Literacy Now

For my students, a critical step in increasing student ownership was establishing effective feedback, as it is has some of the greatest effects on student achievement, according to John Hattie, author of Visible Learning. Practicing effective self-reflection and feedback methods allows authentic student ownership to take place. We followed the National Council of Teachers of English’s definition of formative feedback as nonevaluative, specific, timely, related-to-learning goals and providing opportunities for students to revise and improve work products and deepen understandings. Through that, we began an action research project examining a structure for success and to normalize the culture of feedback centered on student engagement and ownership.

Establishing a structure for success

1. Create a class definition of effective feedback (thoughtful, focused on the aim, and bite sized)
2. Exchange verbal feedback during the share portion of lessons.
3. Provide opportunities to ask for peer or teacher feedback while working.
4. Model effective feedback practices consistently. This includes providing feedback forms for colleagues who visit our classroom, sharing feedback stories, and celebrating when students ask for feedback and revise work following feedback.
5. Prioritize time to practice authentic feedback opportunities. Students are able to revise their work following feedback, further driving home the point that feedback is here to make us better—not to make us feel bad or point out inaccuracies or gaps in knowledge, but to move us forward as stronger learners and citizens.

Authentic feedback opportunities became a game changer in engagement and ownership for our classroom.

Normalize the culture of feedback

Feedback Friday began during a time in our class when students worked on self-directed learning projects (think Genius Hour). Feedback Friday content was different each week and included individual growth goals, specific academic work, and behavior reflections. The process remained the same each week, with an exchange including one thing that was working or successful and one thing to consider or try next time.

But here is what made all the difference—I also received feedback during Feedback Friday. Students could use the feedback form from my folder to give me written, anonymous feedback, or they could give me verbal feedback during an individual conversation. Providing structure with the option of a feedback form and a time specifically dedicated to feedback was necessary. We were able to plan, prepare, and reflect together.

Reflection

Although we took steps to create a structure supporting this work, I received nothing but compliments and praise the first week. I continued to model my own self-reflection in order to move this process forward. I pointed out things I would have changed, things I could make better, things I thought could work differently. I called my shots by giving students specific things to watch for while I was teaching and identified two or three specific areas where I wanted to grow. The next week, feedback changed. The positive feedback that I was given was more specific—it was about instructional strategies, texts we had read, and classroom procedures. However, the most significant change was the growth feedback I received.

Students suggested new seating arrangements and that I implement cold call more often. They wanted me to consider different check-in procedures for homework and new uses for our 1:1 devices. Then came the most critical step. In order for this to work—for it to be a true exchange of feedback—I had to act. Susan Brookhart and Connie Moss describe this as the golden second opportunity for revision in Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom: A Guide for Instructional Leaders. In order for students to feel empowered and to feel ownership over our classroom and their learning, in order for students to see and feel the value of feedback, I had to revise my practice following their feedback.

Revision

Eventually, Feedback Friday evolved from a concrete, scheduled part of our week to an embedded part of daily practice. Knowing their voices were always heard improved engagement and ownership in all of my students. Independently, students were self-reflecting and asking for feedback on all work whether small (Does this image make sense here?) or large (Did I arrange these reasons in sequence to create a compelling argument?). Students were offering one another feedback (I really liked how you unpacked that text evidence.) and following up on work they knew their classmates were doing (What information did you end up using from that article?). My practice continued growing as well. I was able to make small, significant changes to meet the needs identified by each learner (providing visual cues) and larger changes in my own instruction (improving my questioning techniques). Implementing Feedback Friday was truly a game changer for all of us.

Taylor Meredith is a Chicago-area instructional coach and former fifth-grade teacher. A graduate of Syracuse University, Taylor has a degree in Policy Studies from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and received a master’s degree from Hunter College while a member of New York City Teaching Fellows. Passionate about student ownership of learning and thinking, action research, formative feedback, and theory of mind, she learned from the best while teaching special education at a public school in East Harlem, NY. Connect with Taylor on Twitter or at The Formative Feedback Project.

With the increasing focus placed on informational and narrative texts, the teaching of reading poetry often becomes something like a month-long spring fling. We feel the relegation of poetry to second-tier status is most unfortunate and denies teachers and students unique opportunities for joyous and productive reading. This post describes five student-centered and practical ways to give poetry a more central role in your curriculum all year long.

Poetry Builds Foundational Reading Skills

The Common Core State Standards identify word recognition and reading fluency as foundational literacy competencies essential for close reading. Poetry is well suited for teaching both word recognition and fluency.

