Literacy Now

Seeking to attract all kinds of readers: eager readers, aliterate readers, reluctant readers, readers stuck in one genre, and even adult readers? Try a Choices Chat or book discussion!

After constantly listening to the same tired dialogue about why kids aren’t reading—they don’t have time anymore, they’d rather be gaming, books are so long and boring, and (my favorite!) boys don’t read—I introduced several informal opportunities for kids and adults to read, gather, and talk about books. The response was positive and sometimes overwhelming. Some of the chats attracted up to forty readers at a session!

My book discussion groups grew from two needs from teachers and one request from students. The teachers’ request stemmed from the Children’s Choices project, a joint venture between the International Reading Association (IRA) and Children’s Book Council (CBC). The fifth and sixth grade students weren’t reading and voting enough, she said. Beyond making the Children’s Choices books easily available to students in the classroom or putting them on display in the library, students needed encouragement to read and vote. Yet teachers and librarians are not permitted to book talk or promote the titles since the students must be free to select, comment, and vote on the books without any influence from adults.

The student request came from kids complaining about the Newbery Award books, and how they are selected by adults who couldn’t understand what kids like to read and what is “distinguished” literature for readers ages birth to 14.

Thus, the “Choices Chats” and “Mock Newbery Book Club” were created to give students a forum to present and talk about the Children’s Choices books and Newbery contenders they read with peers. These discussion groups offered a safe community to express views and ideas. Oh, some also had food!

We selected lunch time for the chats. This is the only time that didn’t interfere with anything else. Three librarians agreed to host them in their libraries. Kids brought their lunches into the library once a week for 25 minutes to talk about the Children’s Choices selections. Each librarian publicized the chat with their fifth and sixth graders. To our great surprise we had 10–15 students weekly at the elementary school, 25–30 at one middle school, and an entire third grade class at a second elementary school.

Here’s how it worked: Students received a pass from their language arts or homeroom teacher to be able to leave the lunchroom. They walked to the library with trays/bag lunches, signed in, grabbed a snack, and prepared to talk and listen. Everyone was required to bring the book they were reading to show as they talked. To keep discussions from getting stale, colored candy (Skittles, M & M’s, Sour Patch Kids) were used as discussion starters. Kids sat at library tables or on the floor and ate lunch while taking turns presenting their current read.

We used a stopwatch to limit each speaker to two minutes. It’s helpful as it gave everyone a chance to talk. Kids can easily run the stopwatch and gently remind the speakers when their time is up. By request from students, these chats have been extended to the end of the school year. Additionally, and upon request, seventh and eighth grade “Choices Chats” groups have been started. All of the chats feature books that are self-selected.

“Read ’n’ Feed” is a variation on a lunchtime book discussion group. Using the professional title “Fiction, Food, and Fun: The Original Recipe for the Read ’n’ Feed Program” (Closter, Snipes, and Thomas, 1998) as a guide, I collaborated with a local teen librarian to facilitate this book discussion. We initiated our “Read ’n’ Feed” program at my middle school library. We book talked four different titles and the seventh grade students checked out the book they were most interested in. Kids had a two-week deadline for reading the novel.

Through a grant from the school district we were able to purchase 20 copies of four different titles. We limited each discussion group to ten students and repeated the discussion (Tuesdays and Thursdays) over a semester. Subway pitched in and delivered sandwiches, a drink, and a cookie at a discount. Kids could place an order to comply with dietary needs. We also invited teachers and our administrators to assist us in facilitating discussions or sit in on the discussion.

We were able to fill each session and had strong support from the kids to continue it next year!

Our “Mock Newbery Book Club” was created to invite students to read and discuss books that could potentially win the Newbery Medal winner. My students had long complained since only adults select the Newbery winner, “How do they know what we like to read?” I also wanted students to improve discussion skills, read for recreation, read books they normally wouldn’t select, and be part of a community of readers.

