Literacy Now

Few books affect my professional life, but Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper, changed my thoughts on inclusive reading and teaching. In the story, Melody is a wheelchair-bound student frustrated by her inability to express herself. When the “world” discovers what Melody is thinking, through an electronic device, the “world” changes. Draper tells the story from Melody’s point of view, challenging (or reminding) every reader to look at life through a different lens.

I did, as did a paraprofessional I work with, Nicole, after she read the book. Nicole works in our school’s version of room “H5.” She worked in my class supporting a student with autism in the afternoon. During the morning, Nicole worked with Diane in H5, also wheelchair-bound, and with no speaking capacity. She’s a fifth grader by age but a preschooler in size. She communicates through a few hand gestures to signal emotions, such as “I’m happy” or “That’s funny,” when not sticking her tongue out at people or untying shoes for attention.

Once, on my regular visits to H5, I noticed Diane sitting on the floor, part of her physical therapy routine. I wondered, If she has to sit up for physical therapy, why couldn’t she sit with our class during a read-aloud so she could have, at least, exposure to reading and interaction with mainstream peers?

Nicole and I put our heads together about what prevents Diane from listening to and thinking about a story. After a discussion with our H5 staff, Nicole began bringing Diane into class for read-alouds, a modest inclusionary step.

When Diane began reading with us, she remained in her wheelchair, which we thought would be inconspicuous. Diane proved us wrong, immediately! Right in the middle of a humorous part, some of the kids giggled, but Diane broke out in a deep laugh. Perhaps she laughed because of the content, perhaps she laughed at the way I read. Neither Nicole, nor me, nor the class, realized she had the capacity to show such expression, let alone over reading a book! (At the time, we were reading Rump by Liesl Shurtliff.) We were awestruck. Reading and listening had that much power? As Diane enjoyed the reading more, the whole class seemed to take deeper interest in the read-aloud.

In time, we started integrating Diane’s physical therapy into our read-aloud by having her join us on the carpet in our reading area. The class sat along the perimeter; Diane sat in the center with a few kiddos around to embrace her as part of the class. This took time and more books (cue Lester Laminack). Diane slapped legs, untied shoes, and “blurted out.” None of us could contain our laughter! Then Diane would laugh and repeat her actions. She would rub her belly or tap her shoulders, an indication of her pleasure. (Of course she was pleased—she’d become the center of attention!)

Nothing humbled me, Nicole, or the students more than Diane’s expression of thanks. Normally, Nicole picked up Diane and placed her back in her wheelchair. However, in assisting Nicole one day in light of her pregnancy, I picked up Diane. I placed her on my hip, like a toddler. Diane threw her arms around my shoulders and laid her head on my shoulder, which startled me. Then, suddenly, she picked her head up and kissed me on the cheek. After I placed Diane in her wheel chair and put on her seatbelt, Diane again gestured how happy she was. I didn’t think a read-aloud would make that much of a difference. Instead, our read-aloud gave Diane a reason to be happy.

Nicole and I knew we made the right choice.

The pièce de résistance came to pass during the waning days of school on RIF (Reading is Fundamental) Day. I strolled Diane out of H5 and assigned a student to read with her. The student read aloud tentatively, as two others scooched in to share the limelight. Nicole ended up reading, with Diane’s eyes transfixed, intensely listening. Within moments, more kids migrated towards Diane with RIF books. Soon, the entire class enveloped Diane as Nicole read aloud without prompting. Total participation. Total acceptance. Staff from H5, the RIF volunteers, and I observed this phenomenon unfold.

Afterward, beyond excited, several students demonstrated a new hand gesture Diane taught them to indicate she wanted a book read to her (rubbing her hands together and opening them, like releasing a dove). The kids felt the blessing of speaking their peers’ enchanting language—communicating with one another about reading.

This year, our reading workshop will be revolutionized by Diane’s full inclusion! Like last year, Diane will join us for read-aloud. In our sharing circles, classmates will be responsible for her well-being and “on-task behavior.” (This means Diane can’t take her shoes off to entertain the class.) Every day, Diane will be assigned a new partner for independent reading. The pair will read picture books (fairy tales and myths) that allow the reader to explain to Diane what the text means and how pictures relate to text. After all, Diane is entitled to the gift and pleasure of reading.

Diane will never know the same freedom we have or hope for all of our readers; it’s unlikely she will ever be able to take on reading alone. Instead, Diane and her peers can share in the gift of reading and the emotional and spiritual gift of sharing time and space together. She enhances our class all together, not because of her disability, but because we learn to enjoy her membership in class and experience the value of reading. This year, we shared in her joy and passion for reading, one that we desire for all readers.