A powerful way to teach word recognition is through word families or rhymes. A word family is the part of a syllable that shares a vowel and following consonants. For example, the words back, track, and stack contain the word family –ack;  the words sight, bright, and fright contain the word family –ight. Word families are a more efficient and consistent way to decode words because the set of letters in a word family is processed as one unit. Word families can help readers decode a multitude of words. Most poems for children rhyme, which means the texts can provide students with authenticity for reading selected word families (e.g., Star light, star bright…).

Repeated readings of short texts are an effective way to develop two key components of fluency: automaticity in word recognition and expression in oral reading. Poems and songs are meant to be performed and rehearsed orally, often for an audience. Rehearsal is an authentic form of repeated reading where students practice a text several times, not to read it fast, but to read it with meaningful expression. The textual patterns, rhythm, rhyme, and often the melody of poems and songs make them quite easy to remember. How many of us recall the words to a poem or song we learned decades ago? The growth of a strong sight-word vocabulary is another foundational reading competency that immersing children in poetry develops.

1. Poetry Notebooks. Invite students to keep a poetry notebook all year long. Teach one or two poems per week. Enjoy rereading using echo reading, reading in funny voices, or assigning stanzas to groups. Students return to their poetry notebooks all year long!

2. Word Catchers. Invite students to select words from the poetry to act out, add to the word wall, or study as a class.

Poetry Builds Deep Comprehension Competencies

Poetry helps students engage in the deep or close reading that CCSS indicates is essential to proficient reading comprehension. Close reading requires students to read a text more than once, but for different purposes.

Poetry is rich with interesting and unusual words, figurative language, imagery, simile, metaphor, and more. Students can reread a poem multiple times, focusing on a particular feature of the poem or purpose for reading. Each reading becomes a new reading experience leading students to deeper understandings of—and appreciation for—the poem. We have found poetry is particularly well suited for implementing the reciprocal teaching strategies of predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. The brevity of most poems permits students to employ the strategy with each new reading.

3. Reciprocal Teaching/Close Reading. Employ reciprocal teaching as you reread poems. First, skim the poem to predict. Read once through to enjoy. Then invite students to reread to mark the text to clarify words or phrases and to question the author. Finally, summarize the poem.

Joyous Reading

Above all, poetry and other rhythmical texts are fun to read. Both of us have wonderful memories of reading and reciting poetry and songs, individually and with classmates, in our elementary classrooms. Children find the textual patterns, rhythm, rhyme, melody, and alliteration as well as the whimsy and humor often embedded in poetry so appealing. We enjoy watching the delight children take in reading and performing poetry and songs as we see their heads, and their bodies, bob, sway, and weave to the rhythm in language. The brevity and rhythmical nature of poems make them easy to learn. Even the child who struggles mightily in reading informational texts can find pleasure and success in reading poetry.

4. Lucky Listeners. Provide a copy of a poem to take home to read to at least three “lucky listeners,” who might include the dog, a baby sibling, or a grandparent over the phone.

5. Poetry Break. Surprise your students by giving them a “poetry break.” Stephen Layne suggests announcing poetry break! while passing out poetry books (and maybe snacks) so students can enjoy 10 minutes of poetry reading.

As Lee Bennett Hopkins once mused, “Poetry is so many things to so many people.” When you make poetry an essential part of your reading curriculum, children thrive!

Lori D. Oczkus is a literacy coach, author, and popular speaker across the United States. Lori has extensive experience as a bilingual elementary teacher, intervention specialist working with struggling readers, and staff developer and literacy coach. Her most recent book with IRA is Just the Facts! Close Reading and Comprehension of Informational Text. Timothy Rasinski, a literacy education professor at Kent State University, is a prolific researcher who has authored more than 150 articles. His research interests include reading fluency and word study. He is a former coeditor of The Reading Teacher and is currently coeditor of the Journal of Literacy Research.

In this era of accountability, fiscal challenges, and demands for highly qualified teachers, school communities need to be creative, innovative, and resourceful. Every child deserves a high-quality education, and every teacher deserves resources to accomplish that goal—no argument there! But that’s not the challenge. The challenge is establishing and sustaining an environment that provides opportunities to improve student learning and build teacher capacity.

One way teachers receive ongoing support is through instructional coaching. With instructional coaches helping teachers implement effective instructional practices, teachers are more likely to collaborate and try new things that are not in their repertoire of instructional delivery.

