ELIMINATING ALITERACY

Eliminating Aliteracy in the Classroom Jana Emrich EDUC 322 Educational Psychology August 1, 2013 Kelli Crain Southwestern College Professional Studies

ELIMINATING ALITERACY Abstract

With the emphasis on high stakes testing, fostering joy in reading has been left by the wayside. Kelly Gallagher calls this atrocity readicide, defined as the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools (Gallagher, 2009, p. 2). With a demanding curriculum and time as the key commodity in the school day, teachers must be intentional about every aspect of instruction. This means we find what methods work and we use them consistently to not only help our students meet the academic demands of school but also to take learning into their own hands and become lifelong learners.

Eliminating Aliteracy in the Classroom

ELIMINATING ALITERACY In the past, educational reform focused on the illiteracy rate in America. Todays concern lies more in the aliteracy rate which, according to To Read or Not to Read, has surpassed the illiteracy rate. Aliteracy is the ability to read without the desire to and Steven Layne points out that the age old question of Why cant Johnny read? has changed to Why wont Johnny read, even if he can? More than ever, in todays society of rapidly changing and easily accessible information strong literacy skills are a critical survival asset in a fast-paced, technological

world (Layne, 2010, p.5) and adult and schoolchildren whose reading abilities are deficient are treading water in a pool that has no shallow end (Layne, 2010, p.5) Reading is the fundamental foundation for all learning and we, as teachers, need to balance developing the affective aspects of reading development with the current focus on cognitive aspects . A Complete Reader Layne describes a complete reader as being one who has the skills of phonetics, fluency, comprehension, semantics, and syntax along with the affective side of the circle in that he possesses the interest, attitude, motivation, and engagement. Layne points out that more time and focus needs to be on this affective side of the circle in order to create a will for reading in conjunction with the skill. Layne states that the skill and the will are two very different things and that Will is an afterthought for many teachers who arent trained in this area and, consequently, are unsure how to address the more intangible attributes of attitude, interest, motivation, and engagement (Layne, 2009, p. 66) An article in The Reading Teacher describes the affective factors of reading as being, metacognition, motivation and engagement, epistemic beliefs, and self-efficacy and that when we rely on test scores to demonstrate superior approaches to reading instruction, we will continue to be locked into a system that uses only

ELIMINATING ALITERACY cognitive strategy and skills as evidence (Afflerbach, Cho, Kim, Crassas, & Doyle, March

2013). The authors ask us to consider what else might be evidence of reading development. They point out that reading development is shown when students undertake challenging reading, setting goals, working carefully to monitor and achieve these goals, as well as reading more, engaging with a variety of texts, and persevering through difficult text. (Afflerbach, Cho, Kim, Crassas, & Doyle, March 2013). Further, Students learning to question texts and authors and to situate their own experience and knowledge in relation to what they read are evidence of reading development (Afflerbach, Cho, Kim, Crassas, & Doyle, March 2013), and students believing that they can succeed at reading tasks, and then doing so, are evidence of reading development (Afflerbach, Cho, Kim, Crassas, & Doyle, March 2013). Doug Lemov makes the point that no other single activity has the capacity to yield so much educational value (Lemov, 2010, p.250) and that the overall value of the additional high-quality reading you could do in a typical school day could equal or possibly exceed the value of what happens in designated reading classes (Lemov, 2010, p. 250). If we can create a classroom of highly engaged readers, the possibilities are endless in the amount of learning that can take place. Stemming from this a schools objective should be to create lifetime readers graduates who continue to read and educate themselves throughout their adult lives (Trelease, 2006, p.2) not schooltime readers graduates who know how to read well enough to graduate (Trelease, 2006, p.2) and then never pick up another book. Why is it important for kids to read outside of what they are required in school? Because it builds background knowledge and background knowledge is one reason children who read the most bring the largest amount of information to the table and thus understand more of what the teacher or the textbook is teaching (Trelease, 2006, p. 12).

