MIT 2019 Assignment 3 and The Book Whisperer chapter 2

This week I had the assignment of condensing my MIT Inquiry problem into a short accessible statement. Our brief was as follows:

"We have been asked to provide a summary of the Class of MIT19 to Jenny Oxley, CEO of Manaiakalani Education Trust, and Justine Todd, Corporate Citizenship Manager of KPMG. These businesswomen have to account to their Boards for the investment in the MIT programme in 2019.  Their organisations are keenly interested in solving problems in Education and have chosen MIT19 as one avenue to do this. The statement you provide on slide 3 will be added to the report.

Please state clearly on slide 3, in terms lay people can understand, what problem for young people in Aotearoa you are proposing to address in 2019."

After my 5 Whys Question activity from my previous assignment, and some additional thinking that inspired, I was able to condense my problem into the following statement.

Many students in my studio are reluctant or struggling readers who see reading as a challenge and a chore. They have reading habits and attitudes that show a lack of book accessibility and reading role-modelling. My challenge is to improve the enthusiasm for reading among my Year 6 students, especially the boys.

This statement has made me revisit Donalyn Miller's work The Book Whisperer, about engaging students with reading. Chapter 2 is about finding the reading potential of all students. She describes her students being caught up in a wave of excitement about reading just by having access to a wide variety of books and having an adult that is will to listen to their recommendations and suggestions. She talks about listening to her students' needs. 

For my students, I wonder if their needs are deeper. Their attitude towards reading is negative. When groups get together (Year 6 boys) they start to encourage each other not to read ("what can you recommend?" "Nothing, this book sucks" "I can't read it" etc)

Miller then relabels struggling and reluctant readers as developing and dormant readers. She also has a category called underground readers.

Developing readers: These are readers who are below the expected level in their ability. This is due to experience or a learning disability. Research in the US has shown that despite intervention programmes, these readers still read 75% less than other students. Her advice is for them to read and read. From my own experience, I have seen students make great improvements by reading a lot of high-interest texts as well as frequent instruction.

Targeted developing students: Dontae, Kaylan, Te Ana, Nevaeh, Reef, Rhycos, Lila, Maria

 Dormant readers: These are students who track and make progress, but are reluctant to read for their own benefit. These are the students who need to learn that reading is an engaging activity. Their environment is essential for turning dormant readers into engaged readers. These conditions include hours reading, choice and a celebration of independent reading.  

Targeted dormant students: Jack, Angus, Layla, Izzy, Kiwa

Underground readers: These are readers who see no value in a classroom reading, they want to read other things. They are good readers. Just let them get into the book that excites them.

Conditions for learning (According to Brian Cambourne)

Immersion - surround kids with books and hold regular conversations about books. 

Demonstration - Teaching using student books, making it authentic.

Expectations - students will read.

Responsibility - students will set their own goals about their reading and writing.

Employment - Students need to use the skills they learn in their personal reading.

Approximations - students will make mistakes, and receive guidance and advice.

Response - guidance and advice.

Engagement - anxiety free reading that they value.

11/02/19 - MIT 2019 Assignments 1 and 2 - Moonshot thinking and 5 Whys Questions

My first assignment for the MIT programme was to complete a Moonshot thinking presentation slide detailing what I want to achieve this year.

In this, I detail what I see as the problem facing my students - To raise the engagement levels in reading and to lift student ability to discuss books for year 6 and 7 boys.

Then I detailed how I would go about this:

1. Introduce literacy circles or reciprocal reading groups for my Year 6 students
2. Develop an app or site that allows students to find book recommendations, ask questions about books, and facilitates discussion

My second assignment was to collaborate with another MIT, and to question each other's proposals using 5 Why questions.

Here are Joanne Ryken's questions and my responses:

Hi Eugene - it was great to read through your proposal. I have long term interest initiatives to improve literacy levels, and I personally love reading. I am wondering why you think that student (especially boys) choose not to read for enjoyment?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Cheers, Joanne

Hi Joanne. I think there is a range of reasons why students choose to not read for enjoyment. Firstly, many students miss out on positive reading role-models. Secondly, many students who read well have many distractions (in the class and at home). Thirdly, many students haven't discovered the right book that engages with them. Lastly, for my students, there is a certain amount of social pressure to not be seen as smart or well read.