Instructional coaching is intended to reinforce teachers’ and administrators’ practices in ways that support schools, so instruction is rigorous, delivery is effective, and assessment is appropriate for student learning to improve. Instructional coaching influences what students learn, increases student engagement, builds teacher capacity, and helps students and teachers become more successful learners.

One of the ways for coaches to support effective instructional practice and the ongoing collective problem solving and collaboration that promotes quality instruction is to adopt a three-pronged approach. We call it the Before, During, and After (BDA) cycle of consultation. This sounds like it takes considerable time to implement a cycle; however, a coach and a teacher must consider how these conversations help identify areas of strength and areas of need as an overall teacher professional development model. Where else could a teacher and a coach work together, plan together, rehearse the content delivery structures, and then debrief about what worked well in the classroom? That’s a win–win situation for the students, teachers, and coaches!

So what does that look like?

In the planning, or “before” session, the coach and the teacher co-construct what the goals are and on which elements the teacher would like the coach to focus. They also schedule a time for debriefing, which should occur after they both have a chance to reflect on the visit. The “during” is where the coach and the teacher see the elements discussed in the first session. It is the content for the debriefing session. In the “after” session, the coach and the teacher reflect on the goals they co-constructed. Were the goals met? If not, what practices need to be strengthened to accomplish those goals? What could the teacher have done differently in order to achieve those goals?

Following the BDA cycle of coaching and consultation on a regular basis provides ample opportunities for coaches and teachers to work together to unpack a variety of statewide initiatives that require teachers to redefine what they teach and rethink how they do it. The cycle enhances the opportunity for teachers to coplan, rehearse, coteach, and then debrief with their coaches so that they can accomplish their goals.

The single most important quality of a coach is the ability to build strong, collaborative relationships. No one knows everything about content even in one’s own area of certification. No one knows every strategy or instructional technique that promises to improve student outcomes. No one knows all there is to know about his or her students or schoolwide community. What a coach knows, however, is the power of collaboration and the tremendous influence collective problem solving has to improve the ongoing teaching and learning that must be present in order for students, teachers, administrators, and schools to be successful and help prepare our students for society. Coaches following a pattern for supporting teachers through the BDA cycle of consultation provide a framework that helps define purpose, practice, and persistence.

Ellen Eisenberg is the executive director of the PA Institute for Instructional Coaching in Narberth, PA, and a former head of English for Philadelphia Schools.

Geraldine Nanjala is a dedicated teacher and librarian at Ndege Primary School in Kenya. While she may not have a lot in resources, she’s made the most of what she has, spreading a love of literature to students.

Her tireless efforts to bring more books and opportunities to her students have led to recognition in her home country and abroad. In 2013 she won an International Reading Association award for Literacy Projects in Countries With Developing Economies and last year she was honored at the Maktaba Awards in Kenya for her encouragement of literacy at her school.

Nanjala still faces an uphill climb in many ways, but she has grand plans for her students and community.

How did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?

My secondary school teachers, Antony Njui who taught Swahili and Sister Fintan Wanjiku who taught English were great teachers to me. They used a storytelling approach to make lessons interesting. They also encouraged our class to be teachers by saying it’s the best career because you can work anywhere in the world and it deals with angels.

My mother was a teacher and later an area education officer. She praised the teaching career and I admired the respect she earned.

I am a currently a senior teacher and a teacher librarian. My colleagues unanimously nominated me a senior teacher in 2008 because of my dedication. I offered extra time to any work that required it. I volunteered myself any time the school needed me.

I let the pupils borrow the few story books we had in the library. I made myself responsible if they lost them and kept the list of those who borrowed what.

How long have you been a member of ILA? How has membership influenced your career? 

I have been a member for 11 years, but the last four years I have been very active. My membership has really influenced my career because there is a lot I get from Reading Teacher. It has methods of teaching and how to handle special children (like those with autism), diagnostic teaching, and more. I keep referring to it.

The updates I get from these magazines have made me feel that I am a teacher of substance for those who don’t read anything and can offer solutions for pupils’ problems.

The 8th Pan African Reading for All Conference in Nairobi in 2013 allowed me to interact with other teachers of the world. I bought a CD from a teacher from South Africa which I used in my teaching. The membership has built my confidence and self-esteem for speaking in public.

As a librarian, what do you think your role is in bringing literacy to the world or, more specifically, your school? What challenges do face?

I lead readers to where the books are because I am a custodian.  I promote reading materials that are in the library and the services offered by librarians at assemblies, on notice boards, and through the class librarian. I train young librarians to assist me with services. I guide users on how to use the library, the materials, and oversee all of the resources.