I used the American Library Association’s Newbery and Caldecott Mock Elections Toolkit as a reference and my experience on the 2010 John Newbery Medal Committee to guide me. I have conducted this book club with several variations: at an elementary school for fourth and fifth graders at lunch time with one adult and no snacks, after school with both elementary and middle school students with two adults and snacks, and an after-school public library club with one adult and snacks. A blog is used to continue discussions as the clubs meet twice a month. Attendees learn about the history of the John Newbery Medal, as well as the guidelines and voting procedures the ALSC (Association of Library Service to Children) committee uses. Members read and discuss a variety of books deemed to be Newbery contenders. Voting and a pizza party takes place at the last meeting. The book club members anxiously await the results of the “real” Newbery Committee in late January.

We couldn’t let the students have all of the fun, could we? That’s why we started “Teachers Under Cover,” a teacher-only book club. Science and Social Studies teachers wanted ideas for novels for a collaborative unit with their teams. Teachers also wanted some good read-alouds for their classes that the kids hadn’t already heard that would also encourage recreational reading.

The “Teachers Under Cover” (TUC) book club started with six teachers. We met once a month, obtained professional development credit, snacked, socialized, and discussed two books. Teachers were encouraged to bring new faculty and administration was always invited.

Hosting book clubs is a great way to build recreational reading habits, assisting students to become confident in discussions and public speaking, and becoming part of a community that values reading. Book clubs also meet AASL (American Association of School Librarians) and Common Core State Standards. Book clubs benefit families by promoting family reading sessions and discussions.

Come see Nancy present “Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About: Using Book Clubs to Promote Recreational Reading, Comprehension, and Discussion Skills” at IRA’s 59th Annual Conference on Saturday, May 10th, at 1 p.m.

Nancy Baumann is a retired school librarian and classroom teacher, literacy consultant, and author of “For the Love of Reading: Guide to K–8 Reading Promotions.” You can visit her online at mightyreaders.wordpress.com.

One of the greatest challenges for a reluctant reader is being able to become engaged in the story. When the reluctant reader cannot identify with a story or cannot relate to its characters, they quickly disengage. While a child may not show a natural interest in reading, this does not mean that he cannot become a skilled and even enthusiastic reader in the future.

As a former reluctant reader and member of reading Group C Grades 1 through 4, I suffered from this problem. Born to Spanish-speaking parents, I began speaking English after the age of four and as a result had a tough time in school. Back then, if teachers didn’t understand why you were not reading you were simply placed in Group C.

Actually, it was not as bad as you may think. I would look forward to reading time. Once the class would break up into our assigned reading groups I would spend my reading time drawing. Mostly I would draw and fantasize about stories I would rather be reading, stories with action and adventure, stories featuring characters that looked like me.

Most of us were quite content in Group C because as long as we were not disruptive to those wonderful students of Groups A and B, we could do pretty much anything except talk to one another. Some Group C students would just sit and stare at the images in the books, while some would play hangman with each other, and I would draw.

Sometimes the teacher would help and encourage us to read, but far too often they would be distracted by the more glamorous challenge of assisting an advanced reader in Group A or B. Just as the teacher would begin to get deeply involved with us in Group C, a cry from Group A or B would ring out, “Teacher, I need help,” and off she went, never to return.

Most of the members of Group C were African American newly from the south and Latinos newly from Latin America. And then there was me, of course.

Why was I a reluctant reader? It would take me 30 years to answer that question.

One of the problems was the reading material. Consistently not seeing myself represented in the reading material was a big turnoff. Worse was the fact that the few times I did see people of color in any books they were usually portrayed as slaves drawn as caricatures.

Our textbooks were filled with all types of stories. Some stories had an urban setting; however, the images consisted of an all-white cast. Oddly enough some of the children from Latin America identified with the white characters in the stories. Not only did it inspire them to read the stories, especially if the character was doing something cool, they would show off and say, “That’s me,” even though the character in the book at times was blonde.