ELIMINATING ALITERACY Motivation There has been much debate over whether best results are achieved through means of

extrinsic motivators praise or rewards given to motivate people to engage in a behavior that they might not engage in without it (Slavin, 2012, p. 122) or building intrinsic motivation, such as fostering a desire to read for pleasure or for the gain of knowledge. Obviously, intrinsic motivation would be the ultimate goal, often the most important reinforcer that maintains behavior is the pleasure inherent in engaging in the behavior (Slavin, 2012, p. 122), but can we use strategies to build intrinsic motivation at such a young age or should extrinsic motivation play a part until students reach an age where intrinsic motivation is more natural? Robert Slavin cautions There is evidence that reinforcing children for certain behaviors that they would have done anyway can undermine long-term intrinsic motivation (Slavin, 2012, p. 122) There are many books and articles on building intrinsic motivation for readers and in the paragraphs following, I will describe some that I intend to use in the classroom. Read Aloud The first and most powerful is teacher read aloud. It sounds simple, yet in a fast paced academic curriculum that demands every moment be accounted for, I believe this vital component of the classroom often gets pushed aside. Reading in Todays Elementary School explains, it provides a model for fluent oral reading and speaking, a chance to practice listening skills, builds schema, expands vocabularies, builds listening comprehension which can then enhance reading comprehension, models structures that contribute to writing skills, and can increase syntactic knowledge (Roe & Smith, 2012,2009, p. 414). Steven Layne furthers this by stating When we are reading aloud from text beyond a students listening level, we are actually

ELIMINATING ALITERACY bringing him more mature vocabulary, more sophisticated literacy devices, and more complex

text structures than he would meet in text he could navigate on his own (Layne, 2009, p.62). Of all the strategies discussed in his book Igniting a Passion for Reading, he maintains that a good book read well is the number-one method (Layne, 2009, p. 66). Since childhood, I have read as much as possible; reading consumed my days back when there were not so many demands on my time and energy. I have very few memories of grade school, but one that has remained over the years is my 5th grade teacher reading aloud to us every day. I was already an avid reader by this time, but I believe it solidified my love of the ability to escape into a world of my own choosing. One of my favorite statements by Steven Layne is, A good book read well will do more for the woes of our disenfranchised readers than all the leveled books the publishers can crank out (Layne, 2009, p. 53). Additional Motivation Strategies Model Readers One of the fundamentals of selling is that you cant sell what you dont know and Donalyn Miller makes this exact point in her book The Book Whisperer, I am not mandating an activity for them that I do not engage in myself (Miller, 2009, p. 106). She states that, my credibility with students and the reason they trust me when I recommend books to them stems from the fact that I read every day of my life and that I talk about reading constantly (Miller, 2009, p. 106). We must be role models and we must be able to recommend books based on what we have read and what we know about our students. Steven Layne articulates that the four most important words that kids need to hear are, I thought of you, it makes all the difference. He states that a great goal to work toward, I think, is to be one of the people in the school building that kids come

ELIMINATING ALITERACY to for book recommendations even when you arent their teacher! (Layne, 2009, p. 39). A simple, yet effective method in conjunction with the teacher as a model reader is having a spot

designated to display what the teacher is currently reading. Not for the class read aloud book, but what she is reading during her own independent reading time. In addition to this, a small bookcase containing books that the teacher has read and recommends. Booktalks One of the keys to creating readers is matching the students with the right books. Booktalks, or bookchats, are like infomercials for books. They draw the listener in and make them want to read (Kelley & Clausen-Grace, 2008). They are somewhat formal, with a defined set of criteria (Kelley & Clausen-Grace, 2008). After modeling several of these based upon books that might be of interest to the class, students can then begin the process of creating their own. By giving the students a rubric for the book talk they are to create, Kelley and Clausen-Grace point out that students can use this to evaluate the teachers book talk. Steven Layne has created a fantastic rubric for book chats that addresses many Common Core standards. Donalyn Miller makes an excellent suggestion in that by keeping these student book talks, either online, or even printed in a class binder, students can then reference them when trying to find a good book to read. Miller makes an extremely valid point in that presentations of a whole class of reviews can take several days. However, if presentations are video taped for grading, the teacher can then determine the best way to share with the class, such as one per day as a lead in to independent reading time. As a less formal, less time consuming alternative, book commercials can be just as persuasive and implemented more often by the teacher or by students throughout the year. Choice

