How to Teach Readers
This podcast episode is an audio recording from a recent conversation with Peter Afflerbach, author of Teaching Readers (Not Reading): Moving Beyond Skills and Strategies to Reader-Focused Instruction (Guilford, 2022).
Several community members were able to join us and ask questions of Peter. We discussed a variety of topics related to his book, including:
Peter’s influences as a reader, teacher, and researcher
Paying attention to and appreciating the different factors for teaching readers
Beginning with the affective and conative resources when teaching readers
The importance of administrative support for teachers to have time to collaborate
What writers such as Emily Hanford and Natalie Wexler get wrong in their reporting
Time stamps for prepared questions
0:30 - Peter’s bio
2:15 - Q1: “Which individuals influenced you as a researcher and as a teacher?”
7:00 - Q2: “From your book, what do you regard as the most important professional contribution of yours or colleagues to the field of literacy instruction?”
10:00 - Q3: “Have you always prioritized teaching readers over teaching reading? Or has this been a change for you over the years - an evolution?”
12:00 - Q4: “Any factors that a teacher might consider focusing on first when shifting toward teaching readers?”
16:20 - Q5: “What are some important trends occurring in education that we should be paying attention to?”
18:00 - Open Q & A with attendees begins.
Key quotes
“The best classrooms are the ones where we pay attention to individual differences.”
“Literacy is important but it is not the end point; it’s the tool that kids use.”
“Science revolves around demonstrable findings and replicating them.”
Recommended people and resources
Paul Thomas (@plthomasEdD)
Maren Aukerman, Literacy Research Association (https://literacyresearchassociation.org)
How to Teach Readers
In response to one of the guests who commented toward the end of the interview (Ms. Passionate About Writing :) ). I could completely relate to the emotion I could sense in your voice. I have also seen less writing workshop, I have seen book rooms dismantled, I've seen less guided and interactive writing, less shared reading, I have seen "guided reading" become bad words (of course along with balanced literacy). I have seen more and more districts in my area do away with Reading Recovery and adopt scripted classroom programs along with the companion scripted interventions. I have also seen people who were once considered literacy leaders become the lonely souls trying to help others see that phonics instruction isn't the only way. All of this is discouraging and emotional because we know who suffers as a result of this movement toward it's one way or the highway. The glimmer of hope I see is the push-back I see that is done in a respectful manner with research cited to back up its claims.
One more thought: The discussion surfaced an even deeper problem for writing workshop than I knew about. Calkins wrote in the 1982(?) book that the first response among teachers when asked to teach more writing is to assign it as a response to reading. The same may be occurring today. As educators are cornered to defend comprehension as a package (motivation, metacognition, strategic), there is less space for a defense of composition, far less space for poetry. I don’t have an answer. Back then we had more space and support, I think. Peter, we HAVE to flip this narrative somehow:)