If you were a child of African descent and attempted to do the same (that’s me) the other children would ridicule and torment you with, “That is not you—you are black!”

Why did they all take such joy in reminding me that I could not engage in the same fantasy as they did?

While drawing during reading time in Group C, I would often think, one day I am going create a story and it is going to reflect my world, my neighborhood, my parents, my friends, and my people. Someday a white child will read my story and say, “That’s me,” when he looks at my image and no one will torment him.

Today, one of the most rewarding experiences of being an author-illustrator is visiting schools and being able to offer children the opportunity to create their world. I have been conducting workshops in elementary schools on how to create a book dummy for about five years now, with amazing results.

A book dummy is a sample of a book, usually bound and hand-drawn with the text and the sketches in place—a fully paginated version of a story. The purpose of the book dummy is to give the editor and art director an idea of what the finished book will look like. Most book illustrators create a book dummy prior to creating the finished artwork for their books.

Prior to my school visit, children write an autobiographical manuscript of about 450 words or less. By not limiting the children to write only about their family, some children write about their friends, or the sports activities they are currently involved in. Some children even write about their pets.

On the day of the workshop I assist the children in constructing the book dummy. I also show them how to design a cover for their book. Then I show the children how to portion and divide their manuscript, eventually showing them how to cut and paste their text into their book dummy. Lastly, I assist the children in drawing the images. However, usually at this point they are off and running.

The workshop concludes with the children reading their stories out loud, sharing their world with their classmates and teachers.

One of the aspects I was drawn to in “Thirst for Home” was the fact that the story is seen from the perspective of Eva, a little girl from Ethiopia. The book reads almost as though Eva was given the assignment of writing an autobiographical story, the text of which she then cut and pasted into a book, and created the images. The book serves the purpose of telling us a little bit about her homeland, her birth mother, and her current family in America that loves and cares for her, her world.

I firmly believe that everyone has a story to tell. All stories are valid; however, whenever there is an overabundance of one type of story with a protagonist that always looks the same, we as a society run the risk of alienating a segment of the population.

Once a child is engaged they will not only read but will want to read more and about different things, including other worlds. After my workshops I usually get emails from teachers writing to tell me about that one reluctant reader who participated in my workshop that now likes to read.

Recently while visiting a school in Massachusetts a white child approach me and said that he liked my book “Grandma’s Gift” because the boy in the story was like him.

Inquisitively I asked, “How so?”

“Because I spend my winter vacation with my grandma and we cook together sometimes.”

Come see Eric Velasquez at IRA's 59th Annual Conference. He will be speaking at "Creating Teachable Moments that Increase Reading Proficiency and Engagement: Presenting Authors and Illustrators Whose Books Inform, Engage, and Inspire a Lifetime of Reading and Learning" from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 11th.

Eric Velasquez is the author and illustrator of “Grandma's Records” and the illustrator of “The Piano Man,” for which he won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. His most recent collaborations with Carole Boston Weatherford include “I, Matthew Henson,” which received four starred reviews, and “Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive,” which received two starred reviews. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts and lives in New York. Visit him online at www.ericvelasquez.com.

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.”
                                                -Indira Ghandi                  

When I ask a room full of 5-and 6-year-olds if they have any questions, I hear all sorts of funny stories and interesting comments—some having to do with the topic I have been sharing with them, but most are completely unrelated. They haven’t yet learned the art of questioning. But they will, right?

What do you think happens when I ask a room full of adults the same question? Do hands excitedly shoot up, vying to be picked so their brilliant, bountiful questions will be answered and they will learn something new, something they didn’t know? Not exactly.

I recently asked a group of teachers standing in front of an assembly of students if they had any questions and the only bountiful thing in the room was my embarrassment when none of them had a question for me. What did I do wrong? Had I not stirred their imaginations and curiosity enough to illicit a question from any of them?
Some of you may be thinking:

• I put them on the spot and they are not quick-on-their-feet thinkers.
• My presentation was fascinating and thorough and I had answered all of their questions.
• My presentation was long and boring and they wanted to get the heck out of there.