ELIMINATING ALITERACY

Another key component in fostering a love of reading is choice. Donalyn Miller points out that teachers lose credibility with students when they ignore the cultural trends and issues that interest them and instead design classroom reading instruction around books that are good for you, (Miller, 2009, p. 85). She questions, are we teaching books or are we teaching readers? (Miller, 2009, p. 85). Miller tackles this problem again in a Nerdy Book Club post, Reading belongs to readers, not to teachers. If we want children to see reading as anything more than a school job, we must give them the chance to choose their own books and develop personal connections to reading, or they never will (Miller D. , 2013). The Goal Creating competent and engaged readers has been a goal of education from the beginning. The difficulty lies in the fact that mastery is not as easily measured as some of the other core content areas. How do we measure what students are thinking as they read? Are they connecting to the material in their mind? Engaging in it? Thinking of how it applies to their lives? Or are they simply taking in the information to reguritate back when needed? There are so many differing opinions, so many research findings, and so many books on the topic that it is easy to get overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to find what works best for our students. Especially knowing the fact that if we fail, they pay the price. It is not as intimidating of a task if we look at it from the perspective of Steven Layne in that we need to focus on creating a dynamic literary environment dedicated to improving student attitude toward reading. He outlines a continuum that shows disengaged readers at the far left and insatiable readers at the right. No one method or

ELIMINATING ALITERACY strategy is going to push kids from the far left to the far right on the continuum, instead Layne hopes to see small bits of movement in the right direction. Conclusion In conclusion, motivation comes in many forms, both intrinsic and extrinsic, and the key

to any of them being effective is in the understanding of our students and what drives them. What motivates one may not work for another and beginning with the methods outlined in this paper can give us a barometer as to whether or not more or different strategies are needed. Steven Laynes first grade teacher made a huge impact on his perspective when she told him something works for every child. I just made it my business to have a lot of somethings in first grade (Layne, 2009, p. 64). Another of my few memories of elementary school is of my 6th grade literacy teacher awarding new books out of the Scholastic book order form, something that was a rare treat for me, when reading goals were met. Instruction and motivation techniques should always be dynamic, ever changing depending upon what drives each student. As a teacher, intrinsic or extrinsic motivators should never be ruled out if they are working because the ultimate goal is to produce lifelong self feeding learners who crave knowledge and know how to find it.

ELIMINATING ALITERACY References

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Afflerbach, P., Cho, B.-Y., Kim, J.-Y., Crassas, M. E., & Doyle, B. (2013). Reading - What Else Matters Besides Strategy and Skills? The Reading Teacher, 440-448. Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide - How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Kelley, M. J., & Clausen-Grace, N. (2008). R5 In Your Classroom - A Guide to Differentiating Independent Reading and Developing Avid Readers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, Inc. Layne, S. (2009). Igniting a Passion For Reading . Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Lemov, D. (2010). Teach Like a Champion 49 Techniques that Put a Student on the Path to College. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Miller, D. (2009). The Book Whisperer. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Miller, D. (2013, June 9). Let My People Read. Retrieved from Nerdy Book Club: http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/let-my-people-read-by-donalyn-miller/ Roe, B. D., & Smith, S. H. (2012,2009). Teaching Reading in Today's Elementary Schools. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Slavin, R. (2012). Educational Psychology Theory and Practice. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Trelease, J. (2006). The Read-Aloud Handbook. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.