Reading provides a lens to see the world in color. Diane may not speak, but she can think. Through reading, she gets to learn about struggles characters face, compassion, ethical decisions, and love. Diane is able to be a part of a reading community. What we learned about Diane is that she sees the world in color and she learns just like you and I.

I encourage you to consider who you can invite into your daily read-alouds. If books bring the world to us or allow us to escape to another world, shouldn’t every child be allowed this opportunity? Nicole and I will never know what the reading does biologically for Diane. What we do know is how immensely happy she is to be in our classrooms listening, laughing, and learning with her peers and fellow readers.

Justin Stygles is a sixth-grade language arts teacher and IRA Advisory Committee of Teachers (ACT) committee member based in Norway, ME. He also serves as the state’s Maine Reading Association coordinator.

Students communicate and acquire information in new and complex ways. With extraordinary advances in technology and a growing emphasis on creation and innovation, the educational needs of 21st-century learners are constantly evolving. As a result, traditional definitions of reading, writing, and communication are being redefined to include new multimodal literacies. Pedagogical practices are being reinvented as well as reimagined to best support students’ rapidly changing needs. Teacher education programs play a critical role in preparing preservice teachers with the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to integrate these new literacies and digital technologies into instruction.

In order to support students’ ongoing literacy needs, teacher educator programs must create contexts and learning spaces that enable preservice teachers to examine their beliefs regarding use of technology in teaching. Though programs often strive to connect technology and curricular content in practice, they are often challenged to develop instructional pedagogies employing new literacies that can adapt as quickly as technology changes. Programs face numerous barriers to effective preparation in the area of multimodal literacy.

Many preservice teachers enter education programs with deeply held belief systems regarding uses of technology in literacy instruction following their many years as students of conventional teaching practices. Often viewing literacy as a print-bound process, preservice teachers exhibit reluctance in using technology for educational purposes and formal teaching practices. Understanding the predictive powers of self-efficacy and positive attitudes toward technology, programs commonly create stand-alone technology integration courses that model use of multimodal formats and authentic, hands-on learning experiences. Though these courses are designed to show construction of knowledge in the area of technology integration, they are often presented in isolation, unable to demonstrate the importance of incorporation of practice across the curriculum and throughout content areas.

Programs can work to bridge the gap between knowledge and instruction in the area of multimodal literacy and integration of digital technologies. By infusing innovative practices that prioritize exploration of an increasingly textual world across all areas of coursework, teacher education programs can prepare preservice teachers to inspire inquiry and transform learning in their future classrooms.

The following ideas are offered as shifts of practice that teacher education programs can consider in preparing pre-service teachers to integrate multimodal literacies into instruction.

Provide distributed practice

Programs that extend learning past stand-alone technology courses can demonstrate the transformative power of new literacies in learning. By offering meaningful practice with digital technologies throughout all courses of study, teacher education programs provide authentic modeling of multimodal literacy integration across the curriculum. Preservice teachers can be empowered to explore and design their own paths to understanding across contexts and connected experiences. Offered as standards of practice, these infused methodologies have the potential to extend and enhance the learning of preservice teachers and also can serve as frameworks for instruction in their classrooms of the future.

Design collaborative learning spaces

Learning space design can act as a catalyst to support sustainable change in teaching and learning. By reexamining the landscape of the classroom and methods of instruction, teachers education programs can promote engagement and afford opportunities of networked collaboration. New pedagogies focused on student-centered practices and active participation evolve the role of the teacher from distant lecturer to facilitator of learning. Shifting roles of teachers and students can allow everyone to be a part of the exchange of ideas and sharing of knowledge. Together in a technology-supported learning space, everyone can explore as curators and composers of multimodal literacies.

Focus on the verbs

Teacher education programs seeking to prepare preservice teachers for classrooms of the future can positively affect practice by shifting focus from the ever-changing “nouns” of education to the actionable “verbs” of discovery. Empowering students to engage and create and connect and explore can guide real-time instructional decision making in selection of materials and methodologies. Interest-driven projects that prioritize student voice, creativity, and choice of delivery can allow preservice teachers to connect theory to practice in powerful and personalized ways.

