THE OKLAHOMA READER
A PUBLICATION OF THE OKLAHOMA READING ASSOCIATION
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EDITORS' EXPRESSIONS
Sincerely,
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LOOK!
Recommended: Books that Challenge, Delight, and Inspire By Dr. Suzii Christian Parsons
Children know: marvels are all around begging for our attention. Yet the world pulls and tugs, urging even the smallest of us to hurry and focus only on the task at hand. The books in this set are at once a celebration of the child’s ability to look beyond the obvious to notice what matters, and a reminder to purposefully, determinately, look around to see the wonders and infinite possibilities in our world. Look Up! By Jung Jin-Ho, 2016 Holiday House
The book opens with a view from above a courtyard, a couple of people walking across it, only the tops of their heads visible to the reader. On the right of the spread, still viewed from above but closer to the reader, is a balcony. “Slam.” Now we see feet perched on wheelchair foot rests. The owner of those feet peers over the edge. “Look up!” the girl urges, but life goes on below—pets, and games, and other sorts of interesting busyness scurrying within view. Ultimately another child hears her cries and, with the simple of act of noticing, transforms the way everyone in the courtyard sees and connects. Simple black and white sketches invite the reader to explore perspective in the artwork, until a bubbling up of color on the last page celebrates the joys of inclusion.
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Sidewalk Flowers By JonArno Larson and Sydney Smith, 2015 Groundwood Books It’s a busy errand sort of day, and a father moves quickly around town with his child in tow. He goes about his tasks with efficiency, the world he moves through drawn in brisk black and white sketches. But the child pulls back a bit, noticing and collecting the flowers that sprout from the cracks. The reader following the pair through this wordless book sees color bloom up where the child looks. Against the gray backdrop, we see not only cheerful flowers, but the glowing rainbow of a fruit stand, the ripe yellow of taxis at the curb, the friendly brown of sparrows on the sidewalk—all things the adult passes by without a nod. But as the child shares the flowers along the way, her small gifts ignite joy and color, eventually bringing beauty into focus for her father as well.
The Man with The Violin By Kathy Stinson and Dusan Petričić , 2013 Annick Press Once, and this really happened, worldrenowned violinist Joshua Bell agreed to a little experiment. He would carry his priceless violin down the stairs into a New York subway station and play, case open for donations like any other street musician, to see how people would respond. He played some of the most challenging and gorgeous music ever written, with the same passion he brought to the greatest concert halls in the world. Yet, he was barely acknowledged by the people hurrying to do what they do--except for children, who tugged on their parents’ hands, hoping to stop and listen, before being hurried along. In this story, based on that event, Dylan tries to convince his mother to stop, to no avail. Even though he is whisked away, the music follows him, coloring his day with joy and light until that evening, when he hears the very same sound coming from the radio at home, and his mother realizes just what— and who—they heard. The rhythms of Stinson’s text echo the music, while Petričić‘s art deftly depicts the juxtaposition of mundane and sublime in this astounding moment.
Hurry Up, Henry By Jennifer Lanthier and Isabelle Malenfant, 2016 Puffin Canada
Henry doesn’t want to be late, but he doesn’t want to hurry either. But every day, everywhere he goes, someone is telling him to go faster. Even Henry’s best friend, Simon, never slows down. Henry loves to play with Simon—they get a lot done! —but afterward he needs some quiet time alone to recover. Henry’s grandmother understands. She doesn’t hurry anywhere. Simon understands, too, so he teams up with Henry’s grandmother to get Henry exactly what he wants for his birthday, a morning when everyone in Henry’s family can slow down and experience all the wonderful things they usually miss. Malenfant’s gentle texturing and thoughtful use of space support our understanding of how Henry feels and sees the world. The tone of the simple, direct text is gentle and understanding, too— perfect for this book that honors different ways of being in the world.
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LOOK!
What’s Your Favorite Color? By Eric Carle and Friends, 2017 Henry Holt and Company
It’s an everyday question: What is your favorite color? The responses compiled in this beautiful book, from fifteen renowned and well-loved children’s book artists, celebrate the colors of our everydays. Yugi Morales’s choice is “Mexican pink,” the color of the bougainvillea flowers she picked as a child on the way to her grandmother’s house. Melissa’s Sweet marvels at how Maine Morning Gray makes all the other colors sparkle, but Raphael Lopez admires gray for how it dares to be different. Philip Stead celebrates green and all the things that are—or can choose to be—green. Mike Curato loves how the color mint tastes, and Bryan Collier loves how blue feels. Eric Carle, himself, delights in yellow because it is difficult. This captivating collection is at once a celebration of the many colors to see and experience and of the many ways of being, and choosing to be, in the world.
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This Beautiful Day By Richard Jackson and Suzy Lee, 2017 Atheneum
The children in this book know what makes a beautiful day. As the rain pours and pours, they dance and stomp and skip and whoop, moving from inside to out, umbrellas twirling then, as the skies clear, floating to the clouds. A sense of joy careens off the page as the illustrations stretch just the most tantalizing bit toward the magical— “and, yes, we’re-alive-ing” --then settle contentedly into snacking and napping and generally being “all together, oh yes.” Jackson and Lee individually specialize in helping us see new possibilities in everyday things. Their partnership here results in a giddy, buoyant romp reminding us that attitude can transform any ordinary day and magic is all around us.
Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Back Yard By Annette Cate, 2013 Candlewick Press
Wildlife, including a staggering array of birds, lives all around us, even in our own backyard. Yet few of us really see, much less know and understand, these fascinating creatures. Mixing lively descriptive text with comic-style and comedy-filled commentary, Cate explains how to use color, shape, sounds, and more to identify various species, and helps us understand not only bird behavior, but scientist behaviors, such as taking field notes, sketching, and classifying, as well. This well-designed book includes a table of contents featuring snappy titles for the brief chapters, and a detailed, usable index. A complete bibliography not only assures of us accuracy, but also offers possibilities for further exploration.
About the Author: Dr. Suzii Christian Parsons teaches at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
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YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Dreamland Burning
What was, and what might be: Dreamland Burning, and dreaming of a just land Book Review by Dr. Suzii Parsons In 1921, The Dreamland Theater stood on Greenwood Ave. in the part of Tulsa that was, indeed, a dream land for the families who lived there. Known around the country as Black Wall Street, Greenwood was a prosperous community with thriving businesses, churches, and schools, and was home to some of the most respected African-American attorneys, physicians, and entrepreneurs in the country. On May 31 and June 1 of that year, Greenwood was razed by hate-motivated white Tulsans. The buildings were looted and burned to the ground, the residents injured, held captive, and/or murdered. This event was one of the most violent ever to take place on U.S. soil, yet history textbooks have been largely silent on it. For many readers in Tulsa and beyond, Anna Myers’s historical fiction book, Tulsa Burning (2004), brought this important event, and the profound implications of it, into view for the first time. Jennifer Latham’s latest book, Dreamland Burning, brings the story to a young adult audience. Latham interweaves a contemporary story and an historical one, each informing the other in alternating chapters, into a mystery that explores the events themselves and the complex legacy of racism still this is still very much alive in this country. The contemporary story is launched when Rowan, a biracial teen living in a historical district in Tulsa, finds a skeleton found buried beneath the floor in old servant quarters during a remodeling of her home. The historical story is also told through the experiences of a biracial teen, Will, the son of a white man and Osage woman, who is embroiled in the events of the riot. Affecting and thoughtprovoking, this book has profoundly affected every reader with whom I’ve shared it, and generated some powerful conversation. Jennifer Latham generously consented to be interviewed for this article. The Interview SP: Tell us a bit about yourself. JL: I’m an Army brat by birth and a Tulsan by choice! Growing up, I hit the trifecta of being nerdy, chubby, and introverted. Add that in on top of my family’s frequent moves, and you can see why books ended up being my best friends. I didn’t really find my feet socially until college, where I was lucky enough to make friends who didn’t live on shelves. I also spent a wonderful year living in Spain, and—right at the last minute—met my husband. That was…well, let’s just say that was a lot of years ago. Then, while he was in graduate school in Rhode Island, I decided to get my Masters in Psychology and go to work in schools. I loved being around kids all day, middle-schoolers especially. But after a year of having 7
to deal with some pretty serious health issues, we moved to Oklahoma for my husband’s job and I threw myself into raising our two amazing daughters. Once they were in school, though, I decided to give myself a year to write a book. If it worked, I’d focus on living my childhood dream of being an author. If it didn’t, I’d go back to being a school psychologist. As it turned out, I did write that book. And while it never sold, finishing it gave me the confidence to keep going and write another. Unfortunately, that one didn’t sell either. But the third time was the charm; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers published Scarlett Undercover, and I’m still writing today. SP: Why this book? How did it come to be? JL: Dreamland Burning began as an interest in learning more about my adopted town but quickly turned into my passion. I’d read a few articles in The New York Times about the Tulsa race riot (which lots of Tulsans prefer to call a race massacre), but didn’t really start researching it until I visited the Greenwood Cultural Center with a group of wonderful 7th and 8th graders. There’s a hallway at the back of the GCC that’s filled with black and white photographs of elderly African American Tulsans who survived the riot as children. You can practically see the stories in their eyes, and I wanted to know what those stories were. So I started tracking down first-hand survivor accounts of the riot, both in voice recordings and transcribed interviews. After that, I sought out as many source documents as I could. In the end, I spent over two years researching the event itself, and another two writing and revising the manuscript. SP: Can you tell us about significant moments in your writing process? JL: The first would have to be that visit to the Greenwood Cultural Center. The next wasn’t so much a moment as a dawning realization that I needed to draw explicit connections in the book between how the institutionalized racism behind shootings of unarmed African Americans today is rooted in Jim Crow laws and the horrific violence done to African Americans in our past. And the third was truly an “aha” moment, when I went out to check on how things were going in the garage apartment we were renovating. The guys had cut a hole in the kitchen floor that day to pier the foundation, and my first thought was, There could be a dead body under there! Gruesome, yes, and maybe that tells you more about the inside of my head than you wanted to know. But in that moment, I realized I had exactly what I needed to link present and past. SP: What are your hopes for this book now that it’s in the hands of readers? JL: First, I hope teens and adults will finish the book and think to themselves, “That was a good read.” But at a deeper level, I’d love for Will and Rowan’s fictional stories to spark enough interest in readers to make them learn more about the Tulsa race riot on their own. I want them to find the stories of those survivors I saw on the walls of the Greenwood Cultural Center, and I want them to listen. Because those stories are the real deal. They’re history. They’re important. And they need to be heard. 8
YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Twin Texts When history is silenced and distorted, as this story and other disturbing ones in U.S. history have been, current events and situations may feel inevitable or overblown, as the causal factors are absent from view. For instance, it is easier for us to accept and discount persistent inequity when we aren’t aware that actions created and sustained those inequities. When history holds the powerful blameless, the powerless shoulder the blame for their own circumstances. Reading and talking about books that disrupt commonly accepted but narrowed historical narratives can bring us to rethinking assumed stances and, seeing more clearly, work to change toward a more just and inclusive society. Other books that disrupt narrow, distorted common historical narratives, both historical fiction and nonfiction, are listed below. Read and talk then, like Rowan, ask what else might be and dream of a more just world. Bibliography: Dreamland Burning By Jennifer Latham, 2017 Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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With
Killers of the Flower Moon By David Grann, 2017 Doubleday
Fallen Angels By Walter Dean Myers, 1988 Scholastic Press
The Fire Horse Girl By Kay Honeyman, 2016 Scholastic, Inc.