Yes, it could have been any of those things (though I really hope it wasn’t the latter) but lately I have been wondering—where did all the questions go? What‘s happened to our sense of fascination and curiosity? Are we teaching questioning skills in school? Are we able to formulate and ask insightful questions ourselves? What are we afraid of? That our questions won’t be cool? That, contrary to what we’ve been told, there really are stupid questions?

The truth is, I rarely ask for questions anymore. The silent stares I get in return have left me “question shy.” There are some questions that I can count on - “How old are you?” and “Are you rich?” I understand that these questions satisfy a natural curiosity. But we all know that these are not the thick, meaty questions that we long for. They are not thought-provoking, insightful, authentic “let me think about that for awhile,” questions. Occasionally, I receive a few that fit that description. Some of the really good ones I am still pondering.

That’s what a good question does: It makes you think and wonder and ponder. But maybe that’s part of the problem. Perhaps we are uncomfortable engaging in deeper and more complex questioning.  Or are we just too busy - in our schools, homes, and lives - to step back and question anything?

We need to give our children and ourselves the time, security, and support to question.  As Albert Einstein put it, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

Don’t stop questioning. And please, continue teaching children the art and skill of questioning. We need more inquisitiveness in the world, don’t you agree? More “what ifs” and “why nots.” Questions that require more than a one- or two-word answer.

In my line of work asking questions has played an important role. Many of my books started with a question:       

• Grady the Goose: “Why do geese fly the way they do?”
• Someday is Not a Day of the Week:“Why are there seven days in a week? And what would happen if we had an eighth day?”
• My Momma Likes to Say: “Remember all the funny things Mom used to say?”

And my very first book, Buzzy the Bumblebee got its wings when I learned that scientific studies pointed out that bumble bees are not equipped to fly. “It’s a good thing bumblebees don’t know that!” I thought, which lead to the question, “But what would happen if they did?”

My newest book, Teach Me to Love also began with a question: What are we teaching our children? In the story, baby animals learn to run and climb and hop and swing, and ultimately, to love. I can’t help but think about a Teach Me sequel. And as I do, I find myself asking, “How can we better teach our kids to wonder, inquire, probe, search, seek, study, explore, analyze, examine, question?

Now there’s a question worth pondering.

Come see Denise Brennan-Nelson at IRA's 59th Annual Conference. She will be signing Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo in the Sleeping Bear Press booth (#1446) on Sunday, May 11.

Denise Brennan-Nelson has written several books for children, including He’s Been a Monster All Day!, Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo, and My Teacher Likes to Say. As a national speaker, she encourages adults and children to tap into their imaginations to create richer, fuller lives. She also travels the country sharing her reading and writing enthusiasm with schoolchildren and teachers. Denise, who lives in Howell, MI, with her husband, Bob, and their two daughters, Rebecca and Rachel, strives to spend each day teaching and learning with a creative spirit. Find out more about Denise.  

Of all the books I’ve written, the one used most often as a springboard for classroom learning projects is The Lemonade War, the first in a series of middle-grade novels. In the book, Evan and Jessie get into a fight about who can sell the most lemonade in the five days before school begins. It’s a story of sibling rivalry, competition, and conflict resolution. And math. And business. After all, how could you write a story about competing lemonade stands without including math and business?

Indeed, the math/business angle is one of the things that sets the book apart, and one of the comments I hear most often from teachers is that they love the way math and business concepts are integrated into the story.

Well, the truth is, I never even thought about that “angle” when I was writing the book. I was just tapping into who I was as an elementary school kid: When I was a kid, I loved money. I loved earning it, counting it, saving it, (occasionally) spending it, and sometimes even giving it away. I started babysitting when I was ten and making crafty stuff that I could sell in the local consignment shop when I was twelve. By the time I was fourteen, I had a regular eight-hour-a-week paycheck job (at the local library, of course!). I was my own “business.” And business required math skills.

