to glaze over:)
Provide opportunities for students to read book-length informational texts. This is a concept-builder in and of itself, but the diction of the author can also help students learn academic language used for research and argumentation. Check out my favorite book-length informational texts to share with students.
Relationship Between Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary is the feature of complex text that causes students the most difficulty. In addition to general academic and specialized words that are directly taught, students learn new words in context when they are taught to notice words.
Vocabulary and knowledge are not the same. Knowledge has to do with the wider concepts and background information students would need that may or may not be reduced to discrete terminology. Focus reading around a cluster of texts that builds knowledge rather than hoping everyone in class has they prior knowledge to avoid perpetuating privilege.
Quote from Freed Reading: Vocabulary provides the leverage point for accessing knowledge and transferring it across domains.
Intentional vocabulary support includes everyone in the learning. As students move into more abstract coursework in high school, they will need intentional vocabulary building (almost every class has its own language!). Students especially needing this work may or may not have a reading goal on their IEP for fluency, vocabulary, and/or comprehension. Most English Learners will also be included by this instruction.
Direct instruction on morphology. This is a fancy way of saying playing with how words change. For example, pull out a word that students may know in a different context with a different meaning and have them discuss how that applies to the new context (or how the meaning has shifted). Teach morphemes using word trees. Membean has some beautiful root trees. You could play this Family Feud-style where students must guess words on the tree. I have also had different class periods or groups brainstorm as many as they can in a cooperative/competitive way.
Communal close reading and study of high-value words. This is essentially the same as my FREE four moves every literacy lesson plan needs template. All students read and then all students discuss the reading. Here are some of my favorite question stems for discussion that students could be taught to make for each other.
NEW WORD means DEFINITION. What might the word mean when the author says ________?
PART OF THE NEW WORD (e.g. pre-, -ism, bio-) means DEFINITION. What might NEW WORD mean?
The author writes ________. How might you define NEW WORD?
Importance of Evidence in Writing
Writing is the great solidifier. Because it requires a level of both cognitive and physical output, it helps students retain new vocabulary. Writing invites them back into the text (which builds fluency and comprehension). Finally, writing establishes the students as the authorities on their own reading. There is something official about even the most casual writing tasks. It brings students’ thoughts out of their heads in a somewhat permanent way. They see evidence before their very eyes that they read and can now communicate something meaningful about what they read. I want to heap up these experiences with my students to develop their voices as scholars, thought leaders, and artists. Basically every single student is included in classes that use writing for learning. Students needing writing acceleration may or may not have an IEP. They may be working on fluency, vocabulary, and/or comprehension. Most English Learners will need this support.
In short, students who can write about a subject have retained the foundation, knowledge, and vocabulary to produce in that subject. By bringing those first three accelerators along with writing, students can make significant reading gains.
General Education Practices
Have students write at least weekly if not daily about the text they are reading. It doesn’t have to be long, but writing helps with content retention. Also, the more frequently students write, the more accustomed to it they become, which helps them establish a personal academic voice in writing.
Teach students directly how to find and use evidence. This is the type of writing students should do most frequently to improve reading because it invites rereading and vocabulary internalization. It requires students to make decisions about what is important in the reading.
Have students complete course-related research on subtopics of interest. Assuming students have learned how to use evidence in your course and had ample practice writing shorter tasks, this personalization brings relevance and agency to the content, allowing students to become specialists in areas they may have previously felt did not belong to them.
Reading Comprehension
At the secondary level, “reading comprehension” becomes the catch-all diagnosis for any student that seems to be struggling with reading. Based on what I’ve outlined so far, you probably have a good idea why this is a bad idea.
In order to isolate “reading comprehension” as the actual issue, a teacher would need to be able to rule out foundational skills, background knowledge, and vocabulary gaps as equally culpable. While foundational skills needs are rarer in secondary, the content is so much more abstract that background knowledge or vocabulary could very well be causing the issue, no matter how many comprehension skills (e.g. summarizing, inferring, questioning) a student may be able to perform.
And this makes total sense.
Quote from Achieve the Core: “Reading comprehension is not a thing” (59).
This quote from the Achieve the Core report continues, “it is not a cluster of observable skills. It exists in the reader’s mind. Scientists refer to this existence of comprehension in our mind as ‘representation” (59).
So what does reading comprehension really mean?
Attaining a mental representation of a text. This representation (i.e. reading comprehension) requires
Surface-level understanding. Students must have the foundational skills to accurately recognize and fluently read words before they forget what they just read. They don’t need to be speed-readers. The reading just needs to flow.
Text-based understanding. This includes understanding the text’s overall structure (e.g. play, poem, lab report, speech, equation) as well as understanding how individual sentences and paragraphs work.
A situation model. This is the ability to connect new reading to a reader’s existing knowledge so long as that new learning is relevant and accurate. This doesn’t work when a reader has a different model. For example, if you don’t know what a run means in a baseball article, you may struggle to graft that onto what you know of actual running. This simple concept can get complicated quickly. This is why asking students to make as many connections as they can to a text can actually distract them rather than help, something Nancie Atwell pointed out ages ago in The Reading Zone. Connecting also may force students closer to triggering content than they may want to go.
Assuming that foundational skills, background information, and vocabulary are also being taught as needed, a teacher can teach reading comprehension by teaching the structure of the genre or sentences, as well as how to suppress irrelevant ideas or select relevant ideas. The latter is why writing (accelerator #4) is so important. That is a concrete practice in prioritizing and deprioritizing content. This instruction will yield greater understanding than telling students to practice one skill like inferring. As the Achieve the Core report states, “When that one-skill-at-a-time instructional method reigns supreme, students’ focus will become too narrow to develop a full model of the text” (61). In order to be constructed, the full model will require different types of information and skills.
The Standard of Coherence
Another area of research discussed is the “standard of coherence.” Basically, this is the expectation a reader has that the text will make sense. It will come as no surprise that strong readers have a higher standard of coherence. They expect it to make sense. When it doesn’t, they repair it. This self-fulfilling prophecy may be rooted in privilege (which begets more privilege). When readers don’t have those early wins (or underperform due to stereotype threat), they are less likely to expect the text to make sense. And another self-fulfilling prophecy takes shape.
When students are confused, we often tell them to bootstrap their way to understanding with one or two “reading comprehension skills,” but we have a collective responsibility for reading comprehension. Have we taught them what they need to know to understand the text or allowed pre-existing privilege to determine who will comprehend?
At the secondary level, we could potentially be unpacking more than a decade’s worth of a student’s “evidence that I don’t get it.” The student doesn’t know that this is actually evidence that collective responsibility excluded them. And again, this is where one-skill teaching fails: “Reading for a single purpose rather than understanding and gleaning information from text is a disjointed, incoherent approach, the opposite of what driving for coherence demands” (65).
I totally understand the instinct to pick one skill to reduce cognitive load, but it actually increases the cognitive load because it doesn’t support any other thing happening in the text. I also get that it’s a lot less time-consuming to tell students to do one thing in a school system where teachers’ needs for extended planning time are disregarded and devalued.
Teaching does not have to be complicated. It does need to be intentional. This allows you and your students to see the results of your (and their) hard work. It also releases you from the pressure to do all the things. Do what matters. Do it sustainably.
