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TRANSCRIPT
Using Book Clubs to Engage Readers and Writers and Teachers
Dr Jan Turbill and Wendy Bean University of Wollongong
Note: All images removed
Two Book Clubs
• Wendy worked with a suburban school 90mins south of Sydney
• Windang Public School is considered below average on the Social EducaGon Advantage Index
• Windang receives addiGonal government funding for Literacy and Numeracy
• Jan worked with a school in farming area 2 hours south of Sydney
• Berry Public School is considered to be above average on the Social EducaGon Advantage Index
• Berry receives no addiGonal funding
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Different schools – different needs
Windang Book Club’s focus was to engage children in:
• reading for enjoyment • reading a wide range of
authors • reflecGng and discussing
books • improving reading and
wriGng skills • engage the community • engage teachers’ interest in
literature
Berry Book Club’s focus was to engage prolific readers in:
• reading, reflecGng and criGquing books
• exploring the wriGng devices of the authors they read
• reading like writers and thus improve their wriGng
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Windang PS
• My big quesGon was:
“Can I make these kids love reading?”
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Stephen Kashen (2004)
• Reading expert Stephen Krashen (2004) has argued that access to reading materials through libraries and wide reading are criGcal for literacy development, especially among students from lower socio-‐economic backgrounds.
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What the research told me
• InternaGonal research provides compelling evidence that school libraries and teacher-‐librarians make a significant contribuGon to student literacy and learning outcomes.
• Recent Australian research (Hilary Hughes) indicates that school NAPLAN scores for reading and wriGng were generally higher when student-‐to-‐library staff raGos were lower (i.e. beaer) and when the school employed a teacher-‐librarian.
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Common Core
• The standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers and states to determine how those goals should be reached and what topics should be addressed…Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional knowledge and experience idenGfy as being most helpful for meeGng the goals set out in the Standards. (2010a).
• Reading/wriGng connecGon The challenge is that students need access to lots of
high interest, accessible books.
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Pathways to the Common Core AcceleraGng Achievement Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, Christopher Lehman
• Students should be doing lots of in-‐school reading
• The reading program in the school must support all students, and one of the best ways of doing this is to allow students to read habitually, and in ways that literate people all over the world read. Watch your strong readers. One factor they have in common? They read a lot. (p70)
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Calkins et al con’t
• Readers should have opportuniGes to choose from a wide range of high interest texts.
• Teachers can ignite interest in books in a host of ways – by talking up a series, by reading a small bit in a mini lesson, by simply carrying a book around and seeming obsessed with it.
• And once a student is engaged with reading, teachers can extend and shape that readers’ diet. But one of the sure-‐fire ways to throw cold water on a reader’s willingness to read is to create an instrucGonal program that relies on a steady diet of teacher-‐chosen whole-‐class novels. P 71
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UK Research • Drawing on quesGonnaires from 1200 primary teachers naGonally, showed that whilst the majority of teachers read independently for pleasure, professionally they rely on a very limited canon of children’s authors and can name only a narrow range of picture ficGon creators and poets (Cremin et al., 2008a, b).
• This raises the quesGon of whether teachers are familiar with a sufficiently diverse range of writers to enable them to foster reader development and make recommendaGons to young readers with different needs and interests.
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Star%ng point • Reading is probably the most important skill for
children to develop in their early years, underpinning learning in all other areas.
• Year 4 is an important point in children’s development as readers, as it is at this age that most students make the transi%on from learning to read to reading to learn.
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Why Book Clubs?
• The recent observaGons made by Calkins et al, the UK research and results of internaGonal tesGng (PIRLS) were very similar to those I made in my school. My observaGons were also supported by data.
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In order to develop children’s independent reading for pleasure the establishment of Book Club aimed to:
• Widen teacher’s knowledge of children’s literature
• Develop teachers’ confidence and skilful use of such literature in the classroom.
• Develop teachers’ relaGonships with parents, carers, librarians and families.
• Develop ‘Reading Teachers’, teachers who read and readers who teach.
• Increase the amount of reading. • Provide high quality literature.
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Reading Instruction Reading for Pleasure
Learning to read Choosing to read
Decoding and comprehension Engagement and response
Lifelong readers
Teacher direction and ownership Child direction and ownership
Attainment Achievement
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Ensure Students Read Quality Texts
• Children’s wriGng reflects the reading they do. The complexity and literacy quality-‐or lack thereof-‐ of the texts children read greatly influence the quality of their wriGng.