With
With
Jump Into the Sky By Shelley Pearsall, 2013 Yearling With
Vietnam: A History of the War By Russell Freedman, 2016 Holiday House
Angel Island By Russell Freedman, 2014 HMH Books for Young Readers
Courage Has No Color By Tanya Lee Stone, 2013 Candlewick Press
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YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE Girl in the Blue Coat By Monica Hesse, 2016 Little, Brown Books for Children
Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings By Margarita Engle, 2016 Atheneum Books for Young Readers
With
With
Audacity By Melanie Crowder, 2016 Speak Publishing With
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We Will Not Be Silent By Russell Freedman, 2016 Clarion Books
Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal By Margarita Engle, 2014 HMH Books for Young Readers
Flesh & Blood So Cheap By Albert Marrin, 2011 Knopf Books for Young Readers
My Mother the Cheerleader By Robert Sharenow, 2009 Balzer & Bray
With
The Story of Ruby Bridges By Robert Coles, 1995 Scholastic, Inc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPK3zQM2dHU
About the Author: Dr. Suzii Christian Parsons teaches at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
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Dr. Allison Briceño and Dr. Adria F. Klein
The Influence of Home Language on Emergent Reading: Two Case Studies As a literacy coordinator in an urban district with over 75 percent English Learners (ELs), I (Allison, first author) was thrilled when we were able to hire an experienced, highly trained reading specialist, “Christine.” After a few weeks of school, Christine asked to meet with me. She showed me a few running records and commented that the reading behaviors she was noticing differed from those of students she had taught in her previous district; she was confused about what she was observing in our EL students and did not know how to help them. Christine’s prior experience was in a district with different demographics: The families were formally educated, from high socioeconomic backgrounds, and were mostly native English speakers. In Christine’s prior school, the linguistic and cultural capital the students brought to school aligned with the school’s expectations. Like many teachers across the nation, when Christine began to work with ELs she was unsure how to support their literacy development. The complex question of how to best serve ELs in U.S. schools seems to have many answers, and simultaneously, no answer. Much has been written about the topic, yet ELs are still underperforming compared to their native English speaking peers (August & Shanahan, 2008; Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, & Christian, 2006). Teachers are told to build on ELs’ strengths but are not given guidance about how to do this. We hope to begin a very practical conversation about how teachers can observe, analyze and build upon the language(s) ELs bring to school to support emergent reading. We begin by reframing the concept of ELs, referring to them instead as Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) to emphasize the additive nature of their English acquisition. In this article, we compare the reading behaviors of two second grade students with different language backgrounds in order to show how home language may influence students’ reading acquisition. The students are: (1) Daniel, an English Only (EO) student, and (2) Lucas, an EB in an English-only classroom who speaks
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Spanish at home. Both students were reading at the same level. We analyzed running records to show how the two students processed the same text differently based on their language background. Exploring how students from different language backgrounds read the same text provides insight into how language influences reading behaviors, and how teachers can personalize their instruction to address these behaviors for both EBs and EOs. Running Records and the Role of Language in Learning to Read Running records provide a standardized coding to record reading behaviors as students read aloud (Clay, 1967; Goodman, 1969). Teachers analyze the sources of information (meaning, syntax or visual) students use at point of difficulty (Clay, 2001, 2013). Running records are evidence of how students process text at a particular moment; processing becomes increasingly complex as students become more proficient readers (McGee, Kim, Nelson, & Fried, 2015). Running records have long been used to plan more targeted small group lessons (Fried, 2013; Kaye & Van Dyke, 2012). Since running records are intended to guide instruction, a teacher’s analysis can significantly impact the instruction a student receives, and consequently, his/her reading development (Clay, 2013; Fried, 2013; Kaye & Van Dyke, 2012). Even though language is the source of information relied upon most heavily by beginning readers (Clay, 2001), it is often not recognized as a factor in students’ literacy development. Students’ reliance on language can be observed in their use of language structure and vocabulary. Regardless of how proficient EBs may be in their home language, they are still developing some of the structural and vocabulary knowledge that could help them read in English, and having less English linguistic knowledge may interfere with their ability to predict text (Johnston, 1997). As a result of EBs’ difficulty using language structure to predict text, a teacher might interpret a behavior as a need for additional phonics or sight word instruction, when instead it might be a language related error (Briceño & Klein, 2016). For example, if an EB read “in” for “on,” the error might be due to the child’s knowledge of structure rather than incorrect use of visual information. Reteaching the word “on” as a sight word out of context might not help if the child believes it sounds right to get “in a plane” rather than “on a plane.” Instead, it would be important to teach “on” as part of the phrase, “on a plane” to support
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the student’s emerging structure. If we know what to look for in our analysis of oral reading, we can use running records to learn about students’ language and emergent literacy abilities and better support their acquisition of both. Students bring diverse language strengths to the process of acquiring literacy skills; however, many students’ home languages may not match the language of school. For example, students who speak African American Vernacular English at home might struggle when initially trying to create meaning from books that use standard English (Compton-Lilly, 2005). Similarly, emergent readers who speak Spanish at home tend to use what they know about language —both Spanish and English— when learning to read (García & Wei, 2014; Genesee, et al., 2006). As a result, there are patterns of language related errors that Spanish-speaking EB students tend to make when learning to read (Briceño & Klein, 2015, 2016). Knowing when an error might be language related can help teachers to provide more targeted, impactful instruction for their EBs, as teachers can help students bridge their home language and school language, lifting the level of language used regardless of the first language. Significant differences between the child’s language and the language of books at the emergent level can result in difficulty acquiring early literacy skills (Clay, 2001). Rather than focusing on language development, however, many literacy interventions and curricula narrowly focus on phonics instruction for struggling readers, leading EBs to learn, and re-learn, how to sound out words. In these instances, comprehension can easily get lost among the blends, digraphs, and long vowel patterns. Phonics is necessary, but insufficient by itself, as students decode print within a sea of language. For example, if a child encounters a new word in text, decoding it will not help the child comprehend unless s/he also understands the word in context. If we define reading as a “message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practiced” (Clay, 1991, p. 6), we must ensure that students are comprehending as they are reading. While we can never know for sure what is going on in a child’s head, running records are an observation point for understanding how emergent readers process text. Different Languages, Different Reading Behaviors As part of a larger study in an urban school in California, we took running records of second graders from different language backgrounds to try to begin to
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understand how their language might influence their reading. We asked students to read texts from a benchmark assessment system, the Qualitative Reading Inventory, 6th edition (Leslie & Caldwell, 2017). Students read texts at their instructional level that they had not seen before. In the following sections we describe the reading behaviors of two students of different language backgrounds whose results showed them to be reading at the same instructional level. Being in the same class and guided reading group, the boys received the same instruction at the same time. Both students were evaluated as reading at grade level, however, their running records show different strengths. While every child learns to read differently (Clay, 2001), we can look at examples of different students to consider aspects of their reading that might be related to language. However, they are just that: examples. Not all EBs will share the reading patterns that Lucas exhibits, and not all EOs will read like Daniel. Rather, our goals are (1) to show how a child’s language might influence how s/he processes text, and (2) to explain how teachers can observe and react to different students’ reading behaviors. Description of an EO’s Reading Daniel, whose home language is the same as the language of school (standard English), was a fast and fluent reader, using different voices for the different characters in the story. From this, we inferred that he was understanding who was talking and was likely comprehending the story. This guess was confirmed when we talked about the story after Daniel finished reading it. While reading, Daniel relied heavily on the story’s meaning and his knowledge of English structure, which was evident in his expression and his use of structure to anticipate the next word or phrase. As seen in Figure One, Daniel self-corrected using primarily visual information, which is apparent in the errors he made (they sounded right and made sense) and how he corrected them (using the print). For example, Daniel incorrectly anticipated that the text would read, “pulled back” instead of “pulled her,” and self-corrected at the point of difficulty using visual information. He appeared to do the same when he read and then corrected, “said Ling-Ling” instead of “she said.” Daniel’s errors, such as reading “the” for “that”, or “grandma” for “grandmother,” did not impact the meaning of the text. Although omissions are not coded on
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running records, Daniel’s omission of the word “had” also did not result in any changes to meaning, and the sentence sounded right without it. There was nothing in the reading, such as a long pause or nonsense words, to suggest that vocabulary or sentence structure were problematic for Daniel. Figure One is an excerpt from Daniel’s running record.
