We are living in unprecedented times.  

All learners had their education interrupted, especially our youngest readers.

Do we despair, or repair?

To despair is to blame everything.

To repair is to move forward.

Moving forward means considering the context of our current situation and our hopeful future when it’s safer to be together.

What can work, is not absolute.

“… when it comes to reading instruction, absolutes pose more problems than solutions. Most teachers learn early on in their careers that what works with one child does not always work with another. If the path I prefer isn’t successful with a student, my preference becomes irrelevant, and it’s time to seek an alternative that will get the desired results. So I fit the program to the child, not the other way around.” Sam Bommarito*

We need to look at the Science of Reading with a keen eye and an open heart.  Approach reading research with the intention to discover what might crack the case in your circumstance not to confirm a hard and fast reading stance. 

Be a centrist as Sam Bommarito suggests in his article,

“I consider myself a centrist, one who doesn’t fit neatly into a category. I like to follow the research and use what I learn to guide my instruction.” p.21

So, try that, be a centrist, one that looks at all possibilities.

Repairing and perhaps forging new roads as we dive into the reading research together. 

Until Next Time,

Coach Clark

*Article reference: “Argue Less, Talk More: Engaging in productive conversations on social media” September/October 2020 | LITERACY TODAY (p. 20-22)

What? A Sweet Valley High Vocabulary Attainment Reading Strategy!

WOW!

Right! That’s what I thought!

So, I was researching various things when I came across a research article from 1994!

At that time, which is actually still a concern now is how can you get English Language Learners to read more and acquire more vocabulary.

In particular, the subjects were adult ELLs but let’s extrapolate across all ages of ELLs and non ELLs, shall we?

We shall!

The researchers were particulary testing the effects of free reading, which we now call independent reading. They found there were three reasons ELLs were not free reading.

1. Reading was just successful decoding – learning rules and getting feedback from another person – book choice did not matter.
2. Reading needs to be hard – in order to learn
3. Enjoyable reading texts were tough to find.

The researchers decided to test a theory that if their subjects (four adult women, second language students and recent immigrants to the United States) were given enjoyable texts, they would read more and learn more vocabulary.

The full article is here. But this is what they found….

All four women became enthusiastic readers, vocabulary acquisition improved, and although it was not formally tested, their English speaking had noticeably improved.

This study “…supports the value of “narrow” reading – reading texts in only one genre or by only one author-for promoting literacy development. (Krashen, 1985). Narrow reading allows the reader to take full advantage of the knowledge gained in previously read text.”

The researchers noticed that narrow reading often leads to wide reading – other series and other genres.

So, what can we extrapolate?

We should encourage all students to read a series. The commonalities between books will support comprehension and decoding and vocabulary acquisition.

We all remember powering through a series! It did create momentum, anticipation and lessened the decision making of “what will I read next?”

PLUS! It was fun to share books with friends and discuss the story lines. And yes it does increase vocabulary, even ‘made-up’ vocabulary – like quidditch, muggle and horcrux.

So next time, any kid, any age, is having some resistance to reading or struggling for a next read ask them “have you considered a series?”

I was just thinking, you know what would be a good pairing, no not wine, an alphabox or a personal dictionary to collect new words, character names etc. This is optional! If the reader is particularly resistant I never want writing to interfere with reading. Baby steps!!!

Anyway!
Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

Love Coach Clark