• Children who read literature-‐well-‐wriaen folktales, narraGves, and trade books-‐become beaer writers than children who read basal reading texts…
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Book Clubs
• Status: applicaGon to join
• LunchGme every 2 weeks in library
• Quality texts
• Special guests
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Book Club acGviGes
• Author visit 2011 (Sandy Fussell) • Boys Only Club Terms 3 and 4 2012
• Year 6 runs own Book Circle with Year 2 in 2012 (own iniGaGve)
• Year 6 runs Book Circle with senior students in 2013
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WriGng connecGons in Book Circle
edmodo www.edmodo.com
• Secure • A place to ‘talk’ about books between Book Club meeGngs run fortnightly
• A place to publish newsleaers and author websites
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Book Club Reading Journals
Students all have a reading journal. Here they record:
• Books read • Books recommended • Notes or ideas while reading
And we loved collecGng ‘delicious words’
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Book Club EvaluaGon
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Comment from Book Club leader
What have you enjoyed most about leading Book Circle?
Being able to organise special things at Book Circle like organising visitors or a special book (being first to read new books).
What has been the biggest challenge?
Making sure everyone enjoys book circle and the books we read. We vote, ask for suggesGons and mix up the authors.
Which book have you enjoyed the most?
White Ninja by Tiffany Hall. I had read it before and liked discussing it with the group. It was kind of exciGng knowing what was going to happen.
If you could change one thing about Book Circle what would it be?
I can’t think of anything it is good, the types of books we read are good and the people in Book Circle seem to love it. IRA 2014
Comments from group members • I like that we all understand where we are coming from. We come from the same perspecGve.
• The leaders are kids so they enjoy it. • We can make lots of connecGons. • The leaders are prepared. • The leaders are a good help and encourage us.
• They keep the conversaGon going.
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Other events and outcomes
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PromoGon of Library and Literacy Events
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PromoGng reading for enjoyment
• Whole School Peer Reading Aloud
• Premier’s reading challenge etc
-‐ ParGcipaGon rate has risen to 85%.
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• Hot seat readers (local paper and school newsleaer)
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• Book Swap • Purchase of quality literature and texts for the library • Purchase of quality texts (mentor texts) for teaching and
learning (modelling)
• Kindergarten orientaGon: two picture books in welcome pack
• Parent workshops on reading
• ParGcipaGon in NLNW: Australia Reads and A Poem in Your Pocket
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• Mystery readers (prize a book trailer and popcorn)
• Class libraries: regularly changed plus Premier’s Reading Challenge boxes in classrooms
• Individual book boxes for students
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In summary
• We had enormous fun • The children thought they were very special and were proud of their parGcipaGon
• Parents were thrilled
• AND reading was in the spotlight!
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Berry Book Club How do we teach children to get
inside the author’s head? Peter Burney – Principal
Sue McAuliffe – Year 5/6 Teacher Di Hill -‐ Librarian
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The Context: Berry Public School
• Berry is an old rural town within a farming community two hours south of Sydney
• Berry Public School is considered to be above average on the Social EducaGon Advantage Index
• It receives no addiGonal funding
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The Purpose of Book Club
Berry Book Club’s focus is to engage prolific readers in:
• reading, reflecGng and criGquing books • exploring the wriGng devices of the authors they read
• reading like writers and thus improve their wriGng
• teaching children to get inside the author’s head
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Why a Book Club • A need to provide addiGonal challenge for a small group of prolific readers in Years 4, 5, 6
• A need to develop imagery in children’s literary wriGng
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We can read without ever having wriaen but we cannot write without having read (Butler & Turbill 1984)
Children must read like a writer, in order to
learn to write like a writer (Smith 2003)
Every writer is a reader. … To teac
h wriGng
we must teach reading. (Donald Murray
1984, 2004)
Text is a two sided mirror …with readers and writers … gazing upon the reflecGons of their own minds (Frank Smith, 1982)
Our philosophy
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Berry Book Club 2012, 2013
• Run in school Gme – every second week from 2-‐3pm
• Children buy their book (at reduced price) • Selected children (20) from Grades 6, 5, 4 with four team leaders
• Class teacher and Librarian involved • Children read chosen book in own Gme
• Explore themes and ‘wriGng devises’ used by author (author’s crat)
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Book Club: WriGng Focus
• Introduced ‘power wriGng’ – non-‐stop wriGng on a given word or phrase for 3-‐5 minutes
• Aim for children to ‘play’ with similar ‘wriGng devices’ in their own wriGng
• Sharing of wriGng in their teams
• Team selects one person’s wriGng
• Selected children read their wriGng to whole group to finish session
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CriGcal points
• Constantly refer to the ‘reading like a writer’ concept
• Introduce children to the author via website, You Tube clips and Skype (Sandy Fussell) • Refer to the author by name – ‘look at the
words Jackie used to describe …’ etc
• Children begin to feel they know the author and can ‘think (write) like the author’
Our Book Club Session
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Team discussions:15mins Leader reads discussion quesGons Members discuss, refer to book when needed
Whole group: 10 -‐15mins Introduce session focus Read a page, show author website Set task for session
Power WriGng: 20mins Students prepare page in journal Tch gives topic, Gming begins (3-‐5 mins). Chdn write. Chdn share wriGng and team select one piece
Whole group: 10-‐15mins Selected members read their wriGng General comments and wrap up.