Figure 1 Description of an EB’s Reading A native Spanish speaker, Lucas read the same text as Daniel, but it appeared to be harder for him to determine if a sentence sounded right, as his home language (Spanish) differed from the language of the text (English). As a result, he relied less on structure and had to consider visual information more, which is apparent in the analysis of his errors. (Visual is circled for each error in Figure Two). Relying 17
heavily on visual information can be a slower process than using language to anticipate what is coming next and then checking it with visual information. Lucas’s over-reliance on visual information may have contributed to his slower pace. Lucas also made a number of language related errors (Briceño & Klein, 2016), such as verb tenses (both regular and irregular verbs), prepositions and contractions. He omitted the –ed ending when he read “jump” for “jumped,” but fixed a similar error when he worked through the word “saved,” initially saying “save.” Since there were a number of past tense verbs and Lucas made only one error, we infer that he is well into the process of acquiring the –ed ending on verbs. For the irregular verb “bitten,” Lucas said “bite-en.” His attempt suggests he knew that “bitten” comes from “bite,” but he may have been unfamiliar with the form of the word used in the text (“bitten”). Lucas confused “in” and “on,” which did not impact meaning in this case, although it may not sound right to a native English speaker. Prepositions that look similar have been found to be difficult for EBs (Bitchener, Young, & Cameron, 2005), and the same is true for contractions (Hakuta, 1976). In this text, Lucas read “had” for “hadn’t,” changing the meaning of the sentence drastically. As a result, it seemed unlikely that Lucas had understood this part of the story, and our conversation after reading confirmed that he had not. There are many more contractions in English than in Spanish, which may be one reason that contractions are difficult for Spanish-speaking EBs. Formal running record coding conventions do not have a way to identify long pauses, as teachers’ practices can be unreliable (Clay, 2013), but we used a number sign (#) to indicate a pause because we find the information to be helpful for formative analyses. Figure Two shows that Lucas had a number of long pauses at the end of phrases rather than at the end of sentences, and in some cases these pauses may have been a sign of comprehension breaking down. For example, in the first two lines of text Lucas read, “Ling-Ling got up and saw a shiny stone # in the water.” It seemed that Lucas thought that the sentence stopped after “stone.” The phrase “in the water” was read as if it were a sentence unto itself; it was unclear what Lucas understood. Following up with a question after the reading would be one way to learn more about what Lucas comprehended. A teacher could also note the need to provide scaffolded opportunities to hear and use complex sentences throughout the instructional day. 18
Figure 2 Why is this Important? Implications for Practice Primary teachers face the difficult task of teaching large groups of young diverse learners, in a short period of time, everything they need to know to be successful, prolific readers and writers of a range of genres. This daunting task must be accomplished in addition to teaching all subjects and in a context that includes an endless number of interruptions such as assemblies, fire drills, and conflicts between students. The more accurately a teacher can address the immediate needs of particular students, especially in small groups, the more efficiently the children will learn. Therefore, becoming keen observers of students’ reading is critical, which includes considering how a child’s language may support, or interfere with, his or her reading. 19
Despite being at the same instructional level and in the same guided reading group, Daniel and Lucas require very different instruction because their varying knowledge of English influences their reading in different ways. For example, Daniel may need to slow down at points of difficulty and look at visual information more closely rather than repeatedly reread to self-correct. In contrast, Lucas, who tends to read slowly and over-rely on visual information, would not benefit from the lesson Daniel needs. In fact, it would reinforce reading behaviors that a teacher would want to change in Lucas. Similarly, a lesson on predicting what word(s) might come next would likely benefit Lucas but not Daniel. The two students do not need to be in the same reading group every day just because they are at the same instructional level. There may be a day when each boy reads with a slightly higher or lower group in order to benefit from a lesson that would meet his instructional needs. The boys can participate in the same guided reading group on days when the teaching objective would meet both their needs. The more precisely a teacher can meet a student’s individual needs, the more effective the instruction will be (Schwartz, 2005). In order to meet those needs, however, a teacher must be excellent at observing and analyzing a child’s reading. Considering why a student might be making a particular pattern of errors will help to identify the next instructional steps. Clay (2013) suggests teachers ask themselves, “Did the child’s oral language produce the error with little influence from the print?” (p. 72). Collaborating with colleagues can make this task easier, and can also help to build productive, student-oriented communities of practice. Conclusion Teachers can better target their instruction to meet students’ individual needs by refining their observation and running record analysis skills to identify how a child’s language might be influencing their reading. To begin, ask, “Why might the student have made these error patterns? What role might the child’s language play in her reading?” The answers to those questions, particularly when discussed with colleagues, should help to clarify the next instructional steps for a particular student.
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For example, despite testing at the same instructional text level, Daniel and Lucas require distinct instruction due to their different reading behaviors. It is important for teachers to remember that while Lucas is not as proficient in English as Daniel, he is more proficient in Spanish than Daniel. Lucas has a foundation of two languages from which he can draw, which is an asset. Clay (2005) reminds us to value children’s home language, stating: Children who come to school speaking any language will have a preparation for literacy learning that is to be valued, whatever that prior language is … We need to see them as competent children who speak and problem-solve well in their first culture. (p. 6) Valuing students’ home language enables them to add the form of English that is expected in school, including book language, as an additional language. Teacher language such as, “Let’s see how the book says it,” is gentler than, “That’s not how we say it.” While there is still a lot to learn about how students’ language backgrounds might influence their reading and how to instruct students with varying language strengths, becoming a keen observer of reading and language can help teachers better support students’ acquisition of literacy. Authors’ note: The case studies presented here are part of a larger study exploring the varying reading patterns and instructional needs of Emergent Bilinguals at different proficiency levels of language and literacy.
References August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2008). Developing reading and writing in second-language learners. New York, NY: Routledge. Bitchener, J., Young, S. & Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 191-205. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2005.08.001 Briceño, A. & Klein, A. F. (2015, December). The use and analysis of running records with primary students learning English. Literacy Research Association (LRA) Conference, Carlsbad, CA. Briceño, A. & Klein, A. F. (2016). Making instructional decisions: Deepening our understanding of English Learners’ processing in reading. Journal of Reading Recovery, 16(1), 55-66.
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B Clay, M. M. (1967). The reading behavior of five year old children: A research report. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 2(1), 11-37 Clay, M. M. (1991). Becoming literate: The construction of inner control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Clay, M. M. (2001). Change over time in children's literacy development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Clay, M. M. (2005). Literacy lessons designed for individuals, part 1: Why? when? and how? Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Clay, M.M. (2013). An observation survey of early literacy achievement (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Compton-Lilly, C. (2005). Nuances of error: Considerations relevant to African American Vernacular English and learning to read. Literacy Teaching and Learning, 10(1), 43-58. Fried, M. D. (2013). Activating teaching: Using running records to inform teaching decisions. Journal of Reading Recovery, 12(1), 5-16. GarcĂa, O. & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., & Christian, D. (2006). Educating English language learners: A synthesis of research evidence. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Goodman, K. S. (1969). Analysis of oral reading miscues: Applied psycholinguistics. Reading Research Quarterly, 5, 9-30. Hakuta, K. (1976). A case study of a Japanese child learning English as a second language. Language Learning, 26, 321–351. Johnston, P. H. (1997). Knowing literacy: Constructive literacy assessment. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Kaye, E. L. & Van Dyke, J. (2012). Interpreting running records: Examining common practices. Journal of Reading Recovery, 11(2), 5-21.
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Leslie, L. & Caldwell, J. S. (2017). Qualitative reading inventory, 6th edition. New York, NY: Pearson. McGee, L. M., Kim, H., Nelson, K. S., & Fried, M. D. (2015). Change over time in first graders’ strategic use of information at point of difficulty in reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 50(3), 263–291. doi: 10.1002/rrq.98 Schwartz, R. M. (2005). Decisions, decisions: Responding to primary students during guided reading. Reading Teacher, 58(5), 436-443.
About the Authors: Dr. Allison Briceño teaches at San José State University and Dr. Adria Klein teaches at Saint Mary’s College of California.
