Month: June 2022

By Fran McVeigh

The Twitterverse was full of inspiration (wakelet archive) June 23rd when Dan Feigelson joined the #G2Great chat to discuss his new book, Radical Listening: Reading and Writing Conferences to Reach All Students. Much importance has been attached to conferences for both reading and writing, but yet it’s an area where many teachers feel unprepared and often anxious or even fearful of conferences. Perhaps these emotions come from personal experiences. Maybe they stem from a lack of knowledge. Or perhaps the anxiety is from a combination of a lack of conferences in their own reading and writing lives and in their own confidence of how to conduct and what to say in those conferences with students.

Let’s begin with fear for just a minute.

Fear: “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger” (Merriam Webster online dictionary)

Common fear responses in schools:

1. Fight- argue against the importance, minimize the value, close the door and ignore
2. Flight – leave the situation whether it’s the classroom, building or district
3. Freeze-do only what one knows, often the minimum and hope no one notices

What do you think of when you hear the word conference? What’s your role? Are you the conferee or the person facilitating the conference? Does it matter?

If just hearing the word “conference” makes you fearful, anxious, or antsy, then you need to explore those feelings. Is it a fear of the unknown? A fear of being less than perfect? A fear of just doing/ or being less than your best?

What will reduce that fear? What will make conferences more “doable”?

In Radical Listening Dan proposes that the goal of reading and writing conferences is to help all students reach their full potential. Practical. Doable. Impactful. Equitable. Dan uses active listening as the focus in conferences where we listen to, learn from, and guide students. Conferences will make sense after reading this resource.

Let’s begin with the questions that the #G2Great team asks all authors.

What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?

In a conference I always try to convey that the child’s thinking is just as important as what the grownup has to say. I may be the one teaching a new skill or strategy, but I can’t do it without pinpointing what would be most meaningful for the individual student in front of me. With this in mind, I try to avoid too much paraphrasing, which can come off as correcting, i.e., the way you said it wasn’t clear enough, so I’m going to say it better. It’s a subtle difference, but naming what the child did – “So you are the sort of reader who really pays attention to how the author wants you to feel” –  is more empowering than restating and signals listening just as powerfully. 

Dan Feigelson email

Tip: The power of naming what the child says because paraphrasing can be seen as “correcting”

What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices?

My hope is that teachers start to see their literacy instruction as two parallel streams. There’s the stuff you have to cover because you are teaching 2^nd grade, or 5^th, or 8^th; the end-year expectations or standards for that age group. But at the same time, there are the things you’ll teach this year to these kids, who no commercial curriculum writer or education official ever met. Apart from the obvious importance of targeting instruction to the individual learner, this also send the message to kids that they can and should be owners of their own learning, and not feel it is something irrelevant which is being thrust upon them against their will. 

Dan Feigelson email

Tip: Two parallel streams with the “have to teach items” and “individual learner streams”

What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?

One message, which may feel counter intuitive, is that no matter how far behind a student may be as a reader or writer, it just plain doesn’t work to only ever address their weaknesses. If the subject of your 1:1 teaching interactions is always what the student does least well, she will begin to dread those conversations. We can usually address these things more effectively in partner or group situations, which feel supportive, like we’re-all-in-this-together. Confer to the strength, not the deficit.

The other message, from my heart, is that we should allow ourselves the time and space to be fascinated with the way our students think. It sends a powerful message to them, and just plain makes teaching more fun!  

Dan Feigelson email

Tips: 1) Confer to the strength and 2) be fascinated with student thinking

So, why this book? Why this book now?

Democracies of thought when student ideas, noticings, and experiences are honored. What are you honoring with your conferences? What is your intention?

Where do we start? What’s the beginning access point for conferences?

1. Relationships – Conferences are a place to build relationships.

Conferences benefit the speaker and the listener with radical listening.

2. Listening for “the general in the specific”

Teach the writer not the piece of writing. Teach the reader not the piece being read. What can be taught that will transfer?

3. Use the reciprocity of reading like a writer and writing like a reader to inform conferences

Colleen Cruz’s books are another touchstone. Check out the post about Writers Read Better here.

4. Encourage children to go deeper in their thinking “in such a way that it sounds like an invitation rather than a criticism”

Close readers may have noticed that part of that last slide was already in this post but it’s important to note that “paraphrasing can come off as correcting.” Pay close attention to the student’s responses to your few conference words.

5. Invite students to be active participants in their learning through conferences

Conferences need to be a partnership between readers or writers and Radical Listening can help provides some tracking ideas so that each student has the opportunity to maximize their own growth.

In conclusion, there’s no ONE way for conferences to go. Take a deep breath. Think about what makes conferences hard. Plan your structure. Explore your options. Prepare. The teaching in conference should build on previous instruction. Conferences are where your students will stretch and grow as long as you remember to reach the reader or writer – not “fixing” the current work or focus of the students. Radical listening is definitely a great resource for student conferences; it’s an even better resource for teacher learning.