So when I wrote about Jessie’s love of graphs and Evan’s triumph in solving a math problem using pictures, I wasn’t doing it to provide a teaching moment in the book. It just felt true to the characters and the story I was telling.

But I will say here and now that I’m thrilled the book has found this dual purpose. The Lemonade War has been embraced as a One School, One Book offering, and so the classroom learning projects for the book often span grades K–6. Here are just a few of the ways in which smart, energizing teachers are using The Lemonade War to get their kids excited about math and business.

Gross Profit vs. Net Profit​

A fundamental business concept is the difference between gross profit and net profit. The money you take from your customers isn’t what you “earn,” because you have to subtract the cost of doing business. This is a concept that is reinforced throughout the book as both Evan and Jessie struggle to increase their profit margins.

At first, all the lemonade supplies are “donated” by Mrs. Treski, and so gross profit equals net profit. But from that point on, the kids need to buy their own supplies (for example, lemonade mix and cups). It’s a sad moment when Jessie realizes in Chapter 8 that in order to win The Lemonade War, she would need to sell 375 cups of lemonade. “I am DOOMED!!” she writes.

Figuring gross profit, net profit, and profit margin involves addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and percentages. Needless to say, kids are a lot more engaged in doing this math work when it involves their own lemonade war—and that’s what many schools do.

Rebecca Lynn Bowling used The Lemonade War when she was a fourth-grade teacher at Mullins School in Pikeville, Kentucky. “We decided to have a real-life Lemonade War,” explains Bowling, with classrooms competing against each other to see who could sell the most lemonade in one day. Each classroom wrote up a business plan for their lemonade stand, created advertising, and then came to school ready to sell. On the day of the war, the students assigned to work the lemonade stand “came dressed alike in matching attire. It was awesome!” In addition to calculations of profit margins, the project required the students to practice problem-solving, inferring, predicting, evaluating, and summarizing.

It’s also possible to launch a “virtual” Lemonade War, which is the approach taken by Mandy Marlo, a sixth-grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Chagrin Falls Intermediate School in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Marlo explains, “Our sixth-grade social studies classes used an interactive lemonade stand website to explore supply and demand.”

Each student started the month with three dollars and ran the virtual lemonade stand for 30 days. Every day, the website would give the student a weather report, that day’s cost-per-glass for making lemonade, and the opportunity to buy advertising. The student then entered how may glasses of lemonade he or she wanted to make that day, and the website would generate that day’s profit/loss. The students charted their results using the following organizer.

Marlo taught the students “trade and economics” vocabulary words and required the students to use these terms in a written reflection that asked questions like, “How did you know what you needed? How did you decide how much to spend? Were you satisfied with your results? How would you improve your lemonade stand?”

In addition, Marlo’s school helped create excitement for all aspects of the learning project by having a kick-off event that included an assembly for the whole school and a skit featuring teachers operating competing lemonade stands and vying for one particular customer by using business concepts described in the book.

Writing a Business Plan​

The concept of “planning” has applications throughout life. In business, it’s particularly important.

Diane Smaracko, a fourth-grade teacher at Rye Elementary School in Rye, New Hampshire, connects the book with math and business skills when she teaches a unit on regions and their economies. “We make the connection to economics by reading different passages about businesses and profits.” Then she gets the kids thinking about how to plan a successful business by engaging in the following activities:

• Brainstorm a list of things you would need to have for a lemonade stand.
  In Chapter 2, Evan and Scott Spencer gather all the things they need for a lemonade stand.
• Design a lemonade sign.
  In Chapter 3, Jessie and Megan design a sign to sell lemonade.
• Think of two ways to add value to your lemonade stand.
  In Chapter 6, Jessie and Megan figure out “value-added” strategies to boost sales.
• Look up the word “franchise” in the dictionary and copy the definition.
  In Chapter 8, Jessie and Megan launch thirteen franchises to maximize their earnings.