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Dr. Kelli Carney and Dr. Barbara Ray
Using Historical Narrative to Bring History to Life Introduction Fostering readers’ abilities to make sense of the past, understand the sense of self in the overall picture, and make personal connections have continually been on the agendas of effective teachers. Historical fiction literature is one tool educators can use to help history come alive and possibly evoke empathetic reader responses. Empathy may be one response to help counteract some destructive notions of xenophobia and other discriminatory behavior so apparent in today’s diverse society. This article looks at the role of historical fiction in young readers’ lives, and how this role informs educators’ agendas for social influence and change. Following this discussion is an annotated list of some of the authors’ favorite historical fiction books for children and young adults. Why Historical Fiction? Reading stories of other people, places, and times can satisfy our curiosity about people and places and give us an opportunity to venture into fearful and dangerous places. Young readers develop through exploring, questioning, critiquing, and testing the world as they work to define their identity. As readers explore novels, they can vicariously confront their own feelings, validate viewpoints, and consider different solutions to their own problems. It is hard for readers to envision what it was like in a particular time and place, so if we can provide a character whom readers can relate to it may be easier for them to understand. Historical novels allow us-at their best they force us-to make connections and to realize that despair is as old and as new as hope, that loyalty and treachery, love and hatred, compassion and cruelty were and are inherent in humanity, whether it be in ancient Greece, Elizabethan England, or postWorld War I Germany (Donelson & Nilsen, 2008, p. 244). One main key to guiding young readers to understand history is to help them move beyond rote memorization with its old-fashioned persona of memorizing
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facts and dates without exploring the context, the people, and the challenges the people faced during particular life events (Goudvis & Harvey, 2012). One way educators can make this exploration smooth for readers is to teach genre-specific reading processes. Duke and Roberts (2010) suggest that reading comprehension is actually genre-specific. Distinguishing between fact and fiction is part of the process of understanding historical narrative. Youngs and Serafini (2011) describe one such process for readers of historical fiction. They believe readers should look at historical fiction as “existing on a continuum between a factually accurate accounting of events at one end and a fictional narrative on the other” (p. 117). Suzanne Keen’s (2006) theory of narrative empathy informs this notion and posits that “character identification” and “narrative situation” (p. 216) could be responsible for developing readers’ empathy. For example, the media paints an exciting view of atrocities such as war. Providing an in-depth, unbiased story about wars throughout the ages can help readers better understand why wars occur and the consequences for all who are involved. This could help readers make connections with the characters and more fully understand the developed settings and plots through lenses of varying points of view which is important in developing empathy (Keen, 2006). The focus on history allows the reader to reconstruct and reinterpret the past, analyze viewpoints, look for change and the consequences. The facts will become clear, and readers will also have a clearer idea of the values, beliefs, activities, events and social issues of a particular time period. This understanding may help readers make connections and possibly develop empathy, and as empathy is developed, social behaviors may be positively influenced. Outcomes of Reading Historical Fiction The authors posit three main outcomes of reading historical fiction. Exploring this genre and applying the life lessons to history in context and to life, in general, brings history to life. Bringing history to life helps readers interpret the past, fosters critical thinking, and aids interpretation and application. Another outcome is to assist readers in understanding their heritage and the heritage of others, including social and cultural boundaries. A third outcome is that reading and exploring history through historical fiction may foster empathy in readers to help them admire traits of some historical figures, relate to others, and generally empathize with others less fortunate than themselves. We’ll explore each of these outcomes in this section.
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Interpreting the Past for Critical Thinking and Application One advantage of historical fiction is that it is a great resource for meeting state and national standards that ask our students to look for multiple viewpoints, reinterpret the past and consider patterns of change. Developing readers’ visual literacy skills is one teaching strategy to help guide this process. “Historical fiction picture books are challenging because they are multimodal, meaning they include more than one mode or system of meaning, namely visual images, design elements, and written language” (Youngs & Serafini, 2011, p. 115). Students are used to visual images, so it is important to point out the illustrations in the books and discuss what the students observe. We need to read the pictures as well as the text to maximize learning and understanding. Using picture books with teens allows us to create an engaging reading experience in the short time allotted in the classroom. Teachers can introduce a subject and those who want to know more may be directed to a non-fiction book that further discusses the event or person. We know there is a range of truth in our historical fiction. Pointing out the maps, primary sources used, and the glossary or end of chapter notes helps give credibility to what the students see. This strategy also gives students a starting point to continue their own inquiry research. Understanding Our Heritage and the Heritage of Others Reading historical fiction allows us to understand our own heritage and the heritage of others. We can admire and empathize with the pride the characters take in their national, ethnic, or racial encounters. We can get a glimpse of the actions and inactions of those who lived before our time. Social studies textbooks concentrate on facts, making it more difficult for the reader to identify with events and how they impact others’ lives. Readers need time to think about what they are reading and that does not often happen when reading a textbook. Goudvis and Harvey (2012) indicate, “Memorizing facts and birth-death dates without learning about the time period, the people themselves, and the challenges they faced dumbs down history” (p. 52).
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Developing Empathy Literature has the potential to naturally develop readers’ empathy. This idea is not new and is supported in the literature (Johnansen, 2010; Kidd & Castano, 2013); however, specific focus on historical fiction to foster empathy in readers is not as well represented but nonetheless deserves merit. Historical stories with rich details that show readers how the events affected the characters’ lives will help them understand and potentially remember the historical events surrounding the story. These stories also help young readers “connect to the emotions engendered by past events” (Short, Lynch-Brown, & Tomlinson, 2014, p. 178). Reading historical fiction has the potential to build readers’ cultural understanding and help them “develop a sense of social justice” which leads to a “greater capacity to empathize with others” (p. 7). This happens in natural progression as readers are guided to think critically about what they read (Goudvis & Harvey, 2012). Connections to other characters similar to and different from themselves can be made through literature, including novels and picture books. Exploring images in picture books helps cultivate empathetic responses in young readers. Being able to read images to recognize fear, distress, and joy is a beginning trait for developing empathy in young children (Evans, 2001). Combining the strategy of visual literacy development with historical fiction picture books is beneficial to developing empathy. Conclusion Characteristics of quality historical fiction pertain to all good literature: characters and plot that are well developed, a believable setting, and a style that peaks the reader’s interest with a worthwhile theme (Chance, 2014). Particular to the historical fiction genre, a good historical fiction novel includes an integral setting, authentic time, place, and people, and references to historical events that help the reader understand the times and relate to the story (Donelson & Nilsen, 2008). Historical fiction must accurately reflect the values, beliefs, and actions of the time period. Main characters must exhibit the characteristics of the time period with authentic dialog (Short, et al., 2014). As teachers face the important task of bridging relational and cultural gaps in today’s diverse society, any tool to help promote social justice within natural responses to literature is welcomed. Historical fiction is one such tool. We looked at the various reasons educators should urge explorations with historical narrative. These include fostering readers’ ability to interpret the past and foster 27
critical thinking while making history come alive, understanding reader's own heritage and the heritage of others, and the potential development of empathy. These ideas provide practical strategies to inform educators’ agendas for social influence and change. The authors include a list of their favorite historical fiction books that they believe meet the above criteria. In addition, the authors include a few notable nonfiction books which support historical connections. Following is a list of titles with brief annotations. Books are organized by time period in chronological order and labeled Picture book (PB), Children, Young Adult (YA), and Non-fiction (NF). Annotated List of Historical Fiction Books for Young Readers Time Period: 1800’s Sitting Bull, the Life of a Lakota Sioux Chief by Gary Jeffrey and Katy Petty. (YA Graphic Novel) The story of the Sioux tribe forced to deal with the expansion of white settlers moving into the Indian territories is presented through a graphic novel format. The Crossing by Donna Jo Napoli. 1805-1806 (PB; Children) This beautiful, poetic picture book tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of young Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Sacagawea’s young son. Beautiful illustrations capture the mood and emotion of each encounter. How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle. 1835 (YA) Isaac, a Choctaw ghost walking the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma provides insight and assistance to a determined teenage girl, a shape-shifting panther boy, a lovable five-year-old ghost and a talking dog, Jumper. The Best Shot in the West by Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick L. McKissack Jr. (YA Graphic Novel) Nat Love, also known as Deadwood Dick, was one of the most famous African American cowboys and an acquaintance of Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid.
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Clara and Davie: The True Story of Young Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross y at i ia ola o hil en This biographical account of the childhood of Clara Barton (founder of the American Red Cross) details the beginnings of her love of healing and nurturing. Underground by Shane W. Evans. 1861-1865 (PB; Children) Very little text and vibrant, emotional collaged paintings tell the story of the Underground Railroad. This story inspires hope and can be enjoyed by preschool and up. Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan. 1865 (YA) Two orphans on a 2,000-mile ride on the Oregon Trail encounter squabbling families, rattlesnakes, wolf attacks, deadly rivers, Indians, and small pox, Prairie River: A Journey of Faith by Kristiana Gregory. 1865 (YA) Nessa boards a stagecoach bound for Kansas, becoming a teacher in a one room schoolhouse and an important part of the community. Coolies by Yin, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. 1865 (PB; Children; YA) This beautiful picture storybook highlights the historical background of the American railroad. Chinese laborers set off to America, the land of opportunity, in 1865 and endure many hardships Brothers by Yin, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. 1869 (PB; Children; YA) This beautiful picture storybook continues the story of “Coolies” with a focus on the unlikely friendship between Ming, an early Chinese immigrant, and Patrick, a young Irish boy. The Traitor by Laurence Yep. 1885 (YA) Competition between whites and Chinese is rampant in the coal mines and the laundries in Wyoming Territory. Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Brian Selznick. 1820s-1860s (Children) This gripping story follows Charlotte Parkhurst and details how she was allowed to vote in the 1868 presidential election.
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The Revenant y on a en le Willemina, seventeen, pretends to be a teacher at the Cherokee Female Seminary in Tahlequah, OK. to get away from her mother and stepfather. Time Period: 1900-1940’s Into the Firestorm, A Novel of San Francisco, 1906 by Deborah Hopkinson. (Children) This action-packed novel follows the life of a young orphan and outlines how he finds himself in the middle of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. Jim Thorpe: Original All American by Joseph Bruchac. 1907 (YA; NF) The life of Jim Thorpe, born in 1887, is portrayed; particularly his athletic ability playing professional football, major league baseball, and winning Olympic gold medals in track and field. A Death Struck Year by Makiia Lucier. 1918 (YA) When the Spanish influenza breaks out, Cleo offers her services to the area makeshift hospital. Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog by Ann Bausum. 1918+ (YA; NF) Pictures tell the story about war; what it was like without all the advanced weapons and the emotions that go with war but are lessened by the staunch support of a dog mascot. Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain by Russell Freedman. 1900’s 1892-1940 (YA; NF) Approximately one million immigrants from Japan, China, and Korea endured terrible conditions at Angel Island off the coast of California between 1892 and 1940. Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman. 1923 (YA) Jae Moon leaves China, disguising herself as a man in an effort to free other Chinese girls from prostitution in San Francisco.