Additional Resources

Radical Listening: Reading and Writing Conferences to Reach All Students (2022, School Library Journal)

Radical Listening: Reading and Writing Conference to Reach All Students by Dan Feigelson (2022, Scholastic)

 Reading Conferences, Listening, and Identity by Dan Feigelson (2022, Language Magazine) https://www.languagemagazine.com/2022/05/31/reading-conferences-listening-and-identity/

 Lessons from the Pandemic: Making Time for Listening by Dan Feigelson (2022, International Schools Services/ISS) https://www.iss.edu/publications/newslinks/april-2022?utm_campaign=Pubs%20-%20NewsLinks&utm_content=208596570&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-202598184#flipbook-april-2022-newslinks/5/

 Reading Conferences Reimagined: Student-Driven Conferences to Deepen Critical Thinking by Dan Feigelson (2014, Heinemann) https://www.heinemann.com/products/e05127.aspx

Practical Punctuation: Lessons on Rule Making and Rule Breaking in Elementary Writing by Dan Feigelson (2008, Heinemann) https://www.heinemann.com/products/e00906.aspx

by Mary Howard

On 6/16/22, #G2Great welcomed first time guest host, Dr. Peter Afflerbach as we explored his remarkable new book, Teaching Readers (Not Reading): Moving Beyond Skills and Strategies to Reader-Focused Instruction (2022, The Guilford Press). We knew that his message would inspire critical conversations, so we weren’t surprised when fast-paced twitter style discourse reached a fever pitch with the first question. With the all-too common push and pull in our schools positioning the Reading before the Reader, these conversations are needed more than ever, as reflected in a pre-chat quote:

Dr. Afflerbach repeated this issue in his book introduction and conclusion:

“It is time to focus on all of the factors that influence reading development, to examine their power, to understand their relationships, and to realize their promise in nurturing accomplished and enthusiastic readers. It’s time for teaching readers.” (page 4 & 161)

Yes, it is time; in fact that time is long overdue. It’s time for us to widen our perspective and reposition our priorities from the READING to the READER to ensure that our readers do not get lost in the mix of curriculum mandates, standardized testing and a narrowed lens of “The Science of Reading” that suggests the flawed view that there is a single science that has all the answers. Peter Afflerbach shared his thoughts on this subject during our chat.

In his book, Teaching Readers (Not Reading) and generous sharing during our chat, he offers wisdom and research we need in order to understand and reverse the current focus from Reading to Reader. This book is needed more than ever as we are asked embrace the depth and breadth of all of the “sciences of reading” as reflected in this chat tweet.

In each of our #G2great book chats, we ask our guest authors to respond to three questions. We know that understanding the thinking and motivation that went into writing the book we are celebrating can offer insight that will support and extend our thinking at deeper levels. Let’s begin with the first question:

What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?

I wrote this book to push back on the idea that there is a single “science of reading.” Across my experiences with teaching readers, I’ve understood that reading strategies and skills are essential for our students’ reading success. I’ve also learned that strategies and skills are not all that our developing student readers need. They need motivation and engagement, self-efficacy, metacognition and self-regulation, healthy attributions and epistemic development. Each of these represents “science,” and each should be given full consideration as we teach readers.

I’ve taught and researched readers for over 40 years—my first position was as a K-6 reading specialist in a small rural school in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Since then, I’ve taught middle school remedial reading and high school English. I’ve directed 2 university reading clinics where practicing teachers are working toward Masters’ certification as reading specialists. And, for the past 3 decades, I researched reading comprehension strategies. I can certainly testify to the importance of strategy and skill, but I know that the thousands of children I’ve worked with need more than strategies and skills to become lifelong, successful readers.

From day one of my first year of teaching, I’ve been interested (and fascinated) by the complexity of factors that influence our students’ reading development and achievement. Our most accomplished teachers know these factors well, and make sure that instruction regularly addresses students’ need for metacognition, motivation and engagement, and self-efficacy. The research on the relationship between these factors and reading development is conclusive—they must be operating for children to reach their potential.

It’s in this era of learning more about the essential nature of metacognition, motivation and engagement, and self-efficacy that we must confront the idea that there is a single “science of reading,” and that effective strategy and skill instruction is all that our students need to thrive as readers. Remember that the research cited in the Report of the National Reading Panel is a quarter-century old, and that the NRP was constrained in terms of the research that was included. I’m a teacher, and I’m a scientist who has contributed to the strategy and skill literature. I like to think that most sciences continually evolves and that over the past 25 years we should expect to have new insights into reading, how it develops and how best to teach readers. There’s the rub—we know the power of these “other” factors, including motivation and engagement, metacognition and self-efficacy—but they are not regularly acknowledged by a majority of states and school districts, rarely acknowledged by the popular media, not included in most reading curricula and not evaluated by our high stakes assessments. A result is the vast, missed opportunity to further foster students’ reading development.  

