Consider the following quote + question and offer a response, or simply post in the comments what resonates with you so far in the book.
One of the most valuable parts of Afflerbach's book is the historical perspective he offers, summarizing a substantial amount of knowledge for effectively teaching readers.
On page 28, he notes the following:
“We’ve known for quite some time that students’ reading success depends on more than strategies and skills. In fact, readers’ development must be conceptualized as broad based if we hope to teach readers: students who enjoy reading, who view reading as a valuable tool, and who identify as readers” (my emphasis).
Considering this highlight and quote within the context of the first five chapters...
What frameworks and/or mental models have helped you effectively teach the whole reader?
I'm not sure its a framework or mental model, but talk is always my first step with readers. Talk, ask questions, wonder, find out, admit you don't know, and so on...Learning alongside a learner is amazingly powerful. Be amazed and interested and they often will be as well. Model being a reader yourself. And being a reader doesn't just mean reading big, thick, novels, it can be as simple as enjoying a sentence or even a word. For me it will always come back to meaning - it starts and ends with this, whatever you teach along with it.
I literally fell asleep while crafting my first response… that was more of a reflection on the fact that it was midnight when I began as opposed to the length or message 😉 I think…
I was so comforted that Mary’s first line was, “Without question Reading Recovery”
I’d like to climb back onto my soapbox- apologies prior, this time!! I’d like to include my story, if you’ll so kindly indulge me, because I think our stories are a critical piece to our current beliefs, passion, and evolving practices.
I began my career as a Special Education teacher in Fairfax County in Northern VA. I immediately realized that my degrees in psychology and education were not close to enough!! My children could not read and I was ill-equipping to teach them!!
I was lucky enough to be in an amazing county and the Title I Reading Teacher in my school shared PD sessions with the staff. I immediately attached myself to this person and my true education began!!
My mentors were Lucy Calkins, Regie Routman, Donald Holdaway, Leslie Morrow; and my “Bible” became Foutas & Pinell’s “Guided Reading” I had many other mentors whose publications still live on my shelves because my sentimental heart cannot part with them.
Special Education disowned me, but the Reading community adopted me and I became their spokesperson, if you will. for what was and could happen with students labeled Learning Disabled.
Then, I remember still, the day I watched my BFF, Title I RT, do a Reading Recovery Lesson!
Me, being me, with a bouncy brain, had 50 million questions and I “needed “ to learn RR!! So I got my Reading Specialist degree and then was trained in RR.
If you thought that was the soapbox… ⚠️that begins now. going forward ⚠️
Matt’s question, which I still love 💗 was the framework or mental models that helped you teach the whole reader. So, yes, without a hesitation, Reading Recovery, yet for me, it was the constructs, for lack of a better word, of Reading Recovery, first and foremost!! It was my still brilliant RR teacher leader; it was the learning community of RR; the colleagues and mentors. Reading Recovery practices what it preaches by teaching US as “ whole readers/writers!!”
The tenets of “following your learner,” ZPD, accepting and growing approximations, school, family and community involvement… what is more teaching the whole learner than that?!?!
You do not know Dr. Roberta Apostolakis, my RR teacher leader who trained me and became one of my dearest friends over the years. Roberta embraced the RR tenets in all she did with us and it became what we did as we worked alongside our students, teachers, families and community.
That, in my most humble opinion, IS teaching at its best. My passion and practice was forever impacted by Reading Recovery and my still BFF, Jeanette Martino, and, of course, Roberta.
I have found that when we understand research supported frameworks that are designed for our most striving readers, we see responsive teaching, flexibility and a range of instructional focal points.
Peter Afflerbach wisdom on Science of Reading in Ch 5 (and we surely need his wisdom now!)
"The skewing of resources to the cognitive narrative of how students achieve reading success is aided by the media. The recent focus on "Science of reading" (e.g.,,Hanford, 2018) perpetuates the narrow conceptualization of reading as cognition and students' reading development as solely a cognitive phenomenon. The media feed the belief that research on cognition in reading is the only legitimate source for informing reading instruction. Actually, there are many sciences of reading" (pages 40-41)
Pearson and Gallagher’s Gradual Release of Responsibility model has become a focus for me lately. Routman talks about the handover of responsibility – those intentional and responsive adjustments made by the teacher to build on student strengths to scaffold learning opportunities, as well as allow for risk-taking and problem-solving. As a classroom or Reading Recovery teacher and teacher leader this has been integral to my practice. Focusing on the learner and learning encourages more confident and independent students. Afflebach has helped me to consider beyond the cognitive aspects of reading, as we want students to enjoy reading and ‘view reading as a valuable tool.’
I loved what Peter Afflerbach said about testing in chapter 5
"...our vision of students' reading development and of the important outcomes of our reading instruction is constrained by what we look for. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, when all you have is a test, reading looks like strategies and skill. With schools and society focused on tests, the narrative of students' reading development is told with test scores." (p. 34)
Did you post the information about Read By Example and the many opportunities you offer on RRNCA?? I encourage you to if not… I haven’t seen it, but I don’t catch everything.
Also, did you invite Sam Bommarito to this group? I love him and his blog and interviews- yes, I saw yours 👍🏻 He might be too busy to join but was just wondering… Happy Monday!!
I'm not sure its a framework or mental model, but talk is always my first step with readers. Talk, ask questions, wonder, find out, admit you don't know, and so on...Learning alongside a learner is amazingly powerful. Be amazed and interested and they often will be as well. Model being a reader yourself. And being a reader doesn't just mean reading big, thick, novels, it can be as simple as enjoying a sentence or even a word. For me it will always come back to meaning - it starts and ends with this, whatever you teach along with it.
