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Ms Taylor-Roehm shares her expertise in a Read
Smart Workshop on 15 May 2004 |
Speaker:
Lynn Taylor-Roehm
Lynn Taylor-Roehm is currently an independent educational consultant
working with Mimosa Publications. Her experience has included classroom
teaching in Canada with children ages 5-12, acting as the Literacy
Consultant for a large Canadian School Board and conducting in-service
session for many teachers across Canada and the United States on
both literacy and learning. Lynn has also worked on the development
of several published literacy programmes for young children and
worked in Australia for two years with noted New Zealand educator
Margaret
Mooney. She has spoken at International Reading Conferences in
New Orleans, Saskatoon, Regina, Halifax and Vancouver and is an
active
member of IRA and ASCD.
Being an ESL teacher
In Canada we have a bilingual education system where the children
receive literacy instruction in both English and French. For
several years I was the English teacher at a French Immersion
school where
we did similar things to what you are doing - 30-45 minutes a
day of English instruction for the students in the French
Immersion setting.
With this combination of things, I would say that I can relate
to the directions you are taking with new material and
your method of
teaching English to your students.
Developing a literacy
programme
I think the goal, for all teachers, is to develop a successful
literacy programme, and to that end, I would like you to try
an activity that
I have used with a number of children. That is to use a KWL
chart. The 'K' in KWL stands for things you 'know' about
the topic,
the 'W' stands for things that you 'want to know' and the
'L' stands
for the things that you have 'learnt'. So, would you take
a piece of paper, and just take a minute to write down two
things
that
you know about a successful literacy programme.
One of the concerns
about starting a new programme is implementation. I would suggest
going slowly, step by step. Once I worked with
an early-childhood educator, and she used the analogy of
a staircase. When you jump in and try to get to the first step;
you are bound
to fall back. Start thinking about what is the one step that
you
can work out. Stop where you are comfortable, then take the
next step and move on.
I would say that a
successful literacy programme basically consists of four major
components:
- Different
teaching approaches included in a programme;
- Opportunities
to link subject information and literacy
across curriculum areas;
- A wide range of different genres and text types;
- An awareness
of the needs of students providing materials that students can
read and the opportunity to work
with these materials.
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Incorporating
teaching approaches
The five teaching approaches that are
already incorporated in the 'Read Smart' materials, are
one of the ways that I see to meet that goal we all have
the goals of getting our students to move from a level of
reading and writing where they need a lot of support to independent
reading. |
There is a continuum
on which children learn. Children move from 'supported' to 'independent' through the 5 teaching approaches.
We begin with'reading
aloud' and 'storytelling', which are followed by 'shared
reading', 'supported reading',
and ' independent reading' accordingly.
Reading Aloud
In 'reading aloud', we can do a lot of things to support the
readers. Notice how much of the support is from the teacher
in this teaching
approach but
we also can give the children the opportunities to be part
of the reading. Children
need to have those demonstrations of what fluent language
is and they need to see people read fluently with expression.
As we look at the other
teaching approaches - shared, guided and independent - you are
going to find that if children
do not have
the background
experiences, any material is not going to be that easy
for them. 'Reading aloud'
gives children an opportunity to understand and for us
to get their interest in reading. After
time, if the teacher reads a story aloud, it will be the
first book the children choose when it is time for independent
reading.
Storytelling
'Storytelling' is actually an excellent way of teaching
children about language. When I began my talk with a
story, I was able
to give you
an opportunity
to do some kind of internal understanding of language,
making it a part of your
own
experience and to begin predicting what might happen
next. We know that good readers always predict and use
their
knowledge to confirm.
That
is the strategy
of predicting and confirming.
Shared reading
Now, look at 'shared reading'. What is the difference
between 'reading to children' and 'shared reading'?
'Shared reading'
still has a
lot of support
from the teacher
but the children are beginning to take more responsibility
for getting the meaning from the text and they are
beginning to take
part in
the idea of
comprehending words and reading along.
'Shared reading' is
simply the teacher and the children interacting with the text
and being engaged in things
that are meaningful
and enjoyable, such as
the stories about Mrs. Wishy-Washy. When we do 'shared
reading', we are
working with
larger groups of children. With a big book, the text
is enlarged so that every child can see the text
themselves and is able
to follow along.
Shared reading
takes place over several days. You come back to the
book again and again and in every reading you are
looking at
another aspect
of the
text. Shared
reading
is excellent for children who are learning English
as
a second language because they are being supported
in an
environment
where their teacher
and their
peers are reading with them.
'Shared reading' is
the opportunity for teachers to actually model the strategies
that readers are
going
to use. Much
of the research
now is
talking about
the metacognition - simply 'how we know what we
know'. Teachers needed to actually
articulate that concept to the children. While
you are doing 'shared reading', you really have that
opportunity to share
with your students
what you do
when you come to word that you do not know.
Before
you begin reading the story, you will do things like predicting
and getting the kids familiar
with
the kind of
text that they
are reading as
well as making
some predictions. But you also want to make sure
that you have that opportunity to come back to
the text
while you
are doing
the reading.
The first reading
should always be for pleasure. Read the story
as naturally as you can without stopping.