In another tweet during our chat discussion, Peter Afflerbach sets the stage for drawing from all of the sciences that matters in teaching the reader beyond a mere skills and strategies perspective:

In his book, Peter Afflerbach details this relevant research by devoting an entire chapter to each of these “SCIENCES” of reading that have long taken a back seat in schools that preference a narrow view. Each research-proven chapter reflects the heart of those “sciences” and support our next step efforts:

Let’s pause to turn back to our Twitter chat discussion. We opened our chat with a question that focused on the title of the book, so I’d like share some of the amazing twitter responses, including three from Peter Afflerbach:

QUESTION 1: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

Before we begin our chat, Peter Afflerbach’s title is an invitation for a reflective pause. What do the words “Teaching Readers (Not Reading)” mean to you? What can schools do to support a collective shift in thinking?

Just imagine the benefits that could rise by posing this very question as we provide opportunities for them to engage in a discussion of the distinctions between these two viewpoints followed by a book study using Peter Afflerbach’s Teach Readers (Not Reading). Now imagine extending that discussion to what this looks like from each side with pictorial evidence shared by teachers on a visible display that represents an instructional shift to the Reader (Not Reading).

Now let’s look at Peter Afflerbach’s response to our second question:

What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices?

A first, BIG hoped-for takeaway is for teachers to be affirmed in their views of students as complex people, with diverse combinations of characteristics—including but not limited to strategy and skill. A second takeaway is that our instruction should be broad-based, of course informed by research, and certainly not limited to the current and quite narrow conceptualization of the “science of reading.” There are “sciences of reading” (emphasis on the plural!) and we should consult these sciences when creating instruction and building classroom environments conducive to student growth. A third takeaway is that the details of how we promote motivation and engagement, how we teach and foster metacognition, and how we help build self-efficacy—a belief is self as a reader—are included in dedicated chapters within the book. A final takeaway is that there is the overriding demand for research-based reading instruction, so let’s make sure we consult all relevant research!

With the ”more complete portrait of the student as reader” in mind, I’d like to share some new thinking that we would need to consider before change is even possible. Since there’s no way to do justice to extensive detail Dr. Afflerbach has given us in his book, my goal here is simply to spotlight responsibility to this process as professionals. They key ideas are meant only as a starting point to a long-term process that includes a deep study of Teaching Readers (Not Reading):

• Begin by acknowledging the collective impact of these shifts in thinking

• Critically examine the existing resources that may be derailing our efforts

• Ensure that we preference teacher efficacy above programs that dictate

• Re-envision professional learning in place of professional development

• Support professional learning along the way through expert coaching

• Trust knowledgeable teachers who know the child as key decision-maker

• Take a good look at what our actions reflect that we value as informants

• See and know children through an individual vs one-size-fits all lens

• Support collegial discourse that will celebrate our children from all angles

• Push back a focus on THE science and widen our discussions to SCIENCES

Before I share my final thoughts, let’s look at Peter Afflerbach’s response to our third question:

What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?

Learning to read is hard for some students and easy for others. Regardless of the path a student takes to becoming a successful and independent reader, it’s so important to understand each of the factors that influence progress. Our understanding of these factors improves our instruction and supports our students. Reading strategies and skills are always essential for reading development and reading achievement. So too are metacognition, motivation and engagement and self-efficacy. 

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

Every person reading this post, our tweet artifact, and Peter Afflerbach’s book has long experienced the issues that are creating an environment where we are moved further from the READER and ever closer to the READING. Those who know the research and have made an investment in their ongoing professional learning know that our attention on Teaching the Reader (Not the Reading) is too often pushed into other directions. This is exacerbated by the pandemic fueled “Learning Loss Narrative” that has caused a narrowing of the literacy playing field and further motivated a preoccupation with raising test rather than raising readers. Couple this tragic perception gaining traction with our ongoing love affair with programs that promise speedy miracle cures and we find ourselves pushed further into a narrow field. With all of these forces at play, our Readers are taking a backseat in as the Reading remains front and center. As a result, a checklist of skills and strategies that can be dutifully checked off with pride are moving us closer to curriculum driven rather than reader-centered teaching.

We know what to do and Peter Afflerbach provides us with both the research and a pathway for reprioritizing our attention on all of the factors that will help us to focus on Teaching the Reader (Not Reading). This is not just about plugging these factors into a lockstep schedule. Rather it is about understanding how each of the “sciences” work in concert and in support of each others. This means that we must avoid viewing them in terms of a single “lesson” but what we do across the entire learning day in every aspect of the curriculum. But first we must loosen the ties that bind. As long as we continue to hold a death grip on programs and narrow prescribed curriculum that preferences a single science and ignore others that are critical to the success of our readers, we will continue to do a great disservice to the READERS who are depending on us.