I literally fell asleep while crafting my first response… that was more of a reflection on the fact that it was midnight when I began as opposed to the length or message 😉 I think…
I was so comforted that Mary’s first line was, “Without question Reading Recovery”
I’d like to climb back onto my soapbox- apologies prior, this time!! I’d like to include my story, if you’ll so kindly indulge me, because I think our stories are a critical piece to our current beliefs, passion, and evolving practices.
I began my career as a Special Education teacher in Fairfax County in Northern VA. I immediately realized that my degrees in psychology and education were not close to enough!! My children could not read and I was ill-equipping to teach them!!
I was lucky enough to be in an amazing county and the Title I Reading Teacher in my school shared PD sessions with the staff. I immediately attached myself to this person and my true education began!!
My mentors were Lucy Calkins, Regie Routman, Donald Holdaway, Leslie Morrow; and my “Bible” became Foutas & Pinell’s “Guided Reading” I had many other mentors whose publications still live on my shelves because my sentimental heart cannot part with them.
Special Education disowned me, but the Reading community adopted me and I became their spokesperson, if you will. for what was and could happen with students labeled Learning Disabled.
Then, I remember still, the day I watched my BFF, Title I RT, do a Reading Recovery Lesson!
Me, being me, with a bouncy brain, had 50 million questions and I “needed “ to learn RR!! So I got my Reading Specialist degree and then was trained in RR.
If you thought that was the soapbox… ⚠️that begins now. going forward ⚠️
Matt’s question, which I still love 💗 was the framework or mental models that helped you teach the whole reader. So, yes, without a hesitation, Reading Recovery, yet for me, it was the constructs, for lack of a better word, of Reading Recovery, first and foremost!! It was my still brilliant RR teacher leader; it was the learning community of RR; the colleagues and mentors. Reading Recovery practices what it preaches by teaching US as “ whole readers/writers!!”
The tenets of “following your learner,” ZPD, accepting and growing approximations, school, family and community involvement… what is more teaching the whole learner than that?!?!
You do not know Dr. Roberta Apostolakis, my RR teacher leader who trained me and became one of my dearest friends over the years. Roberta embraced the RR tenets in all she did with us and it became what we did as we worked alongside our students, teachers, families and community.
That, in my most humble opinion, IS teaching at its best. My passion and practice was forever impacted by Reading Recovery and my still BFF, Jeanette Martino, and, of course, Roberta.
Thanks for bearing with me… ♥️📚📝♥️
Without question Reading Recovery,
Comprehensive Intervention Model: Nurturing Self-Regulated Readers Through Responsive Teaching by Linda Dorn, Carla Soffos and Adria Klein
https://literacylenses.com/2021/10/the-comprehension-intervention-model-nurturing-self-regulated-readers-through-responsive-teaching/
Minds Made for Learning: How the Conditions of Learning Guide Teaching Decisions; Debra Crouch and Brian Cambourne
https://literacylenses.com/2020/09/made-for-learning-how-the-conditions-of-learning-guide-teaching-decisions/
I have found that when we understand research supported frameworks that are designed for our most striving readers, we see responsive teaching, flexibility and a range of instructional focal points.
Peter Afflerbach wisdom on Science of Reading in Ch 5 (and we surely need his wisdom now!)
"The skewing of resources to the cognitive narrative of how students achieve reading success is aided by the media. The recent focus on "Science of reading" (e.g.,,Hanford, 2018) perpetuates the narrow conceptualization of reading as cognition and students' reading development as solely a cognitive phenomenon. The media feed the belief that research on cognition in reading is the only legitimate source for informing reading instruction. Actually, there are many sciences of reading" (pages 40-41)
Pearson and Gallagher’s Gradual Release of Responsibility model has become a focus for me lately. Routman talks about the handover of responsibility – those intentional and responsive adjustments made by the teacher to build on student strengths to scaffold learning opportunities, as well as allow for risk-taking and problem-solving. As a classroom or Reading Recovery teacher and teacher leader this has been integral to my practice. Focusing on the learner and learning encourages more confident and independent students. Afflebach has helped me to consider beyond the cognitive aspects of reading, as we want students to enjoy reading and ‘view reading as a valuable tool.’
I loved what Peter Afflerbach said about testing in chapter 5
"...our vision of students' reading development and of the important outcomes of our reading instruction is constrained by what we look for. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, when all you have is a test, reading looks like strategies and skill. With schools and society focused on tests, the narrative of students' reading development is told with test scores." (p. 34)
Matt,
Did you post the information about Read By Example and the many opportunities you offer on RRNCA?? I encourage you to if not… I haven’t seen it, but I don’t catch everything.
Also, did you invite Sam Bommarito to this group? I love him and his blog and interviews- yes, I saw yours 👍🏻 He might be too busy to join but was just wondering… Happy Monday!!
Check out Frank Smith’s conception of the psychological virtual “joining the Literacy Club.” It fits well with the quote and I think goes deeper.
NO pressure at all. I just love people who are dedicated to kids so whatever you share will be great!
Matt,
This is a great question and I could literally stay here all day writing!! 🤪
I will come back after actually getting offline 🤨and buying groceries or else my cats will need to share their food with me!!! 🤣
Had to say how much I like the question though… 📚❤️
Mary,
Just in case it isn’t clear, you are one of my mentors now too!!! 😊
Again… that interview… loved it!!! 📚♥️