My challenges are:

• the loss of books and slow replacement of the same;
• parents have no time to read because they are too busy;
• I have lessons, like other teachers, so I cannot arrange and cover books as required;
• very few parents let their children come on weekends and holidays because children help them to look after other children as well as look for food (child labor);
• handling my family responsibilities at the expense of the weekend library lessons;
• some teachers from other schools find my work nonsense;
• getting permission from the head teacher to attend a workshop is not easy because they say it is “your own program.”

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment? 

When I was asked by our District Education Officer to tell teachers at a district workshop how I succeeded getting children interested in reading story books. She recognized my efforts to promote literacy. In September 2014, my school library was praised at a gala night in Nairobi. I had entered our library to compete in the Maktaba Awards which is a competition of libraries in the country was congratulated for voluntarily trying to make children love reading by decorating the library with attractive reading materials. This was unique among competitors in our categories (public schools). I was made to stand and they all clapped for me. I earned my school a national certificate and a gift book voucher of 5,000 Kenya shillings.

You won a 2013 IRA award for a literacy project in Kenya. Is it ongoing?

This is in the pillar of my success. In my career I have bought books and have fulfilled three-quarters of my proposal. Just the 5,000 shillings have not been spent because of the challenges I mentioned before. But I’ve planned to conduct the exercise in April when the schools are closed and have sent the first half of the expenditure. The project is going on and once I do this last part in April I’ll write a comprehensive report.

What is your plan moving forward? Do you have any upcoming long-range projects?

I would like to move forward by planning to expand the library and possibly getting computers. It could also expand into a resource center for classes with a projector for lessons. I would also like to fulfill the Maktaba Award recommendation that I go for a library management course.

I also wish to start a lunch program to keep the children in school. I see they have the desire to read, but they go with their parents to look for food on weekends and holidays. For all of this I need to find more donors to donate reading materials and to partner with for these programs.

What advice would you give a new teacher that either you received or wish you had?

• Be ready to volunteer.
• Be tolerant because you will meet people who will want to let you fail in your work.
• Be honest with yourself.
• Be loving and kind to the children and always listen to what they say.
• Attend seminars, workshops, or conferences on literacy to share and learn from others as you interact.
• Implement new ideas you have learn/acquire to benefit your learners.
• Join literacy associations to keep yourself updated on new ideas.
• Take good care of public property, especially when you’re given a grant because it comes from people who have denied themselves.
• Be alert on new information and communication technologies; visit the Web.

April Hall is editor of Literacy Daily. A journalist for about 20 years, she has specialized in education, writing and editing for newspapers, websites, and magazines.

I believe every child has a book that will fit them perfectly, a book they will fall in love with. It’s a book that seems like it was written just for them.  Over the past nine years I learned steps I can make as a teacher to help my students find the best fit.  

Know your literature

Before you can recommend a book to someone else, you need to be familiar with as many genres, authors, and award winning books yourself as possible. It’s easy—start with what you like.  What books did you like as a kid? As an adult?  What drew you to these stories, characters, conflict?  Was the message especially meaningful to you?  Reread a few of your favorites and then start to branch out.  Who is your target audience?  Read with this audience in mind. Try different genres, different character types, and different stories portraying the types of conflict that your students actually face. Read both the classics and new literature.  By growing the number of books you know, you will create a cornucopia of books to recommend to your young readers.

There are also many places that compile great book lists.   These are a good place to start creating your personal reading list.  Goodreads and Shelfari are both online bookshelves with book lists based on different criteria you enter.  Book award lists can also be used as a wonderful tool in finding great pieces of literature.  For young readers I recommend the Caldecott Awards, Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, and the Theodor Suess Geisel Award list, for upper elementary I recommend the Newbery Award and honored book, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, Pura Belpre Awards, and the Edgars, and for teen readers I love reading from the Michael L. Printz, and Margaret A. Edwards award lists.  Readers of all ages can find books from the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award list—an especially great list for building your familiarity with nonfiction literature.

Get to know your readers

Before making the match between reader and book, you have to know your readers.  There are a few ways I get to better know my readers so I can best help them find their “book fit”.  On the first day of school I administer an interest survey filled with questions about reading, school life, home life, family, interests, hobbies, etc.  I even ask questions about how many hours a day they watch TV, play outside, do homework, etc.  I like to get a well-rounded picture of my students inside and outside of the classroom.  My survey changes every year.  During the first weekend after school starts, I read through these surveys and create a personalized list of three to five books for each child to have on Monday.  I also take at least one book off the shelf for each student, from their personalized list, and place it on their desk.  I try to write a short note explaining why I think they will like the book.  Usually about 50-60% of my kids actually read this first book selection I make for them.  Kids think it is neat when someone not only recommends a book for them but takes the time to take it off the shelf, and explain why they think it is a good fit.  