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Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School by Adam Fortunate Eagle. 1930’s (YA) An autobiographical account of Adam Fortunate Eagle’s life as a student at the Pipestone Indian School in MN between the years of 1935 and 1945. Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac. 1939-1945 (YA) Six-year-old Ned Begay leaves his Navajo home for boarding school, later joining the Marines during WWII using his native language as a code talker. So Far from the Sea by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. 1942 (PB; Children) A father retells the story of how, as a young boy, he came to live in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp after the Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. Breathtaking illustrations accompany the text and add depth and detail to the experiences. Brave Like My Brother by Marc Tyler Nobleman. 1942-1944 (Children) Written in letters, this is the story of two brothers conversing back and forth. One brother is home and the other is serving in the army in the United Kingdom at the beginning of WWII. Time Period 1950’s - 1970’s A Dance Like Starlight, One Ballerina’s Dream by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 1951 (PB; Children) This beautiful picture book tells the story of a young African American girl and her opportunity to see the opening debut of Janet Collins, the first African American ballerina to be hired full time by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. We March by Shane W. Evans. 1963 (PB; Children) Suitable for young readers, very little text and vibrant illustrations follow a family and tells the story of their journey during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
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oice of Freedom Fannie ou amer, S irit of the Civil Rights ovement y a ole o ton eathe o ill t ate y E a olme hil en oet y This beautiful book of poetry celebrates the life of Fannie Mae Hamer, a civil rights leader and voting rights activist. Beautiful collage illustrations provide insight into each event presented in chronological order with moving, narrative poetry. Revolution by Deborah Wiles. 1964 (YA) The summer of 1964 brings great unrest to Sunny’s Mississippi town when there is talk about Freedom Summer where people from the north arrive to help register people to vote. Freedom Summer by Don Mitchell. 1964 (YA) Three men were lynched in the summer of 1964 for their efforts to register African American voters; contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimner. 1965 (YA; NF) The story behind California’s migrant Filipino American workers who endured great hardships as they picked grapes is told with images that lend credibility to the facts and the emotions. Holding up the Earth by Dianne E. Gray. 1869 1900 1936 1960’s (YA) Hope learns about the families that came before her foster mother through journals, letters, and listening to stories; a homestead claim for a sod house constructed, hobos looking for food, fallout shelters, civil defense missiles, and Kennedy’s assassination. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. 1975 (Children; YA) This novel in verse beautifully tells the story of Ha, a ten-year old Vietnamese girl, and her family’s journey from escaping the fall of Saigon to live in Alabama. Time Period 2000’s Upside Down and in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana. 2005 (YA) Hurricane Katrina ruins a birthday party, with the family trying to survive water rushing, rescue boats, and the experience of the Superdome. 32
I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011 by Lauren Tarshis. (Children) This book is from the very popular I Survived series and follows a young boy’s journey through the perilous, rain-wrapped EF5 tornado of May 22, 2011. Factual information and a detailed bibliography provide more information. References Chance, R. 2014. (2 ed.) Young Adult Literature in Action: A librarian’s guide. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Donelson, K.L & Nilsen, A. P. (2008). History and history makers: Of people and places. In Literature for Today’s Young Adults (8th ed.) (pp. 243-276). Boston: Pearson. Duke, N.K., & Roberts, K.M. (2010). The genre-specific nature of reading comprehension. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language, and literacy teaching (pp. 7486). London: Routledge. Evans, D. (2001) Emotions: A very short introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Goudvis, A., & Harvey, S. (2012). Teaching for historical literacy. Educational Leadership. Johnansen, J.D. (2010). Feelings in literature. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 44, 185-196. Keen, S. (2006). A theory of narrative empathy. Narrative (14)3, 207-236. Kidd, D.C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science, 342(6156), 377-380. Short, K.G., Lynch-Brown, C., & Tomlinson, C.M. (2014). Essentials of Children’s Literature (8th ed.). New York: Pearson. Youngs, S. & Serafini, F. (2011). Comprehension strategies for reading historical fiction Picture books. Reading Teacher, 65(2), 115-124. nd
About the Authors: Dr. Kelli Carney and Dr. Barbara Ray are from Northeastern State University in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
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Dr. Seth Parsons, Samantha Ives, and Dr. Allison Parsons
Motivating Literacy Learning with SelfDetermination Theory Motivation is an ever-present consideration for teachers. In any given classroom, there are children who are engaged with the work regardless of what it is. There are also children who are disinterested in seemingly anything academic that occurs in the classroom. Motivation to read is an especially important topic for teachers because motivation to read is associated with reading amount and reading achievement (Guthrie et al., 2006; Schiefele, Schaffner, Möller, & Wigfield, 2012). Encouraging students to engage with texts is perhaps one of the most important goals a teacher should strive for. Let’s take a peek into a fourthgrade classroom: Students file in from recess a little sweaty on the warm spring day. The teacher keeps the lights low and has classical music playing softly for a few minutes of “quiet time” so students can calm down after playing outside and get back into an academic mindset. After four or five minutes the teacher transitions to her literacy block. She begins by reading aloud from Maniac Magee (Spinelli, 1990), the classic young adult novel they are reading together as a class. Motivated readers like Juan and Christy eagerly pay attention, showing interest in the text, laughing aloud at humorous parts, and gasping at unexpected events—even whining when the teacher comes to the stopping point for the day. Other students, like Rosa and Tim, show little interest in the story, playing tic-tac-toe with each other under their desks as the teacher reads. Such engagement patterns continue throughout the literacy block: Juan and Christy write enthusiastically during writing time and consistently confer with their peers to get feedback on an idea or to ask for help with using dialogue. Rosa and Tim, “Can’t think of anything to write about.” Are Juan and Christy inherently motivated while Rosa and Tim are inherently unmotivated? Researchers (e.g., Fredricks & McColskey, 2012; Parsons, Malloy, Parsons, & Burrowbridge, 2015; Shernoff, 2013) suggest, and we argue here, that
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the answer to that question is, “No.” Indeed, a better understanding of motivation, and of instructional practices that support motivation, can help teachers create an engaging literacy block and students who are enthusiastic about reading and writing. In this article, we strive to encourage teachers to think more about what motivation is and how it can be supported in a literacy learning environment. We begin by describing self-determination theory, a leading theory of human behavior. What is Self-Determination Theory? The self-determination theory of motivation centers on two main types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic (Linnenbrink-Garcia & Patall, 2015). Intrinsic motivation is the compulsion to do something for its own inherent value or for enjoyment. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from completing a task for reasons external to the task itself. Sources of extrinsic motivation include grades, tangible rewards, and avoidance of punishment. Intrinsic motivation, as compared to extrinsic motivation, is a better predictor of positive outcomes such as engagement and achievement (Ryan & Deci, 2000a; Schaffner, Schiefele, & Ulferts, 2013). Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness The creators of self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2000b), posit that human behavior is motivated by the desire to satisfy three basic needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is the need to feel in control or to have a sense of independence. Autonomy is related to the idea that you have at least some control over your own destiny. If that control is removed, a person’s mentality becomes, “It doesn’t matter what I do,” and he is unmotivated to act in any particular way. Next, individuals possess the need to feel competence: that they are able to successfully complete an activity or understand a concept. Repeated failure is one of the fastest ways to reduce an individual’s motivation to engage in a particular activity. Conversely, researchers have found that nothing is more motivating than success (Pressley, 2006). However, this conclusion is based on success with appropriately challenging activities; being successful at simple tasks does not promote motivation.
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Finally, relatedness is the need to feel part of a community or group. Humans are social beings and engaging with others on meaningful work is motivating. This is why research has repeatedly found that collaborative rather than competitive environments are motivating (Pressley, 2006). A recent study of students’ engagement in literacy instruction asked sixth-grade students if they were interested in various activities they completed and why. The most common reason students gave for being interested in a task was that they collaborated with their peers (Parsons, Malloy, Parsons, Peters-Burton, & Burrowbridge, in press). When these needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met, individuals’ motivation increases, and they adopt strategies to persist through challenges to accomplish goals or complete tasks. We have found that when teachers intentionally attend to these needs in students, they can turn Rosa and Tim into motivated learners like Juan and Christy. So the question becomes, “In my literacy instruction, how can I support students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness?” In the following sections, we describe how teachers support these in students—first one-by-one and then collectively in Table 1. How to Support Autonomy in the Classroom? Supporting students’ autonomy will increase their intrinsic motivation in the classroom. The most basic way to provide autonomy is to give students choice. For example, allowing students to select the texts they read or the way in which they read them (e.g., on audio, in a small group, or independently) helps to fulfill students’ need for autonomy. Students’ autonomy not only includes independence, but it also requires engaging in activities that are perceived as interesting or valuable. Teachers who get to know their students’ interests and aspirations are equipped to create student-focused instruction in which students purposefully learn. This way, the choices provided to students will be relevant and activating. An example of accomplishing this in the classroom is highlighting how specific literacy skills apply to students’ outside hobbies or future goals. Encouraging students to communicate in the classroom is another way to support autonomy. Discussion provides opportunities for students to address their objectives and clarify their perspectives. Not only is student-led discussion in itself autonomy-supportive, but listening to students’ viewpoints allows teachers to build responsive learning environments.
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How to Support Competence in the Classroom? Students need to feel a sense of competence in order to do their best. To fulfill this need for competence, students require supportive structure. One way to accomplish this is to ensure that students understand the guidelines of an assignment. Giving clear instructions is one way to supply students with structure. For example, providing students with the objective of, or rationale for, a reading task will help them to focus on specific aims. Another way to support students’ competence is through strategy instruction. Teaching students how to effectively use strategies such as self-monitoring and making predictions gives them the tools they need to persist through challenging tasks independently. An additional structure-supportive technique is providing students with positive and helpful feedback. Feedback is important for students to recognize their own growth and to work toward filling any gaps in their understanding. How to Support Relatedness in the Classroom? To promote relatedness in their classrooms, teachers can use a variety of strategies to get students to talk and collaborate. Simple techniques like having students “turn and talk” to share ideas during a reading, for example, can promote relatedness. Teachers can also use more substantial collaborative structures, such as literature circles, book clubs, and collaborative project-based tasks, to name a few, to encourage relatedness. It is important to remember that relatedness is more than just working cooperatively; it is feeling as though one belongs. Therefore, in addition to creating opportunities for students to collaborate with one another, it is important that teachers create a positive, safe, supportive environment in which all students are valued and value their classmates. The Responsive Classroom philosophy is a well-known, researchbased approach to instruction that supports the whole child: cognitive, social, and emotional (www.responsiveclassroom.org). This approach supports students’ perceptions of relatedness (Rimm-Kaufman & Chiu, 2007).