Our focus over past 2 years
• Specific authors: all Australian children best known authors
• Picture books -‐ for older children -‐ for younger children • Poetry -‐ list poems -‐ Australian Bush Ballads – and its respecGve Picture Book.
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The quesGons asked are criGcal if we want children to read like writers
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Your Turn: Meet Libby Gleeson
Read your handout and discuss: • How does Mahtab describe her first images of Australia?
• Find the metaphors – why does Libby use metaphors?
• Find any sentences without an acGve verb. What impact does this have on you the reader?
• Do you get the sense of being in the bus rushing by these images? Share how Libby used language to give you this sensaGon.
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Power WriGng: 3-‐5 minutes
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Power WriGng Procedure • Children open journals, take new page and write date
• Teacher waits unGl all ready and provides topic. For instance: ‘Topic today is -‐ the cave’
• Teacher says – GO and begins Gmer • Teacher observes, moves to anyone who seems to be ‘stuck’
• At allocated Gme, say STOP wriGng • Leader directs sharing of wriGng and selecGon of piece to be read in whole group.
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Children’s Power WriGng (self chosen)
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Children’s discussion quesGons
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The Sea I don’t know how I got here. All I know is I am here giving life to those who dwell in the submerged world. Colours lights, all around from the deepest, darkest depths to the most pure water where the sun shines though in beams smothering the water in its wispy veils. I don’t know how I got here, all I know is am I here.
The Sea Crashing waves rolling onto the shore. Kids running in and out dodging waves and crabs. Dolphins catching waves with surfers and gliding under the surface. I walk along following them unGl they disappear into the distance.
Shells scaaer across the sand and washing up with the water. As the water moves back out into the ocean it leaves the sand rippled. Feet sink into the sand leaving footprints wherever you go, soon to get washed away again when the water reaches them.
The Sea Blue magical mysterious islands with unknown craters and peaceful hot sunny beaches with toddlers running around sand castles -‐ the liale kids pride and joy. Surfing rips. Geung dunked. Seagulls begging for hot chips. Dolphins hiding under the water. Sun seung over the beach. BeauGful magic, so much to see.
Children’s Power WriGng
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Simon French uses a wriGng device where he begins a paragraph with a broad statement, then proceeds to provide the details. Read your handout: Other Brother and share with a partner the details Simon French provides AFTER the lead sentence.
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• Dad was leaving me behind again. – -‐-‐ – -‐-‐ – -‐-‐
Your Turn
Children’s Power WriGng
Then came the one thing I didn’t want to happen . . .
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Then came the one thing I didn’t want to happen . . .
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Your turn again
• We are going to read and share • We are going to read as writers
• We are going to write and share
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Task
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1. Read the last chapter. How does Mahtab feel now? 2. Find words Libby chooses to describe how Mahtab feels. 3. Share these in your team. 4. Share Libby Gleeson’s use of similes, adjecGves, strong
verbs to build the imagery of the FesGval of Kites. 5. Find a sentence with no ‘acGve’ verb. Why does Libby use
sentences like this? How does it affect you as a reader? 6. Find a sentence Libby has wriaen that allows you to ‘see’
and/or ‘hear’ what is happening. Read it to your team.
Now for Power WriGng
• Take a clean page. You have been reading like a writer now it is your turn to use similar devices as Libby uses in her wriGng
• You will have 4 minutes. Try to keep your pen flowing.
• You will share with your group • Here is your topic • Go
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Reflect and share
• As a potenGal writer what did you noGce in Libby’s wriGng?
• Can you recall other ‘wriGng devises’ you used in your wriGng?
• Could you hear any connecGons to Libby’s wriGng as you listened to others
• And what else?
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Comments from Term 1 Survey – What have you learned about wriGng from Libby Gleeson’s wriGng?
Children’s thoughts
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CollaboraGve roles of teacher and author in the teaching of wriGng
Children as
writers
teacher
text
author
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