Likewise, Rebecca Bowling had her fourth-grade classes create business plans for their lemonade stands after reading the book. “Each classroom team had to come up with a business name, what kind of lemonade they wanted to sell, how much they wanted to sell, and how many containers of lemonade and cups to purchase. Students had to figure out how many cups would be used for one container of lemonade. They had to come up with a fair price for large cups and small cups. The also had to come up with ‘added value’ to their lemonade by offering cute straws, cookies, cupcakes, suckers ...”

In Estes Park, Colorado, the students at Estes Park Elementary School created class stores. Fifth-grade teacher Erin Leonhardt recalls, “We made a business plan. Students created displays (like the science fair tri-folds) that advertised and set a price point. They sold items like duct tape wallets, used books, and crafts. Students went shopping with ‘kid money’ that they earned in class.” An extra lesson in economics was added by an all-too-common classroom challenge: running out of time! “When we ran out of time, [the students] either dropped prices or raised them for supply and demand. I really think they got a lot out of it.”

Advertising

Perhaps the most common activity at all the schools was creating a poster to advertise a business or product. Marketing is an important plot element in The Lemonade War, with the characters creating signs for their businesses. Likewise, students in the schools had a lot of fun considering the principles of advertising and putting those principles to use.

As Diane Smaracko notes, “Great advertising keeps the products on the consumer’s mind.” She asks her students to think about how advertisers do this. Then the students design their own lemonade signs. “The children love designing their own lemonade stands and posters and figuring out ways to attract customers,” says Smaracko.

At Mullins School in Kentucky, Rebecca Bowling found the same enthusiasm for this activity. “The students designed posters advertising their lemonade stands and displayed them throughout the school. It was wonderful how they discussed the slogans they wanted to use on their posters!”

In Chagrin Falls, Mandy Marlo had her sixth-grade students create an advertisement for the lemonade stand that would benefit their sister school in Cleveland. She encouraged kids to “include anything that you think would help increase your business.” Kids responded by describing the lemonade, pointing out the affordability of the drink, using colorful and eye-catching graphics, and encouraging patrons to buy because the proceeds would benefit charity.

Charts and Graphs

In Chapter 8 of the book, Jessie realizes she might actually win the Lemonade War if she opens several franchises. The power of her plan becomes apparent when she creates a graph of potential earnings.

Mandy Marlo had her students chart data from the interactive lemonade stand website. Rebecca Bowling had her students create bar graphs to identify their favorite kinds of lemonade. Pie charts can be used to understand the relative costs of various supplies needed to run a lemonade stand. Line graphs and bar graphs work well to show profit and loss. In fact, the number of ways that charts and graphs can be used in the classroom to compare business practices is almost limitless.

The Final Connection​

As Jacob Marley exclaimed in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, “Business! Mankind was my business!” And so it seems to be at each school that the question of what to do with money earned often leads the students back to this principle: “The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business.”

Students in schools across the country chose to give all or some of their profits to a variety of charities: a local animal shelter (as Jessie does in The Lemonade War), a sister school in need of books for their library, a local food bank. Many schools also donate their lemonade money to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping fund research to end childhood cancer.

ALSF is an organization that I’ve worked with for several years. Each year, they run the Great Lemonade War Contest with the Grand Prize being a visit from Yours Truly to the winning school. It’s always wonderful to visit the schools and hear about how they used the book to learn about math and business and give back to the community.

Come see Jacqueline Davies co-present "Close Reading of Trade Books: Developing Thoughtful, Curious Readers Using Novels in the Elementary Classroom" with Carol Jago at IRA’s 59th Annual Conference, May 9-12, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Accommodations...I’m in favor if they support developing the skill of all readers in a class. However, as I visit middle schools and talk to teachers around the country, I notice that in the era of the Common Core, dozens of districts have returned to one book for all. Since one book or one anthology won’t meet students’ range of instructional needs, teachers accommodate instruction to meet district requirements. They often read the text aloud to a group or the entire class.

p: Enokson via photopin

The result is that developing readers who need to read to improve their skill aren’t reading during instructional time, while advanced readers aren’t challenged to read complex texts at their instructional levels. Moreover, many students don’t absorb information from teachers reading aloud because they aren’t listening. However, there is a teaching strategy that can meet the instructional reading needs of middle school students even if teachers have forty-two or forty-five minute classes: differentiating instruction.