Encourage inquiry and investigate the world

By asking students to seek solutions to problems of global significance, teacher education programs can encourage preservice teachers to engage in deep learning through a process of inquiry and investigation. Meaningful topics with profound disciplinary and interdisciplinary bases can provide opportunities for students to think critically. Preservice teachers can use multimodal literacies to examine problems, gather information, and communicate decisions. Through this process of inquiry, preservice teachers can employ digital technologies and move along a continuum of technology integration. The creation of digital artifacts can offer transparency of perspectives and sharing of solutions, and the learning can inspire change that is relevant and significant.

Support self-efficacy through reflection

Dedication of time and thought for discussion can place focus on metacognitive thinking and reflection. Teacher education programs can promote self-efficacy of preservice teachers by encouraging innovation, inspiring curiosity, and providing safe opportunities for taking risks through exploration of ideas. Preservice teachers can be invited to explore together deeply held belief systems and discover ways to weave multimodal literacies into practice to enhance learning and expression of perspectives. Together, teacher education programs and preservice teachers can redefine instructional practices to inspire collective change on their quests to make a difference in classrooms of today and of the future.

Jennifer Williams is the cofounder and lead program developer for Calliope Global. Calliope Global works with schools, universities, and organizations from around the world.

I wrote my first “novel” in third grade for my hero, my teacher Mrs. Kovacs. (May her memory be forever a blessing!) She had read aloud to us from Black Beauty, and I was stoked. There was no turning back. The sound of the text had addled my brain, kept me up at night, and made me swoon. My title was “Thunder: The Story of a Horse” and the colon was my centerpiece, the cornerstone of my masterpiece, the first time I had ever used one. The “book,” if you could call it that, was illustrated by the great Edward Krupman. Well, I should say, great to all those who know him, my uncle, my father's buddy, and my personal great guy. (Prior to “Thunder,” his claim to illustration greatness was drawing Snoopy on the back of a napkin for us nieces and nephews.) 

It was, quite literally, a third-grader's copy of the first chapter of Black Beauty itself (picture a swap-out of all the key names and details; the star horse was now burnished copper rather than black, and the human characters' names were changed, but words like dappled and meadow were laced prodigiously through this triumphant first chapter). I was hooked on Anna Sewell. She lived in my brain. 

Rather than dismiss my tome as a mere imitation, Mrs. Kovacs read my opus voraciously in one sitting (it was around four pages long, stapled together, and that may have included Uncle Ed's cover page). She turned to me and said in a voice rich with delight and awe: “You sure were inspired by Anna Sewell!” Without a hint of accusation, Mrs. Kovacs knew the truth: I had fallen in love with language, thanks to Ms. Sewell.

The profound power of children’s literature is that it teaches us how to live, not just how to read. The stories and information that children read changes them by challenging, nurturing, inspiring, and allowing them to discover and explore the world. Children breathe in the big ideas, people, places, and facts and breathe out their own ideas, theories, and opinions in response. Beyond that, reading great children's books can become a touchstone for how our children communicate themselves to the world through how they master language itself. They can read through the lens of writing and be stunned by the author's craft of language, and then they can do the same to craft their stories so others might know them too.

The reading/writing connection is beyond language. The integration of both enriches and enlivens the world of a child's mind and thinking.

Having a pen and pack of notecards or a notebook or a tablet or any device within arm’s reach can inspire a child's reading life, not bring it down. Model for students during the daily read-aloud how you are inspired by language of our great authors by showing your students how powerfully text affects your writing life. Model jotting a short quote that stands out in the text, or noting a question that you want to go back to and think about at the end of a chapter. In the middle of a read-aloud, do a “Stop and Jot” and then invite students to a one-minute reflection with a partner off their “S and J”s. Have students keep a notebook or tablet for lines or snippets that move them, make them laugh, and inspire them. They can go back to these lines later to use to inspire their own writing. They can study those lines to see the uses of punctuation, white space, and form. Then they can practice these in their own work.

While the feelings and impressions of the story or article are fresh in students’ mind, give them time to unpack and digest with a short free-write or quick talk, structured around the prompts: “I am thinking about…”, “I wonder why...”, “I am interested in...”, “I noticed that...”, “I love how the author...”.

Black Beauty was one of many books that marked my childhood, took my breath away, and made me feel like a writer. I was breathing in language, story, word beauty, and the worlds of my passions for animals and landscapes and I was breathing my first baby steps into the world of language mastery and the joy of a perfectly chosen word (or colon!). I was very fortunate that my teacher Mrs. Kovacs recognized this, and I honor that to this day by sharing with teachers around the United States and the world that children's literature is a great teacher of writing, and more, how to love language and tell the stories that matter most to a child.

