The First Lessons
“We approach the beginning of a new school year armed with everything we know about the stages readers go through, our state-mandated curriculum, and the books and materials that will support reading growth. Like architects, we have planned and organized a classroom that supports readers. Now we begin the complex but fascinating work of getting to know the individuals in our classroom. Instead of focusing on the required curriculum, or what students need for the yearly mandated test, we concentrate at the beginning of the year on learning about our students as individual readers.” -Karen Szymusiak & Frank Sibberson Introduction to The First Lessons As we synthesized the literature, it became clear that developing a culture of thinking, a place of intimacy in learning, would not be contained in 20 lessons delivered in 20 days. So, after a week of working together, we presented a collection of lessons to our Cornerstone colleagues for their review and collaboration. The attached document, The First Lessons, represents our best thinking about the necessary practices and concepts to begin the classroom reading community. Our list is organized into essentials, groups of lessons that build the capacity and desire for students to read on their own. While these groups of lessons could be considered the “entry points”, the learning would expand and develop with breadth and depth throughout the year.
Time Well Invested Our students need to be part of a classroom community of readers that fosters collaboration, independence, reflection, and encourages risk taking, discussion and questioning. This can be achieved by modeling these behaviors right from the start. Teachers must show students what will be valued in the classroom. In an intimate classroom environment, readers are interested in one another and share their thinking, they trust one another and are willing to take risks, and they feel valued and included. Students also need predictable structures and routines to make reading workshop a productive time. These readers establish habits that care for the reading environment and participate in routines that help the workshop run seamlessly. By developing and fostering this climate of intimacy right from the start, students will be more apt to tackle rigorous content with an inquiry approach throughout the year… and hopefully develop a lifelong love for reading, writing, thinking and learning!
A Unit of Study Much attention was given to inquiry units of study last year through focus groups, the Winter Conference, and in Cornerstone newsletter articles. As promised, we want to continue the conversation and deepen our understanding of how to successfully implement this in our schools. Our first three focus groups with Brad Buhrow should definitely help us with this endeavor. In addition, we felt that the First Lessons could, and should, be organized as a unit of study and approached as a line of inquiry. The students and teacher together should work toward answering the essential questions for the unit. By inquiring into these essential concepts, and co-constructing rituals, procedures, anchor charts and rubrics, etc., students will have a better understanding of what it means to part of a reading community and develop the habits of a life long reader. Following are the enduring understandings and essential questions that we developed for The First Lessons Unit of Study. Enduring Understandings:
Essential Questions:
Essential One: A Reader Identify (Wendy writing…) As my years of classroom experience grew in number, I became a more belligerent teacher during the first few weeks of school. Although I couldn’t always articulate why, I increasingly refused to enter the “I’m done assessing my students” race that some colleagues were anxious to set up. Now, I have found the words I needed then. Kathy Collins writes in Growing Readers, “I know that my most important early work is to get to know the children myself. I need to assess not only where they are as readers but also who they are as readers” (p.68). That is not an easy endeavor. We have allowed the management of the classroom, the “activities director” part of our work, to take away from something most teachers can’t fathom finding time to do, especially at the beginning-- listening carefully and responding meaningfully to each student (Miller, 2008). To create a classroom culture of thinking and understanding, we must take time to really know our students as readers: their likes and dislikes, what and how often they read, to whom they read and who reads to them. Is there a place for them to read at home? Do they have books available? Knowing the reading life of our children is critical to the development of their reading identity for the year that lay ahead. We can learn much about our students by building in time for these conversations when we assess where they are as readers. But we are not limited to just the one-on-one time that is so difficult to protect in the beginning. Parents, former teachers, siblings, and others who know the child can share the practices that have been part of the child’s reading experience in the past. Surveys and letters that explore the home connection can assist in gathering this information. Inviting a parent or guardian into the classroom to share their life as a reader (and perhaps read a favorite book) are ways to discover the reading identities of the children. Several documents are attached to assist in learning about your students’ reading lives.
We must not forget to establish ourselves as readers as well. Sharing our reading life is one way to demonstrate the joy and satisfaction that comes from being a literate person. Regie Routman, in Reading Essentials, describes the importance she places on sharing her reading life: “When I introduce myself to a new group of students, I always talk about myself as a reader…Reading is integral to my wellbeing. I deliberately use my influence as a teacher and role model to foster a love of reading along with excellent reading habits (p.23)”. How can you share your reading life? Take pictures of your family members reading. Let them take pictures of you reading, too. Capture the reading moments of others that the children know and incorporate them into the classroom conversations about being a reader. Make your reading life visible to the students and connect world reading and school reading. There are students relying on you to model and share your enthusiasm as they discover their own potential as readers.
References Collins, K. (2004). Growing readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Miller, D. (2008). Teaching with intention. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Routman, R. (2003). Reading essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Sibberson, F. and Szymusiak, K. (2001). Beyond leveled books. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. |