Differentiation asks teachers to meet students’ instructional needs by providing texts at a variety of reading levels. Equally important, differentiation allows students to choose instructional and independent reading texts, and choice motivates and engages them. To facilitate differentiation, organize instructional reading units around a genre to meet your students’ reading needs. By looking at what happened in a seventh grade inclusion class, you can better understand how the teacher and I restructured instruction.

In September, students in that class had instructional reading levels from 3.0 to 11.0. Required to deliver selections from the grade-level anthology, the teacher read the selections out loud to the majority of students. After debriefing with the teacher, we developed these accommodations:

• the anthology became the anchor text, and the teacher and I used it to think aloud and model reading strategies in brief mini-lessons;
• we raided the school, public, and classroom libraries to find enough books within the anchor text’s genre to offer all students choices;
• we provided several books within each instructional level and students chose one;
• instructional books and materials remained at school and students read, discussed, and wrote about these texts for 25 to 30 minutes three to four times a week; and
• students completed independent reading once or twice a week, after finishing instructional reading tasks and at home.

As students read, the teacher and I circulated among them to hold brief conferences. After students completed the first two chapters, we conferred with each one to check recall and comprehension. If recall was shaky, we invited students to reread the first chapter during class and met with them again. When there was limited recall and comprehension among a few students, we honored their efforts and suggested they try the book later. Then, we offered a student three to four alternate books to browse through and select one. Doing this by the end of the second chapter allowed students to meet reading deadlines we negotiated with them.

In addition to mini conferences, we invited students in that inclusion class to discuss their books with a partner after reading two to three chapters. Once we used the anchor text to model a journaling technique, students composed journal entries on inferring, vocabulary, theme, or why characters changed or made certain decisions. Students also enjoyed discussing their books on a class blog and an online literature circle. Along with instructional reading that moved seventh graders in the inclusion class forward, we emphasized independent reading.

By having students self-select and read forty-to-sixty books at their independent reading levels, we differentiated independent reading. This was the big game changer because students practiced and applied what they learned during instructional time to independent reading. Students entered completed or abandoned books on a book log and used the log to discuss favorite authors, genres, or a specific book they couldn’t put down. Students recommending books to their peers through monthly small group discussions of their book log and by presenting monthly book talks was an ideal way to advertise great reads.

We monitored independent reading through book talks, written book reviews, peer conferences, podcasts, blog writing, and journal responses. No seventh grader completed a project for every independent reading book because when students read, read, read, it’s impossible to monitor every book. We accelerated reading achievement with a combination of the anchor text, instructional and independent reading, and believe that your students, like those in that seventh grade inclusion class, can develop a personal reading life that will sustain them at school and in their careers.

Come see Laura Robb co-present “Deep Reading & Deep Writing: Developing Literacy Skills Using Mentor Texts” with Ruth Culham at at IRA’s 59th Annual Conference, May 9-12, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Laura Robb is a literacy coach, Scholastic educational consultant and author. With over 43 years in the classroom Laura Robb is one of the nation’s leading experts on middle school reading. She leads workshops on reading and writing for elementary, middle, and high school.  She is the author of Unlocking Complex Texts, Scholastic, 2013 and XBOOKS™, a nonfiction language arts program for middle school students.  She has written 15 books for teachers including: Nonfiction Writing From the Inside Out: Lessons for Teaching All Elements of the Craft, Inspired by Conversations with Leading Authors; Teaching Reading in Middle School; Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math; Grammar Strategies and Lessons That Strengthen Students' Writing.