As you do this, encourage the children to join
in. One of the reasons that books today are so
highly
and so
carefully illustrated
is
to really make
sure that
the children can see all the pictures and be
able to use them to help get the meaning from the text.
In subsequent re-readings
of the text, there are many, many ways in which you can get the
children
to come
back to the
text. For
example, The Fisherman
and
His Wife has lots of opportunities. While you
are simply reading the
story, then the children follow along with
you.
You might have the kids just read
the repeated
words. You could have two groups of children
reading alternative pages. The class could
be divided into
two groups , one
reads one page, and
then the
other reads
the next page. You might have the children
try reading just the direct speech, so you have the
direct words
of the wife
to the
fisherman.
Another method
would be to have a narrator reads the words
that are not actual speech. You can have
it as the boys being the fisherman and the
girls being the wife. Then, obviously you flip that
all around,
so that we
would not
get any stereotypes
going
in your classroom.
The point is - you
can use a 'shared reading' book over and over again. You can
also do a
lot of writing
with
it, many
different kinds of activities
that
get
children thinking about expressing themselves
through writing.
Supported reading or
guided reading
In'supported reading', children are now
becoming more independent, more self-sufficient
as they
look at a
text. But the teacher
is always there
to provide that scaffolding.
'Supported reading' is sometimes called
'guided reading' and there teachers work with children
in groups of
6-8 children depending on what age level
or key stage
level they are at. When using this approach,
it is best to use a book that can be
anywhere between
90-96%
successfully
read.
Why would
we use the'supported reading' strategy? We look at it as the
second
opportunity to
model or to demonstrate
good
reading
strategies
for children
to learn reading skills and strategies
in smaller groups. By working in a
supported reading environment,
we really
are giving
children
the opportunity
to become
confident and capable readers.
As we
prepare for a 'shared reading', there are really three things
that
we need to do
in a supported
reading
class. First
of all,
know the text;
next
they need
to know their students; and third
they need to understand the reading process.
If you
are familiar
with the
continuum that
I showed -
that represents
a part of the knowledge of understanding
the reading process. When you look
at the
text, each book needs to be looked
at in terms of what you know about
your students.
You want to look at the book and
see what are
the things in that book that would
support the readers.
There
are many things
and
features of the texts
that will
make it easier for children to read
the materials. But there are also
things and features of the books
that will make it more difficult or more
challenging.
As you read the text becoming familiar
with the
book itself, you can determine what
are the things that
will make it
easier for
the children
to read the
text and what are the things that
will make it harder for them. Once you know
what
things are the challenges, then you
build your lesson around making sure
the children
have
the knowledge
they need to
overcome those
challenges.
You know
your children as well, and will know which book would be right
for them.
Some of
you are familiar
with
taking running
records,
and
looking at
how to match
children to a particular level
of
book. But you can also use an oral
reading
sample. If you are
worried
whether
your children
can
meet
that level, you
have them simply read a page or
two from one of those texts which would
give you
an idea whether they would be comfortable
in that book as well. So there
needs to be some planning on your part
to get started
on the 'supported reading' session.
In the
'Kites' books, you will find that there is always information
to help you
know 'which
are the
features
that will be difficult
for your
students and which will be a
little
easier'.
If you
think your students will not be familiar with the vocabulary
in
a text,
you will begin
by preparing
an activity
that will
look at that.
You
choose a
text; focus the children on
the meaning of the words and the
vocabulary. You may do
some activities
like
brainstorming, or learning
a new song.
One of
the first things that I learnt when I started doing
'guided
reading'
or 'supported
reading'
is that the most
important part
of that approach
is the pre-reading.
Make sure the children have
all the information they
needed, that they
have the oral vocabulary
and that
you help them
build the
necessary background experience.
One example might be to do
some
predicting about
the text
based on the title
or the cover illustration.
Independent
reading
The last of the five teaching
approaches that 'Read
Smart' supports is
'independent reading'.
Again,
what you know
is that children
need the
opportunity to practice,
to have the opportunity
to read materials themselves.
As you
think about the
continuum which moves
from lots of
support from the teacher
to being
more independent,
children need time to practice.
So the fifth approach in
the 'Read Smart' collection
is
that children will read
independently.
Integrating
language instruction
Research is really saying
that language instruction
needs
to be integrated.
Children need to
have the opportunities
to hear the
language, to
use it orally, to speak
and to talk. They need
opportunities to see
writing coming
out of their reading,
so that reading, writing,
speaking and listening
are
all integrated.
Research
also support the notion
that 'time on the task'
relates
to success.
It is something
that I found
really important
when
I worked with
my English students
in a French
Immersion setting. Children
needed to spend time
on task, meaning
they have to spend
a lot of
time in the
English
class simply
talking and
reading and
using
literacy materials, so
that they could become
successful readers and
writers.
Using
the right materials
Interesting, motivating
and, engaging material
is another
critical aspect
to having a
successful literacy
classroom.
I think,
with the materials
that are
pulled together in
a 'Read Smart' programme,
you are
going to find
that everyone of
the books is
motivating, engaging
and exciting
for
children.
We need to
make sure that the
activities and the things that we
do with children are
interesting and purposeful.
Children
also need to know what their
goals
are. If
we are to
actually 'read smart'
and help
children become
successful,
we
have to make
sure our language
instruction is integrated,
engaging and that
children want to work. |