Pam Allyn is the founding director of LitWorld, a global literacy initiative serving children across the United States and in more than 60 countries, and LitLife, a cutting-edge consulting group working with schools to enrich best practice teaching methods and building curriculum for reading and writing. She has written more than 20 books, including Your Child’s Writing Life, What To Read When, Best Books for Boys, and Core Ready, and is a spokeswoman for BIC Kids, championing BIC’s 2014 "Fight For Your Write" campaign. She received the 2013 Scholastic Literacy Champion Award for her work both nationally and globally bringing literacy to underserved communities and was chosen as a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow in April 2014, focusing on racial healing and equity and has appeared on NBC News, CNN, and Al Jazeera as a thought leader on equity, standards, and literacy in public education.

Allyn will appear twice Sunday, July 19, at the ILA 2015 Conference in St. Louis, MO, July 18–20. First at “Be Core Ready: 10 Ways to Transform Teaching and Learning for the New Era So We Can Meet the Needs of All Students”, then at “Taming the Wild Text: Cultivating Fearless Readers & Writers.” Visit the ILA 2015 Conference website for more information or to register.

Imagine for a moment you cannot swim, or maybe you don’t have to imagine it because you really can’t swim. Or perhaps you can swim just well enough for a few minutes not to drown. Or maybe your swimming is adequate, but it requires every cell in your body, and when you are done, you can barely move. Now imagine that every single morning someone takes you to a pool and pushes you in.

Think about that pool as the classroom and you are a dyslexic student jumping in every day. Loving parents drop you off and dedicated teachers work hard and still you can barely stay above water. It must be exhausting. Or discouraging. Or both. As that student, reluctant or not, you go and you try and try and you hope that one day it will just click.

This is the stress and anxiety dyslexia can cause in a student. And although it is not possible to simulate exactly what it is like to have dyslexia, it is possible to simulate the anxiety and stress the classroom can create for a student. Here are two abbreviated simulations that can help you begin to understand the experience of a student with dyslexia.

Classroom reading

Envision yourself in a room with 300 of your very judgmental peers. The presenter unexpectedly approaches you with a microphone and a piece of the paper with the following passage on it. She then asks you to read it out loud:

The bottob line it thit it doet exitt, no bitter whit nibe teotle give it (i.e. ttecific leirning ditibility, etc). In fict, iccording to Tilly Thiywitz (2003) itt trevilence it ictuilly one in five children, which it twenty tercent.

As you look at the paper your heart rate will probably increase, your hands might start to tremble, and as you stutter and stammer through the short passage, you notice your peers start to get restless. Then the presenter asks you comprehension questions. Do you get any of the questions right? Did you remember anything you read?

Now realize you probably struggled through a passage for less than one minute. Did this get your heart pumping? Imagine this is what reading is like every single time you attempt it.

Spelling

Let’s not forget about spelling challenges, a major symptom of dyslexia.

You were just given a writing assignment, or perhaps a spelling test. You did your best and wrote the sentence below. When you look around, you notice your peers wrote four times as much as you did in the same amount of time. Then you notice their spellings look different from yours. It took every ounce of your cognitive energy to write this sentence. Now you have to pass that paper to your peer so he or she can grade it or for a peer-editing exercise. Would you be embarrassed? Anxious?

Today mi sun made a penut budder and jelle sanwitch.

Exhausting, right? And that was only about 5 to 10 minutes of your day. Are you ready for another one? Here is a full writing simulation. If you have enough energy left, go ahead and play along.

Kelli Sandman-Hurley is the co-owner of the Dyslexia Training Institute. She received her doctorate in literacy with a specialization in reading and dyslexia from San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. She is a trained special education advocate assisting parents and children through the Individual Education Plan (IEP) and 504 Plan process. Sandman-Hurley is an adjunct professor of reading, literacy coordinator, and a tutor trainer, trained by a fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy and in the Lindamood-Bell, RAVE-O and Wilson Reading Programs. She is the past-president of the San Diego Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, as well as a board member of the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN). She co-created and produced “Dyslexia for a Day: A Simulation of Dyslexia” kit, is a frequent speaker at conferences, and is currently writing Dyslexia: Decoding the System.

Sandman-Hurley will present “Dyslexia for a Day: A Simulation of Dyslexia” Saturday, July 18, at the ILA 2015 Conference in St. Louis, MO, July 18–20. Visit the ILA 2015 Conference website for more information or to register.

