I had resolved myself to pursuing one love, EBD/Behavior Management, in my current position. I moved to high school for a change and have truly loved it. Part of me did miss Reading instruction, though. I began to notice that there was a need for more engagement in our lowest readers. Many of them have been doing the same program for years and really had made little to no progress. So, in true "let me give it a shot - I'll try anything" fashion, I asked if I could teach Reading for a period this semester. And my department chair said: YES! She is a passionate "change is good" person who truly wants the best for these kids. If you don't have a principal/AP/Department Chair/Grade Level Chair person like that: GO FIND ONE! Remember...life is too short to be around people who suck the life out of you. I digress....
For this post, I wanted to share how I started the Reading class. Remember, I am diving in head first into cold water so I relied on what I knew from working with low readers in the past. They weren't high school students, but I have read enough Cris Tovani (read her, she is amazing!!!) to know that they are just the same poor readers in bigger bodies. The first day, they all came in and I was beyond excited. I had all my little sticky notes on the desks (1 each) and a half sheet of folded paper for an engaging, amazing, Teacher of the Year activity! And the students came in angry. "Hey Miss! Why did they switch my lunch?" "I got first lunch now, too!" "Nobody has first lunch! It sux!" "I want my old schedule back..." Yeah, you get the picture. I sat in my director's chair, listened to their complaints, and changed my Day 1 plan completely. I acknowledged that they were in the worst lunch in the history of lunches, the new schedules must be a nightmare, and boy did I wish I could help them get it all changed back. (Okay all white lies, don't judge. This was survival mode people.) Then I asked them what they needed from a reading class. They all wrote vigorously on their half sheet. We talked about what they liked about their old reading class and what they thought helped them as readers. It took some guiding questions, but they were eventually honest. Brutally honest. I talked to them about books they remember as children and they came up with (again, after some guidance) The Cat in the Hat. I guided some more and eventually they remembered the bears who lived in that big tree (Berenstain Bears), that big dog (Clifford), and Goosebumps books from middle school. I asked them what kind of readers they thought they were and it was then that my heart broke in two. These kids are older. They know. They know that they are all between 15 and 18 years old and cannot read. They told me all about fake reading, how to get away with faking book reports (PS: I hate book reports), how to fool teachers into not having them read out loud, an how to get through a text book reading assignment without reading one single word. Try passing that test, huh? I had them write on the sheet what they do when they get to a tricky part in a book. Then I had them tell me what interests they had. And then the bell rang. Basically both the fastest and saddest 50 minutes of my life.
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| This is the anchor chart I made for the next day so we could discuss what they wrote. |
I decided to start with the basic CROP-QV strategies to give them something to hold on to and maybe even start using right away. I went that first night to the public library and took all those papers telling me their interests. I looked at books for over two hours. Trying to balance their reading level without being insulting with the content or style of book is challenging to say the least. I checked out 23 books and headed back for Day 2.
Day 2, I was ready. They were excited about their book choices and actually thanked me for getting them. I had them all choose a book (after I shared my recommendations for each of them) and then asked them to just read for about 10 minutes. I wanted to observe reading behaviors. I jotted them down and at the end of the time, I told them what I noticed. We talked about Real Readers and Fake Readers. They laughed about being trained professional Fake Readers, and smiled when I called out their Fake Reading habits. I made this anchor chart for the next day.
The Fake Reading examples are all things that they did that day. I added the things at the bottom as a preview for what was to come. Day 3, we dove right in to the CROP-QV.
I will save the CROP-QV post for next week after I have introduced all of the six strategies. This post is already L-O-N-G! In the mean time, one of the things they said they were really struggling with was the Driver's License Manual. (I had asked for examples of when they needed to read in life.) They brought me the manual and let me tell you... it is horrible! Full of advertising, poorly laid out, and in tiny print. It was confusing to me and I'm a reader!! So....I committed to them that I would retype it in a reader friendly Cliff Notes version, larger print, and no distracting ads. Welcome to my weekend..... :)
I am so excited for this adventure and truly hope to give these kiddos some tools to use that will help them feel ownership of their reading and the power to change the hand they have been dealt. I will leave you with a picture of our first lesson, Connections. I am using picture books to introduce the strategies. I told them they were easier for me to use as introductions because I didn't want them to be insulted. Guess what. They love them. They listen to every word I read. Check out the fist book we read. Now go read it for yourself. Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest Inspired yet?
See you soon, friends. Happy Martin Luther King Day!!
Mrs. Beck
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