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Table 1 – Strategies to Support Students’ Needs Quick everyday strategies Strategies that require more time/planning ● Provide choices in texts and reading ● Get to know your students’ interests processes ● Give clear guidelines for all reading ● Highlight how literacy relates to assignments ● Engage in strategy instruction students’ goals ● Create literature circles or book clubs ● Give students positive and helpful ● Utilize the Responsive Classroom feedback approach ● Offer students rationales for their literacy-related assignments ● Encourage student-led discussions How Does Increased Motivation Support Students’ Literacy Learning? There is no question that students’ motivation to read impacts their reading skills, but researchers propose different ideas about how or why this happens. A common belief is that the relationship between reading motivation and reading ability includes the amount of reading one does. One theory is that when students are motivated they will engage in reading more frequently. Since these students are reading more, through practice they are becoming better at reading. Some assert that there is a reciprocal relationship between reading amount, reading motivation, and reading comprehension. This means that when students are motivated they read more, and since they read more they become better at reading and thus more motivated to read (Guthrie, Anderson, Alao, & Rinehart, 1999). Others find that intrinsically motivated students engage in the reading process differently. When students are motivated to read, they want to understand text. As such, students will employ various reading strategies in order to meet their goal. Specifically, Taboada, Tonks, Wigfield, and Guthrie (2009) found that students who are internally motivated to read are more likely to connect the text to their background knowledge. When students connect text to background knowledge during reading, their comprehension benefits. Additionally, motivated students engage in higher-level questioning strategies while reading. This means that when motivated students read a text, they form their own questions. The practices of both connecting a text to background knowledge and asking
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questions explicate how intrinsically motivated students are active participants in the reading process. Conclusion Let’s look back into our fourth-grade classroom now that students’ three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—are being met: As the teacher transitions students to the independent work time of the literacy block, students scatter about the classroom. Desks are moved, books are grabbed, and discussions begin. When the teacher hears an exasperated gasp from Rosa, she inches toward her to assess the problem. Rosa sighs to Christy, “I just can’t believe that Percy’s mom would hide his true identity from him. I would be so mad!” Christy nods in agreement as they both turn back to their books and Rosa starts reading aloud again. Instead of a gasp this time, the teacher worries about the silence from the other side of the classroom. She sees Tim furiously flipping through his social studies textbook. Even though she considers that he may be off-task, she waits and observes. He lands on a page and both he and Juan point to the same mark on the timeline. “See!” they proclaim as the rest of their group huddles around the textbook and then each grabs his individual copy of Hiroshima (Yep, 1996) to double-check the boys’ assessment. Clearly, students’ reading motivation has important implications for how students read and interact with texts. Students who are intrinsically motivated to read are more involved in the reading process, are stronger readers, and are more likely to voluntarily take part in reading activities. Teachers play a powerful role in enhancing students’ intrinsic motivation in the classroom. Teachers’ support of all students’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness helps students thrive in a literacy environment. By using strategies outlined in this article, students like Rosa and Tim can become just as engaged and involved in reading as their peers.
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References Fredricks, J. A., & McColskey, W. (2012). The measurement of student engagement: A comparative analysis of various methods and student selfreport instruments. In S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 763-782). New York, NY: Springer. Guthrie, J. T., Anderson, E., & Rinehart, J. (1999). Influence of concept-oriented reading instruction on strategy use and conceptual learning from text. Elementary School Journal, 99(4), 343-366. doi: 10.1086/461929 Guthrie, J. T., Wigfield, A., Humenick, N. M., Perencevich, K. C., Tabaoda, A., & Barbosa, P. (2006). Influences of stimulating tasks on reading motivation and comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 99, 232-246. doi:10. 3200.JOER.99.4.232-246 Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., & Patall, E. A. (2015). Motivation. In L. Corno, & E. M. Anderman (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (3rd ed., pp. 91-103). New York, NY: Routledge. Parsons, S. A., Malloy, J. A., Parsons, A. W., & Burrowbridge, S. C. (2015). Students’ engagement in literacy tasks. The Reading Teacher, 69, 223-231. doi:10. 1002.trtr.1378 Parsons, S. A., Malloy, J. A., Parsons, A. W., Peters-Burton, E., & Burrowbridge, S. C. (in press). Sixth-grade students’ engagement in academic tasks. The Journal of Educational Research. doi:10/1080.00220671.2016.1246408 Pressley, M. (2006). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Chiu, Y-J. I. (2007). Promoting social and academic competence in the classroom: An intervention study examining the contribution of the Responsive Classroom approach. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 397-413. doi:10.1002/pits.20231 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000a). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-63. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000b). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
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Schaffner, E., Schiefele, U., & Ulferts, H. (2013). Reading amount as a mediator of effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 48, 369-385. doi:10.1002/rrq.52 Schiefele, U., Schaffner, E., Mรถller, J., & Wigfield, A. (2012). Dimensions of reading motivation and their relation to reading behavior and competence. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 427-463. doi:10.1002/RRQ.030 Shernoff, D. J. (2013). Optimal learning environments to promote student engagement. New York, NY: Springer. Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company. Taboada, A., Tonks, S. M., Wigfield, A., & Guthrie, J. T. (2009). Effects of motivational and cognitive variables on reading comprehension. Reading and Writing, 22, 85-106. Yep, L. (1996). Hiroshima. New York, NY: Scholastic About the Authors: Dr. Parsons, Ms. Ives, and Dr. Parsons bring us this information from George Mason University in Virginia.
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RESEARCH SUMMARY
Support for Fluency in Silent Reading Editor’s Notes The featured research for this column is from: Gross, J., Winegard, B., & Plotkowski, A. R (2017). Marking Stress ExPLICitly in Written English Fosters Rhythm in the Reader’s Inner Voice. Reading Research Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.198
Fluency is recognized as one of the important elements used by readers to support proficient reading. Fluency includes automaticity (recognizing words without needing to pause and decode them), rate (reading speed or words read correctly per minute), and prosody (reading smoothly with appropriate phrasing, pauses, inflection, emphasis). These components of fluency are apparent when teachers listen to children who are reading aloud. Even when a young child begins to “read it to myself,” a teacher can listen, since the child typically continues to read aloud, even in an undertone. Eventually, the read-aloud voice becomes a silent “inner voice”. Extensive research studies supporting this concept of an “inner voice” are reviewed in the article. Reading smoothly and with expression supports understanding of text during oral reading, and that same type of reading can support text comprehension during silent reading. Proficient readers hear an inner voice that reads phrase by phrase instead of reading in a choppy word by word manner. The inner voice includes pauses, emphasis, and inflection that support meaning construction. The components of fluency during silent reading are no longer apparent as teachers assess readers’ proficiency. Therefore, research on the role of fluency in silent reading is important to help teachers know more about effective support as silent reading become more important for readers beyond the emergent stages of literacy development. Research Study A recent research study provides insights into silent reading fluency. The researchers conducted two experiments related to the stress-altering rhythm in English language that is not marked in the orthography (spelling patterns). During the experiments, reading materials used added print clues to support fluency. The researchers changed the appearance of the print to mark the stress pulses. They used capital letters, bolding, and enlargement of the print to show stress. This type of print was intended to be perceptually obvious and give clues to facilitate easy interactions, as readers use existing knowledge to ease the transfer of what is known to new contexts.