If you are a literacy leader, you’ve invariably been part of a meeting in which a group of dedicated but exhausted educators and administrators gather around a table to discuss how to improve reading scores across a grade level, building, or district. The literacy leader is then asked to field the question, “What strategy should we teach kids in order to bring up our reading scores?” They’re looking for the perfect answer—preferably something with a clever acronym that fits nicely on a poster.

There is no one perfect answer. There never is.

I find myself in this meeting time and time again. My response? “It depends.”

A hand slaps the table. “For crying out loud! Stop beating around the bush and just tell us! What’s your favorite strategy?”

I smile politely, trying not to laugh, and think about how my answer must sound to exasperated administrators. The table-slapping principal is clearly frustrated by my lack of specifics. What she and the many administrators in the room want is something that I know requires work. Something much deeper and broader than what they are envisioning.

Administrators aren’t the only education professionals with misconceptions about the use of strategies. About three times a month I get an e-mail like this one: “My principal is coming to observe me, and he/she says we need to focus on literacy. What’s a reading strategy I can use for my observation?”

These conversations provide me with clear insight to the biggest misconception my colleagues have regarding reading instruction. They’re thinking that I will share with them The Strategy that will solve the problems our students face with comprehension of rigorous material. That once they use The Strategy, we will see great gains.

Unfortunately, The Strategy alone won’t raise our test scores, even if we put it on posters in every classroom.

Think about K-W-L. Well known. Effective. In some instances.

Let’s pretend I’m excited to bring a new topic to life with my seventh-grade students. My lesson might start like this:

“OK, fellow historians! Today we’re going to continue digging into America’s past by talking about the French and Indian War. Let’s use a strategy to help us—one you all know—K-W-L! Let’s start with K. What do you know about the French and Indian War?”

Crickets. Silence. Blank looks.

Finally, this: “There were French guys in it? And Indians, right?”

I shift gears.

“Maybe we’ll need to read a bit and gain more knowledge here. But we can still talk about the W. What do you want to know about the French and Indian War?”

Again, crickets.

After an appropriate amount of time has been spent engaging in learning about this pivotal event, I’ll end with this: “Let’s finish up our reading strategy. We talked about both the K and the W in K-W-L. It’s time for the L. What did you learn about the French and Indian War?”

At least one student will say “nothing” or “nothing new.” In reflecting on the lesson, I’ll wonder why I bothered to use a strategy at all. It took up valuable class time and achieved little. The students weren’t better readers when I finished, and they seemed unlikely to use this strategy on their own in the future.

It’s a shame, too, because K-W-L is a great strategy. It just was used in the wrong situation.

Generally, students need to learn strategies to help them engage with a text to gain deep comprehension, or to organize their thinking, or to prepare for class discussion, or to gather new vocabulary. They may need to read critically through a particular lens. Each purpose requires a different type of thinking and analysis. The strategy an adult reader might use in each instance is different. Strong readers perform these strategies without even realizing it, while others need modeling and practice to begin to see the benefit.

Back to the meeting with administrators: Now I answer their question with some of my own: “What are your students not yet able to do independently when approaching a particular type of text? Where and when do they struggle, become frustrated, and disengage with the reading?” The answer to these questions will lead teachers to the best instructional choices.

We’ve made quite a few changes in the way we approach reading since my first experience with that type of meeting. We’ve begun asking the right questions in these collaborative conversations. We’ve learned it’s not about the strategy, the acronym, or the poster—it’s about the thinking a person does while engaged with text. It’s about making sure we’re preparing students for the many different types of reading and thinking adults engage in every day.

How and what they will read as adults? It depends. On us.

Julie Scullen is a former president of the Minnesota Reading Association and Minnesota Secondary Reading Interest Council and is a current member of the International Literacy Association Board of Directors. She taught most of her career in Secondary Reading Intervention classrooms and now serves as Teaching and Learning Specialist for Secondary Reading in Anoka-Hennepin schools in Minnesota, working with teachers of all content areas to foster literacy achievement. She teaches graduate courses at Hamline University in St. Paul in literacy leadership and coaching, as well as reading assessment and evaluation.

Scullen will present “Read Any Good Stuff Lately? Building a Culture of Literacy in Secondary Classrooms” Saturday, July 18, at the ILA 2015 Conference in St. Louis, MO, July 18–20. The session will suggest how make meaningful reading and literacy activities palatable with humor and practical ideas. Visit the ILA 2015 Conference website for more information or to register.