In 2016 and 2017, I taught Year 7&8 (switched to Year 3&4 last year) - many of my students had similar attitudes towards reading. We used a range of material to engage students more - comics, graphic novels, high-interest contexts related to them (hunting, fishing, surfing, rugby...) - all sorts of stuff. 
Many of the students are far more keen on online type reading involved in gaming, which kind of leads me to my next question.
Why do you think that use of technology will help with this?

For adults, we are able to use technology to aid our reading in a variety of ways. We access sites that can link us to books that fit into our interests, we can search for reviews by both professional reviewers and the general reading audience. Using technology this way takes a certain amount of initiative, as well as skimming and scanning skills that students may not have mastered. A digital tool that allows students to see books other students recommend or have talked about could help them find the story that grabs their attention. Furthermore, technology can make thinking about books a social activity, a place where students can all express their thoughts about a text. To a certain extent, one could consider the gamification of reading through technology, but it would be important to think about how that would improve motivation and perseverance (having tried using sites like readtheory.com in the past, it did not lift motivation to read).

I guess my last question follows on from this... why is it that you think that this forum will provide the necessary motivation for these students you have in front of you - in other words, why did you chose this, rather than a different intervention?

I think my main motivation for this intervention were conversations I held last year with students in my new studio. While a few would regularly read, many reluctant readers could not answer the questions "what do you like reading about?" or "who is your favourite author". Their exposure to books was limited. By encouraging and supporting literature discussions within the class, and then making the discussions broader with the use of an online tool, students can be encouraged to develop wider perspectives. Within a class or studio, no one set of students will ask a great range of questions. When they take part in an online discussion student will read questions from others that may help develop their own questioning skills. They will also be challenged to express their opinion when answering question threads. The motivation is to be part of literary activity that has an element of social media and community to it.

So I guess my next why question is why do you think the reading of books, rather than other texts that the students might choose to read, linked to use of the online forum will make the difference?

Firstly, all text is valid for the purpose of improving student reading and comprehension levels. However, by focusing on novels (select novels to start with) I hope to improve the depth and richness of their language. Novels offer language features and subject-specific vocabulary found in other texts. They also have descriptive features and story structures that can be transferred to a students writing. Furthermore, novels present students with the challenge of sustained reading over several days and following a long plot. On a purely practical level, it will be easier to set a list of novels to discuss on a site or app, compared to if it was any text the students wanted to read.

Good point, with regards to the richness of language that the students are exposed to within books. I guess the other factor there, for rich discussion, is the nature of the messages and themes covered within literature for children. Often reluctant readers, don't look for these - so this project will encourage that deeper thinking about texts, rather than regurgitation of facts.
I am wondering why this seems to be more of an issue for boys than girls - why is it that boys often seem more reluctant to read for pleasure?

This may be a messy answer. Firstly, many girls are also reluctant, dormant or struggling readers. Anecdotally, I have taught classes where boys are avid readers. These have been the exception and not the norm. Recent studies have shown that men read less than women, and are less likely to read in front of children. This would imply that boys are without male reading role models. There is also the old societal expectation that boys will be "active and busy" and girls will be "quiet and still". Reading is seen as a quiet activity. Currently, I teach "boys who fall into the lack of reading role model group", and the "boys will play outside or play video games" group. Going back to your earlier question about the value of novels compared to other text types, many people often forget that there is a lot of reading involved in most video games.

This questioning thread has lead me to ask myself these questions:

Is there a major gender difference in reading engagement in my studio?

What role modelling have dormant readers had prior to 2019?

Do I want to limit my approach to literacy groups to just novels, or should I expand potential reading material to non-fiction?

How is the digital tool I am proposing going to engage readers?

Possible places to start answering these questions include:

National Library reluctant readers page

Studies in gender differences with regards to reading

Raising student engagement through social media