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RESEARCH SUMMARY
The authors stated that their “ongoing studies are evaluating whether marking stress explicitly in written English might aid struggling readers and late speakers of English. (Gross, Winegard, & Plotkowski, p. 1).” The introductory literature review section of the article provides a comprehensive overview of fluency. Research studies which were included described several types of fluency components, including the following: (Note: examples were given in the article.). • Alphabetic literacy (mastering letter-sound correspondence) • Understanding the prosody of English (vocal qualities such as stress, rhythm, timing, emphasis, intonation, and appropriate pausing and phrasing) • Placing appropriate stress for the noun and verb forms of words such as REcall and reCALL • Stress shifting when affixes are added such as ARtist vs. arTIStic Experiment One The first experiment investigated whether readers represent rhythm as they read silently. The reading material was formal poems, a type of text based on rhythms with a carefully arranged pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Participants were fifty-eight students in introductory psychology courses at a public university in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Fifty-seven were native English speakers, and one was a native Spanish speaker. Seven were also fluent in a second language. The poems followed three types of meters. In a trochaic meter, a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed meter (“PEter, PEter, PUMPkin EATer”). An iambic meter is based on an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (“The MAN is SMALL”). An anapestic meter has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (And the HOUSE is the PLACE). The second goal was to examine prosody sensitivity as an individual difference variable. Measures in the research included: • Primer trials where participants were introduced to the idea of stylistically marked stressed by asking them to choose the better use of capitalization (“Sam needed to practice his bow with greater acCURacy/ACcuracy”). • A poetry memory test (a variation on a reading comprehension test in which participants were asked about specific words and phrases in a text) with a multiple choice question for each of twenty-four poems that the participant read. • A poet recognition test where participants sorted a list of 60 names in categories of famous poets or of other people, such as actors, political figures, and comedians. • A demographic questionnaire which asked the participants to report: their scores on a college admission screening test (ACT); cumulative grade point average
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RESEARCH SUMMARY
(GPA); and the number of poems they had read in the past year (10 or fewer, 1120, 1`-30, 31 or more). Reading stimuli were twenty excerpts from published poetry and four written by the researchers. There were eight poems of each meter type. The final line of a poem was stylistically altered to be either congruous or incongruous with the poem’s meter. Congruous lines would fit the expected meter of the poem, while incongruous lines would be different from the expected meter. Participants were told that a creative, prize-winning poet decided to stylistically highlight parts of words to enhance the reading of poetry. The finished book was sent to the publisher, but a computer virus corrupted the book and altered the stylistic changes. Participants were asked to sort the excerpts into categories of virus-corrupted, unhelpful versions or intentional, helpful versions. The study was a 3 x 2 x 2 experimental design. Results were consistent with expected findings based on the linguistic theories cited in the study. Stylistic alterations of the text that were congruous with the rhythm of the poems were rated as more helpful than those that were incongruous. The self-reported data from the demographic questionnaire aligned with the researchers’ predictions about individual participants. The hypothesis that exposure to poetry would cultivate a refined awareness of prosody was consistent with the results. Participants with greater prosody sensitivity reported that they had read more poems in the previous year, had higher GPAs, performed better on the poet recognition test, and did better on the poetry memory test. Prosody sensitivity, unexpectedly, was not related to higher ACT scores. Experiment Two A second experiment investigated whether adult readers represent lexical stress in their inner voices when translating print to speech. Participants were asked to judge the helpfulness of the stylistic alterations to improve the pleasure of reading prose. In the congruous condition, stylistic alterations of print mapped onto the stressed syllables of heteronyms (e.g., “the science PROject,” “proJECT the film”). In the incongruous condition, the stylistic alterations mapped onto the unstressed syllables (e.g. “the science proJECT”, PROject the film”). The statistical tendency is for stress to appear in the initial part of the word, so readers’ inner voice may be tuned to the prosodic nuances of the first syllable (e.g. “fresh PROduce”) more than the second syllable (e.g. “proDUCE steam”). Therefore, the researchers assessed whether the placement of the stressed syllable influenced differences in rating the congruent and incongruent conditions. Additionally, placement of the heteronyms in the first part of the sentence or in the last part of the sentence was compared. A final goal of experiment two was to examine the
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RESEARCH SUMMARY
findings of individual differences, including exposure to poetry and measures predictive of academic achievement (reading comprehension, ACT scores, vocabulary scores). Participants in this part of the research included all students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at a public university in the Great Lakes region of the United States. 482 students participated, including seventeen students who were late speakers of English. The experimental stimuli were 20 bisyllabic heteronyms appearing in sentences. The stress markings were mixed between congruous or incongruous. Both meanings of each heteronym were presented. Participants rated the stylistic alterations on a 7-point scale, with 7 as helpful and 1 as unhelpful. In addition, a twenty-item multiple choice reading comprehension test was given, with questions based on the heteronym sentences. Participants also completed two 18-item vocabulary tests, responded to a demographic questionnaire including whether English was their first language, and reported their ACT scores. These participants were told that an author had written a book using text CAPhighlighting to enhance the reading experience. They were told that a virus had corrupted the files, and they were to act as an editor to identify the virus-infected, nonintentional caps from intentional, helpful caps. The researchers analyzed the data, based on conditions of location in the sentence, stress in the first or second syllables, and congruent vs. incongruent stress marking. Consistent with linguistic theory, the stylistic alterations were viewed as more helpful when they matched the congruent stress pulse in the heteronym. Correlational analyses explored the relation between prosody sensitivity (performance on the experimental tasks) and measures of academic achievement (ACT score, vocabulary, and reading comprehension). The researchers state that their findings suggest that marking stress explicitly in written English helped readers render a rhythmic inner voice. The experiments also revealed insights into individual differences in prosody sensitivity. Exposure to poetry forecasted a refined sensitivity to prosody in both experiments. The poet recognition test predicted participants’ sensitivity to prosody, perhaps indicating that individuals with a strong sensitivity to the rhythm of English may be drawn to poetry. In summary, the researchers (Gross et al., 2017) commented: “Our ongoing experiments are evaluating whether beginning readers, struggling readers, or late speakers of English might benefit from marking stress explicitly in written English (p. 14), and went on to state, “To conclude, the interface of the English orthography is underspecified with regard to rhythm and stress. A long-term goal is to investigate the feasibility of developing a free application for use with smart devices that would transform ordinary text to stylistically enhanced text. Can YOU iMAGine an APP that HELPS you HEAR the RHYTHm of TEXT? (p.14)” Editor’s Responses I am intrigued by the concept of the “inner voice” and by ways that we as teachers can support our students in developing fluency in their silent reading! Until that cool app can
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RESEARCH SUMMARY
be developed, teachers can apply the ideas of stylistically enhanced text on our own. For example, modeling the concept as we read aloud to children can be effective, as we pause to read and re-read a sentence, modeling the two pronunciations of a heteronym, marking a printed copy of the target sentences, then discussing with the students which one matches the context of the text. As students develop an understanding of the concept, they could mark the stressed syllable in the text that fits with the meaning of the sentence. They could highlight punctuation marks that give clues to prosody, section sentences into phrases that support prosody, and re-read the text silently, giving attention to letting their inner voice model the kind of prosody that supports comprehension. As always, the results of research are most important when teachers move the ideas into effective instructional practices. About the author/editor: Dr. Linda McElroy is a professor at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. She previously taught in Oklahoma schools as a classroom teacher and reading specialist.
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Tech Talk By Dr. Sheri Vasinda
Flipping and Re-flipping the Classroom: Doing a 360° on Flipped Classroom Structures in Your Writing Workshop Back in 2011, Salman Kahn, founder of the Kahn Academy, gave a TED Talk entitled Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education (Kahn, 2011). In this talk he recounts his stumble into Internet and educational fame creating short YouTube videos as a supplement to his long-distance tutoring for his cousins halfway across the country. YouTube’s limitation of five-minute recordings forced Khan into a strong pedagogical structure we educators recognize and know as a minilesson (Calkins, 1994, 2000). This structure, designed for 10-20 minutes’ whole class and small group instruction, is compressed to 3-5 minutes for individual reading and writing conferences (Calkins, 1994, 2000; Anderson, 2000). The affordances of being able to watch and re-watch Khan’s short, focused tutorials captured the attention of educators around the globe and thus began the practice of “flipping” a classroom. As with many an educational phenomenon, what started as a good idea, morphed into some not-so-great practices, such has requiring students to view hour-long lectures at home to come back to the physical classroom space to get homework help. This type of flipped classroom perpetuates a lecture-model classroom by changing the location of the lecture without the opportunities for discussion. Isolated lecture watching is not the same experience as viewing a five-minute mini-lesson tutorial. And then there’s the dilemma of access. Students who don’t have Internet access at home or live in rural areas with limited bandwidth are often at a disadvantage in terms of access. Teachers and teacher educators, Dana Johansen and Sonja Cherry-Paul (https://litlearnact.wordpress.com) reclaimed the initial power of the short, video tutorials initiated by Khan (2011) and put an equitable and pedagogical 360° spin on the flipped classroom phenomenon by keeping the videos short in the mini-lesson pedagogical move and bring the videos back to the classroom. Their entry into the flipped phenomenon was designed as as a way to “clone” themselves for effective and efficient conferencing with students. In their book, Flip Your Writing Workshop: A Blended Learning Approach (2016), they describe their practice of recording their most used writing mini-lesson as short tutorials that students can access on classroom devices. As they conference and determine a student’s need, they remind him or her of a particular writing move, or introduce a new one, with an invitation to go the classroom computer to view this short lesson while they move on to the next student conference.