We are so grateful to Dr. Peter Afflerbach for sharing his vast wisdom on our #G2Great chat. We know that his thinking will inspire much needed change.

The remaining Q2 to Q6 questions with Dr. Afflerback responses are below. His thinking here and in his book offer a guide that will support our change process.

QUESTION 2: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

Do you believe that current reading instruction reflects the breadth and depth of our knowledge of how students’ reading develops? What explains the phenomenon of understanding reading development broadly, but teaching reading narrowly?

QUESTION 3: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

From a developmental perspective, what else matters for student reading success besides strategies and skills?

QUESTION 4: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

Should the research influencing reading instruction be labeled the “science of reading” or the “sciences of reading?” Explain your response.

QUESTION 5: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

Describe the importance of motivation and engagement for student reader success. How do you ensure that motivation and engagement is a central feature of your instructional efforts?

QUESTION 6: Teaching Readers (not Reading)

Peter Afflerbach writes, “… our vision of students’ reading development and of the important outcomes of our reading instruction is constrained by what we look for. (p. 34) What varied student-centered understandings help you to broaden your vision?

LINKS

Teaching Readers (Not Reading): Moving Beyond Skills and Strategies to Reader-Focused Instruction by Peter Afflerbach (2022 Guildford Press)

Understanding and Using Reading Assessment by Peter Afflerbach (ASCD 2017)

SESSION by Peter Afflerback The Sciences of Reading: Metacognition, Motivation & Engagement, and Self-Efficacy

Mary Howard Session Notes on the above webinar:

Mary Howard session notes; Fueling Curiosity with Peter Afflerbach, Linda Hoyt

Meaningful Reading Assessment: by Peter Afflerbach and Adria Klein (Benchmark

12/29/21 message from Peter Afflerbach about Teaching Readers (Not Reading)

By Brent Gilson

For an archive of the chat check out the wakelet here

Last fall I was drawing in a school year filled with new challenges on top of working on grad school. It was interesting how I was learning about Successful Literacy Initiatives at the same time as we were embarking as a division on some new initiatives. The disconnect between what I was learning and what was been done caused an additional level of stress. So I spent more time researching and the consistent piece that always came up when looking for successful Literacy Initiatives was that they are student-focused, data-informed but not singular in focus and focused on teacher development and capacity. As we set out on the chat this week we looked at the topic of Literacy Initiatives and our experience with them, the successes and the failures, and where our focus needs to be.

Teachers discussed the positive and negative experiences that they have encountered with Literacy Initiatives. How they can go sideways when they do not follow student needs and when teachers, who are doing the work are left out of the process. Even more difficult when those making the decisions are not examining the full picture which we are seeing a resurgence of in the current SOR movements in some states leaving huge portions of reader development out of the picture. 

When we consider the most important people in the room, our students, we get a better focus on what needs to be done. The knee-jerk reactions from those outside the classroom who are imagining wide-scale problems that do not exist for the majority of students tend to do more harm to all readers by limiting teachers’ choices and thus the choice of our students. So what do we need?

So we discuss flexibility and that we need to start with our students, we need things in place to help ALL students achieve. What does that look like? How can we demonstrate that we are respecting all students while also addressing any shortfalls or areas of concern?

It seems so simple. To support our students we need to work with them in mind. To support our teachers we need to provide them with the knowledge to do the work. As Kasey states below

Building up the knowledge our teachers need to meet the challenges of today is an important piece of any successful literacy initiative. One size fits all intervention or PD will miss the mark in a high percentage of students and teachers. We (all of us in the education system) are unique so we have unique needs that need to be addressed with unique ideas whenever possible. Unfortunately, we too often fall for the snake-oil salesmen who sell the quick fixes to “save us time” when really it is smoke and mirrors dressed up as support.

As classroom teachers, we are often the last consulted and the first blamed when Literacy Initiatives fail. As we reflected on Thursday the answers seem pretty simple. Invest in kids, Invest in teachers. This does not mean there are no programs or assessments out there that will not support this work. It does mean however that we should not build our work around a program that ignores the expertise of teachers or the lived experience of our students.

Successful Literacy Initiatives should have a goal to support our students in all areas of literacy. This knowledge comes from working with our kids and building off the work of experts. This is not quick work. There are so many possibilities for what causes students to struggle in literacy work. We need time, knowledge, choice, flexibility, and most of all respect to find these answers.

Like Dr. Miah Daughtery states, “we teach reading for liberty.” The consequences of an illiterate population are catastrophic. Our students need to receive the support to find success. Successful Literacy Initiatives can be that support.