Inquiry Blog Post #1

How can we foster a lifelong love of reading?

Early literacy has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it started back when I was little, I spent much of my time teaching my teddy bears how to read and write. I was a dedicated teacher of teddy bears, crafting whimsical stories for them to read, helping them create their own story books, and teaching them lessons about how to read and write. This passion was nurtured by my mom, who always found fun stationary for my literacy teaching pursuits. She helped me create cozy reading corners for my teddies, provided me with a flashlight so I could read with my teddies when it was dark, and created outdoor reading spaces for my teddies and me. I suspect I had the most literate teddy bears in our neighborhood!

Now fast forward to 2021, I have now been teaching for over 10 years, mostly in grades 1 and 2. This love of teaching literacy has never faded, it’s only gotten stronger the more I have learned about the importance of early literacy. According to the Winnipeg Public Library, “A child's positive early experiences with books and language lay the foundation for success in learning to read”. This is a belief that I hold dear and strive for in my classroom and with my own two small children every day. This belief is central to the reading culture that I have created in my classroom over the last decade. Listed next are a few of the things I do to promote a reading culture in my class:

How do I create a reading culture in my classroom?

Spaces for Reading- I try to create appealing spaces in my classroom for reading, whether it is a cushion, a special chair, a piece of carpet, the physical space should be inviting for students to read. I always encourage students to “get comfy”, go anywhere in the room with your book, under a desk, on top of a desk, lay on the floor, curl up in the coat room, I love to be comfy when I read, and so can they.

Shared Reading- Whether they are reading with a friend, a teddy bear, a big buddy, alone, or with an adult, I try to create varied social opportunities for reading. In my experience I have found students love reading with a big buddy. I have also found that grade 1 and 2 students love reading to a little buddy (a student from a younger grade, perhaps Kindergarten). It is so fun for them to realize their reading growth and how far they have come since they were in Kindergarten. I usually save this little buddy experience for the last term so that all students have something they are confident to read to their little buddy, even if it is an alphabet poem that they have memorized.

Book Talks (sometimes called book reviews)- Lee (2020) defines a book talk as, “concise presentations that serve as an advertisement for a particular book. Unlike a book report, these quick talks are designed to pique interest rather than summarize the plot.” I have found that when students are given the opportunity to share information about the books they are reading with their classmates, it empowers them as readers, and inspires their classmates. Students are keen to read books that are recommended by their peers and feel validated when their peers want to read a book they recommended. Here is a video of a girl giving book talk/book review, after watching the video I certainly wanted to read the book!

Author Studies- Lee (2020) suggests the use of “narratives and biographies of individual authors to promote interest in their work” plays a role in creating a reading culture in a school. I have found that students love listening to a collection of books by the same author (Robert Munsch, Mo Willems, David Shannon, the list goes on and on). They also love learning facts about those authors, how old they are, where they live, what they like to do, why they became authors, which books they like to read. There are so many engaging ways to connect with authors online: Youtube, blogs, websites, and Twitter. One of my favorites is an interview with the younger version of Mo Willems where he talks about why he became an author. He also has many you tube videos where he teaches children how to draw his book characters.  

I typically view literacy teaching through a primary lens as that is where the bulk of my experience lies. I have found when teaching intermediate students that they are more than enthusiastic to engage in reading activities that I typically use with our youngest readers. Grade 3- 6 students still love to find a cozy spot in a classroom and curl up to read with a teddy bear. Although they want to appear mature, intermediate students are still very young, and given the opportunity to engage in reading activities typically thought of as for primary students, I have found they often jump at the chance!

How can we encourage a school-wide reading program?

During my research for this blog post I consistently found studies stating the benefits of reading for enjoyment over skills acquisition. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ‘On average, students who read daily for enjoyment score the equivalent of one-and-a-half years of schooling better than those who do not.’ This is a critical aspect of a whole-school reading program. The program needs to foster and cultivate reading for enjoyment, not reading for skills acquisition and test purposes. The school-wide reading program should have fun and engaging activities that draws in students of all ages, as well as teachers and families.

A large part of a school-wide reading program is having a staff who value reading and are willing to make it a priority. Having a school leadership team that is willing to make reading a priority at all costs is essential. In Tyson’s article she cites the need for “high-quality classroom libraries” and that “when students are provided with well-designed classroom libraries, they interact more with books, spend more time reading, exhibit more positive attitudes toward reading, and exhibit higher levels of reading achievement” (NAEP, 2002). This has been a significant issue at all schools I have worked at. Most teachers feel their classroom library is inadequate to meet the needs of their learners, not to mention horribly outdated and in poor repair. My current school is no exception. Teachers on our staff consistently ask for more books for their classroom libraries and consistently receive the same answer, books are expensive…so where do we go from here? Being creative and finding funds to support having current, beautiful, popular, books in every classroom and library is paramount to a school-wide reading program.

Finally, whole school guided reading groups is a non-negotiable in my opinion. Students need time every day in a small group to read engaging books at their level with peers who are at a similar level. They need time every day to practice the reading strategies, phonological skills, and phonemic awareness in a small group. When I have been at schools that made this a priority, the commitment to reading and reading growth permeated the whole school.

Works Cited

Winnipeg Public Library. (2021, July 20). Early Literacy Skills. Winnipeg Public Library. https://guides.wpl.winnipeg.ca/earlyliteracy/skills.

Lee, Laura. (2020, February 12). Schoolwide strategies for promoting a love of reading. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/schoolwide-strategies-promoting-love-reading.

OECD (2011), "Do Students Today Read for Pleasure?", PISA in Focus, No. 8, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5k9h362lhw32-en.

National Library of New Zealand. (2021, July 20). A School Wide Reading Culture. A school-wide reading culture | Services to Schools (natlib.govt.nz).

Tyson, Kimberly. (2021, July 20). 25 ways schools can promote literacy independent reading. [Graphic]. https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/25-ways-schools-can-promote-literacy-independent-reading/.