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With writer’s notebook in hand, students can access a video created by their teacher and they can harness the affordances of Khan’s (2011) original video tutorials by pausing, “rewinding”, and replaying as much, or as little, as needed. Johansen and Cherry-Paul (2016) outline their models for planning, designing, and creating flipped lessons in their book. They offer tips for engagement to create a blended learning environment that harnesses the power of short video tutorials to support student learning and create more time for conferring and individualizing instruction for the students on a “point of need” (Routman, 1994, 2002) timeframe. In their work in their own classrooms and with teachers around the country, they find that students prefer hearing their own teacher rather than someone they don’t know. They’ve also found that this blended approach to flipping their writing workshop creates more time to work with more students to individualize and differentiate instruction. Access, time, efficiency, engagement, and effectiveness; what teacher could ask for more? Anderson, C. (2000). How’s it going: A practical guide to conferring with student writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Calkins, L. (1994). The art of teaching writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Calkins, L. (2000). The are of teaching reading. Johansen, D. & Cherry-Paul, S. (2016). Flip your writing workshop: A blended learning approach. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Johansen, D. & Cherry-Paul, S. (2016). Our story [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://litlearnact.wordpress.com/our-story. Khan, S. (2011, March). Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education. Routman, R. (1994). Invitations: Changing as teachers and learners K-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Routman, R. (2002). Reading essentials: The specifics you need to teach reading well. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. About the Author: Dr. Sheri Vasinda teaches at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
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2017 Legislative Updates affecting Reading Education By Dr. Julie Collins
The 2017 Regular Legislative Session included several bill proposals regarding requirements for schools for helping students who are struggling with learning to read, including those students who may be identified as having dyslexia. Two of these bills (House Bills 1789 and 2008) made it through the legislative process and were signed into law. House Bill 1789 House bill 1789 was co-authored by Representatives Canady and Josh West and Senator Pemberton. This bill relates to the requirements of the already existing Reading Sufficiency Act, requiring some teachers to receive education in certain instructional strategies, requiring guidance from certain professional resources, and requiring teacher candidates to student certain instructional strategies. This law requires all early childhood education, elementary education and special education teachers be provided with quality training in intervention, instruction and remediation strategies in order to address the needs of students in kindergarten through third grade who are at risk of reading difficulties. In addition to these in-service teachers receiving training, prospective teacher candidates will be required to receive instruction in research-based instructional strategies for instruction, assessment and intervention for literacy development for all readers, including advanced readers, typically developing readers and struggling readers. The category of struggling readers includes readers who are coping with a range of challenges including, but not limited to English language learners and learning disabilities, including dyslexia. Quality training has been defined as that which includes guidance from resources such as the Report of the National Reading Panel and Response to Intervention guidelines, as well as from professional organizations such as the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), the International Literacy Association (ILA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Instruction for teacher candidates must include strategies which are explicitly taught, sequenced, multi-modal, multidisciplinary and reflective to adopt for individual learners. the five elements of reading instruction: phonemic
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awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. If you teach at a university, the annual report for the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA) will now include additional questions to document this requirement. House Bill 2008 House Bill 2008 was co-authored by Representative McCall and Senator Stanislawski. This bill created the Dyslexia and Education Task Force. The purpose of this task force is to create a dyslexia handbook to provide guidance for schools, students and parents regarding accommodations and assistive technology for identification, intervention, and support of students with dyslexia. This law outlines the nineteen positions on the task force and which office(s) are charges with appointing each. The task force is charged with: studying effective identification of students with dyslexia, recommending interventions for students with dyslexia, and creating a handbook to serve as a resource for teachers and families. A report from this task force is due to the Legislature and the Governor by December 1, 2018. The bill was passed March 7, 2017 and became effective November 1, 2017; although nominations were due to be made by each appointing agency by September 1, 2017. This law is stated to only be in effect until December 31, 2018, and as such will not be codified into Oklahoma Statutes. The nineteen positions on the task force are: the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee, the Chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education or designee, the Secretary of Education and Workforce Development or designee, the Executive Director of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability or designee, a student with dyslexia, a parent of a student with dyslexia, a classroom teacher, a special education teacher, a school principal, a school counselor, a school district director of special services, a school superintendent, a school psychologist, a member of an organization which advocates for students with dyslexia, an Academic Language Therapist, an attorney who represents families and students affected by dyslexia, a member of a non-profit organization working with educators, taxpayers and elected officials; and a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and a member of the Oklahoma State Senate.
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Oklahoma Legislative Sessions As you are likely aware, the legislature has met in special session this fall and is due to come back to special session again before the end of the year to resolve the budget shortfall by passing an updated budget. The legislature approved a budget deal in November which included some new revenue, but also required more cuts to state agencies. Governor Fallin vetoed most of that bill, which requires the members of the legislature to return to the capitol to pass a budget which meets the stipulations of Oklahoma’s constitution. You will want to watch what happens carefully and you may feel compelled to contact your Representative or Senator by phone and e-mail. You can find their contact information on the Oklahoma Legislature’s website at http://www.oklegislature.gov. If you feel the need to do this, remember that we often put more pressure on ourselves than on others when making phone calls. Don’t forget that you are their constituent, and they should welcome your contact with their office! Please watch the Oklahoma Reading Association website for updates regarding advocacy and policy at http://www.oklahomareadingassociation.org/oklahoma-legislative-updates. There has been quite a bit of discussion about raising pay for teachers, so this will be an interesting time to follow legislative proposals to see how they address this need during the special session and the regular 2018 session. About the Author: Dr. Julie Collins is a professor in the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma.
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Authors are requested to submit only unpublished articles not under review by any other publication. A manuscript should be typed, double spaced, not right justified, not hyphenated, and should follow APA, 6th Edition guidelines (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association). Tables and graphs should be used only when absolutely necessary. Include a cover page giving the article title, professional affiliation, complete address, e-mail and phone number of the author(s). Special sections have specific requirements that are described below. The editors reserve the right to revise and/or edit all copies.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR THE OKLAHOMA READER
The Oklahoma Reader welcomes manuscripts that support the growth and development of classroom teachers, reading specialists, and other literacy professionals throughout their careers. Manuscripts should successfully translate literacy research into practice through concrete strategies and techniques. Considering that the main audience of The Oklahoma Reader consists of PreK-12 teachers, manuscripts that offer practical ideas for successful literacy instruction are encouraged and prioritized. Manuscripts should be limited to 4000 words including tables, figures, and reference(s). Submit the manuscript electronically as a Word document attached to an e-mail message addressed to oklahomareader@gmail.com. Manuscripts will be reviewed anonymously by three members of The Oklahoma Reader Editorial Advisory Board. Manuscripts are evaluated on the basis of clarity, interest, organization, content, and style. If accepted, revisions may be requested. Manuscripts must be original work which has not been previously published nor is undergoing simultaneous review in another journal. The Oklahoma Reader also seeks submissions dealing with instructional practices (teacher-to-teacher), and classroom research (teacher research). These are described as follows. All submissions should be submitted electronically as a Word document attached to an email message addressed to oklahomareader@gmail.com. Teacher to Teacher: Submit descriptions of teaching activities that have helped students learn an essential literacy skill, concept, strategy, or attitude. Submissions should be no longer than 1500 words and align with the following format: Title (if adapting from another source, cite reference and provide a bibliography Purpose of Activity, including the literacy skill, concept, strategy, or attitude the students will learn Description of activity with examples, questions, responses. Please provide enough detail so someone can implement the activity. How activity was evaluated to know if purpose was achieved. Teacher Research: Submit manuscripts that describe research or inquiry conducted in classrooms. Submissions should be 1000-2000 words and align with the following format: Description of the question or issue guiding the research/inquiry, including a short review of pertinent literature. Description of who participated in the study, what the sources of data were, how the data were gathered and examined. Description of the findings and conclusion from the research/inquiry. Title, author, publisher of the resource. Short description of the resource. Critical review of the resource including strengths and weaknesses. Short discussion of how the resource might be useful to a teacher.Â
oklahomareader@gmail.com
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March Magic Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Reading AssociationÂ
Saturday, March 3, 2018 Key Note Speaker: Donald Bear
Featured Speaker: Sharon Edge Martin
Froggy Bottom Blues Not a Prodigal Words Their Way 2
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Words & Wonder
March Magic Oklahoma Reading Association Conference
“Words and Wonder” Saturday, March 3, 2018
Call for Proposals The theme of the Oklahoma Reading Association’s 2018 Conference is “Words and Wonder.” The conference committee is looking for teachers, librarians, undergraduate and graduate students, and university faculty to present at our conference on Saturday, March 3, 2018, at Oklahoma City University. We welcome presentations representing a variety of ideas in the area of literacy and literacy teaching. We would love for you to come share an innovative project or teaching strategy with our participants! Presentations may be either 25 minutes or 50 minutes in length. The shorter sessions will be paired with another with a similar topic. Please submit your proposal to Julie Collins by e-mail at jcollins18@uco.edu. Please use the format on the attached page for your proposal. Deadline for receipt of proposals is Monday, January 15, 2018. Notification of acceptance will be sent by Monday, February 5, 2018.
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March Magic “Words and Wonder” Call for Proposals for the Spring 2018 ORA Conference Note: All breakout session rooms will be equipped for you to use your laptop to be able to share your presentation. 1. Proposal Title (no more than 10 words): Please be sure that your session title clearly describes what the session is about. 2. Proposal Summary (no more than 25 words): Describe your session. This will be the description used in the conference program. 3. Description of Proposal (no more than 500 words): • Describe the objective/s for the participants • Identify the length of your presentation (25 or 50 minutes) • Describe the elements/order of your presentation • Describe how you will engage participants • Include citations to support your presentation Include the following on a SEPARATE page: A. Name and contact information for lead presenter: Name Institutional Affiliation Mailing address including zip code Daytime phone number Email address
B. Include the above information for each additional presenter. Please note that the lead presenter is responsible for communicating with other presenters. The notice of acceptance will only be sent to the lead presenter.
All presenters must register for the conference. THANK YOU for submitting a proposal to present at the March 3, 2018 ORA Conference!
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Linda McElroy ORA STATE PRESIDENT
Linda McElroy 5
HTTP://WWW.OKLAHOMAREADINGASSOCIATION.ORG/
Join Oklahoma Reading Association Membership in Oklahoma Reading Association gives all interested in literacy the opportunity to develop and support literacy initiatives and activities at the national, state, and local levels. Opportunities to participate in activities that support quality professional development, partnerships with other agencies in advocating literacy, support research, as well as the promotion of quality instruction, materials, and policies are all extended and enriched through ORA membership.
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VOLUME 52
ISSUE 2
FALL 2017
THE OKLAHOMA READER A JOURNAL OF THE OKLAHOMA READING ASSOCIATION, AN AFFILIATE OF THE INTERNATIONAL LITERACY ASSOCIATION EDITORS ASSISTANT EDITOR EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
Donita Shaw Julie Collins
Oklahoma State University University of Central Oklahoma
Shelley Martin-Young
Oklahoma State University
Linda McElroy Sharon Morgan Sylvia Hurst Liz Willner Brian Thompson Rebecca Marie Farley Traci Gokey Debby Yarbrough Rori Hodges
Univ. of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Oklahoma State Dept. of Education University of Central Oklahoma Oklahoma City University Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Baptist University McLoud Public Schools Woodward Public Schools Bridge Creek Public Schools
Oklahoma Reading Association Officers President
Linda McElroy
Univ. of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
President Elect
Sheri Vasinda
Oklahoma State University
Secretary
Sylvia Hurst
University of Central Oklahoma
Treasurer
Debby Yarbrough
Woodward Public Schools
Past President
Liz Willner
Oklahoma City University
ILA Coordinator
Vickie Hinkle
Mid-America Christian University
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