Match books based on a variety of criteria

The first mistake I made my first year teaching was thinking the following equation always proved true: student likes football + book about football = perfect match.  I remember recommending a book about horses to Annie, an avid horseback rider, then being disappointed when she returned it the next day saying she didn’t like it, but could she read The Indian in the Cupboard instead?  

Next, I accidentally paired the novel My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George with Nathan, a reluctant reader, but avid nature enthusiast.  I adore George’s books and had it sitting on my desk.  Nathan saw the hand-drawn illustrations that looked more like nature notes than pictures and he became interested.  He wanted to be a naturalist who worked in the wild with animals, and low and behold, so did Sam, the main character in the book. Once Nathan finished the book (his first book of the year, I might add) within five days, I sat down to figure out this new phenomenon.  I had been trying to get him to read my book recommendations for months, yet he never enjoyed anything I started him on.  He loved this novel which read more like a guide to surviving in the wild. I finally figured it out!  The theme of the book was finding your own way, when you didn’t necessarily fit in with those around you.  This theme fit so true for Nathan—someone who didn’t always fit in.  The plot of the book was a child running away to live side-by-side with nature.  Nathan dreamed of doing just that!

It dawned on me I need to match kids with books not only based on their interests, but on a theme that is true to the student’s life, or a conflict the child is currently going through, or because the student is very similar to the main character, or because the setting is so similar to that of something the student dreams about!  How simple.  I just needed to look deeper.

Conference and listen

I cannot overstate how important conferencing with students is, not only for you the teacher, but for your young readers.  Readers want to talk, to share, and to explain how the book they are reading is reaching them.  And the person they want to listen is you!  

I wish I had a great record keeping system for keeping track of who I have met with, when we met, what book they are reading, etc., but I don’t.  I do keep a notebook.  While there are some weeks I make sure to meet with a certain list of students to talk about their books, there are other weeks where this doesn’t happen. I have become creative in finding times to meet with students.  I have two separate kinds of conferences: the planned and the unplanned.  

The planned conferences happen about once or twice a month.  This is where the kids come to my meeting area to a kidney-shaped table and they sit one-on-one with me.  They can tell me whatever the like about their current book, I ask leading questions, and I bring up specific topics we are covering in class.  For example, during our biography unit we looked closely at theme.  During conferences I made sure to bring up theme conversations and I could get a really close picture not only of the book they were reading, but how well they understood the concept of theme.

The unplanned conferences happen throughout my day.  I always find a student to walk to lunch with and I always ask them about the book they are reading, or I tell them about the book I am reading.  Other great unplanned conference times include waiting in lines.  Every day in the cafeteria lunch line I book talk, during lines for the bathroom—guess what—book time!  When kids walk into my room at the beginning of the day, we talk books.  I also corner my kids when I see them outside of school.  High school basketball game? Great time for a quick conversation.  Oh, you’re grocery shopping at Walmart tonight? Let’s discuss that character you’re mad at and why.  Since I always have a book on me, I always have a conversation starter when I run into a student in public.  I even do this to past students!  

Even though conferences are sometimes hard to fit into my teaching schedule, I try to remember their purpose—to encourage my readers, listen to my readers, and get to know my readers, their excitements and struggles.

Struggling is okay

I think one misconception students have is that their teacher likes everything he/she reads. Students think I enjoy every book I come across, and they think I expect them to like every book I give them.  Show them that this is not true!  I always show kids what I struggle with. If I am reading a book that I cannot get “into,” I explain my feelings.  I let them see my struggle, and also see it is okay to not finish a book.  This is such a freeing feeling for them.  Kids should know I don’t only care about the books they like, but also the books they don’t like. When I make book recommendations I always make sure to explain that if they don’t like the book, to tell me. If that happens, we have a discussion about why this book didn’t fit. I make sure to write this down in my notes, so that I know how to make a better recommendation in the future. The more information I have, the better the “book fit”!

Emily Keifer is an ILA member and fifth-grade literacy block educator at Cowan Elementary School in Muncie, IN. She also teaches social studies curriculum and researches the role of multicultural literature in the classroom.