READING RECONSIDERED

A Practical Guide to Rigorous Literacy

by

DOUG LEMOVCOLLEEN DRIGGSERICA WOOLWAY

SELECTED RESOURCES AND CHAPTER SUMMARIES BY

BIRMINGHAM EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP

READING PARTNERS BOOK CLUB

Catherine AndersonGreet Primary School

Emma ArnottGreet Teaching School Alliance

Kate HolderGreet Primary School

Dan HowellGreet Primary School

Anita LawrenceNelson Mandela School

Tracy RuddleBirmingham Education Partnership

Simon WattsConway Primary School

Chapter 1: Text Selection

This chapter is all about the importance of text selection in building up children’s knowledge – that what pupils read shapes how and how well they learn to read. The chapter goes on to give arguments for and against set reading lists, and discusses the flaws of text levelling systems. It emphasises that what children read is among the most important considerations a school can address, and suggests that schools or groups of schools might want to develop their own ‘canon’ of texts that all pupils read during their time there.

The 5 Plagues (challenges) of Reading and how to address them:

1. Archaic text – share pre-complex texts that introduce a degree of archaic diction and syntax. e.g.The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Wind in the Willows, The Velveteen Rabbit, A Bear Called Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.

2. Non-linear time sequence – expose children to books such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and A Christmas Carol.

3. Complexity of narrator – suitable texts include And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by J. Stevens;The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by J.Scieszka;The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by E.Trivizas.

4. Complexity of story (plot, symbols, interwoven plots e.g. A Midsummer Night’s Dream).Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin is a good text for children from 8 years old.

5. Resistant text – this refers to texts which are difficult to understand, texts that deliberately resist comprehension. Sharing lots of poetry with children “can be an outstanding tool for preparing students for resistant prose,” e.g. Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’.

Books children read and study in school are a finite, scarceand valuable resource. We need to consider the totality of the texts as part of a broader education.

There is much power in shared texts and discussion – can discuss interpretations and challenge thinking.

Knowledge Development (p.50). What happens in our brains when we read does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life - the same neurological regions are stimulated.

“One of the strongest drivers of reading ability is prior knowledge.” And one of the ways that pupils gain knowledge is by reading deeply and widely.

Chapter 2: Close Reading

Close Reading

Close reading is one of the four key ideasthat make up what Lemov et al term ‘the core of the core’. It is the most difficult to define clearly, but it createsthe ability to read the most demanding texts, interpret them independently and understand what they mean. It avoids 'gist' reading and allows students to read text that is challenging.

It is methodical. It breaks down the text to understand how and why specific words are used. It requires layered reading (re-reading over and over again), text dependent questions, and ends with mastery expressed through writing.

Three Approaches to Layered Reading

  • The contiguous read is the reading of a text with the fewest possible interruptions to experience the text as a whole. It can be the ideal way to introduce and conclude a text after analysis, to see the piece as a whole.
  • The line by line read is when pauses for discussion and analysis are frequent, and paraphrasing can be used to establishunderstanding.
  • The leap frog read follows an image, phrase or idea through a passage, so 'leaping' over some parts of the passage to find references.

It is important to recognise that the three approaches can be combined.

Text Dependent Questions (TDQs)

TDQs require a firm knowledge of the text. They can be used to establish meaning, and to analyse meaning. They can be word or phrase level, sentence or line level, paragraph or stanza level. A referent questionasks what a word (often a pronoun) refers to. A denotation question asks about the meaning of a specific word or phrase. Other examples of TDQs are:

  • Connotation, which asks about the implied meaning of words based on their associations.
  • Figurative/literal,in which figurative meaning is clarified and compared to the literal interpretation of the same piece.
  • Allusion, which analyses an indirect reference to another text.

‘Toggling’ is the shift back and forth between establishing meaning and reading to analyse it. The final part of a close reading lesson requires written processing, especially after the first read.

Close reading must have a clear focus which clarifies what you are reading for. It is important to identify a line of inquiry, i.e. a consistent area of focus. It is more specific than a learning objective.

Close reading is an effective strategy as it teaches skills and habits that help to build up the problem-solving skills that are essential to autonomous reading.

They Could Not Take It

Think that referent and other word- and phrase-level questions that “merely establish meaning” are simplistic? Take this small test, using a sixth-grade Common Core sample passage from New York. It was shared with teachers to help them understand what sorts of passages and tasks their students would need to be able to read and complete. We’ve bolded and numbered thirteen pronouns. Read the passage and number a sheet of paper 1-13, identifying for each what the pronoun refers to.

The Greeks besieged the city of Troy for nearly ten years. They (1)could not take it (2)because the walls were so high and strong – some said that they (3)had been built by the hands of the gods – but they (4)kept the Trojans inside. This (5)had not always been so. There had been a time when the Trojans had gone out and fought with their (6)enemies on the plain, sometimes they (7)had beaten them (8)in battle, and once they (9)had very nearly burnt their (10)ships. But this (11)was all changed. They (12)had lost some of the bravest of their chiefs , such as Hector, the best of the sons of Priam and Paris the great archer and many great princes, who had come from the countries round about to help them (13).

Trickier than you thought? Consider, then, how hard it would be for pupils, especially pupils already confused by the fact, say, the word “Trojans” refers to people from Troy (now there’s a good referent question), and that the phrase “they could not take it” doesn’t mean, as it does in modern parlance, “they couldn’t put up with it anymore,” but rather “they could not capture it via military action.” You’d definitely want to focus a denotation question on that phrase. Anyway, here’s our best shot at an answer key:

  1. The Greeks
  2. The city of Troy
  3. The walls around Troy
  4. The walls around Troy (or possibly the Greeks?)
  5. The state of besiegement wherein the Trojans were trapped inside their own walls
  6. The Trojans’
  7. The Trojans
  8. Their historical enemies (various, unnamed)
  9. The Trojans
  10. Their historical enemies, but in this case hinting at an action against specific enemies, probably the Achaeans
  11. The state of existence wherein the Trojans were brave warriors who went out on conquests
  12. The Trojans
  13. The Trojans

Notice answers 5 and 11. A full and fairly complex sentence is required to describe what the pronouns are referring to. As we hope is now clear, without skill and practice at tracking pronoun references, children wouldn’t have a chance reading this passage.

Chapter 3: Reading Non-fiction and the Challenge of Background Knowledge

Chapter 3 begins with the paradox that comprehension of non-fiction often demands a strong base of prior knowledge, but reading non-fiction is also one of the primary ways such a base of knowledge is built.

The chapter seeks to address the issues that pupils need to read more non-fiction than they do currently if they are to be prepared for the next stage in their education, and that pupils may avoid non-fiction as it is generally less engaging.

As teachers we need to be careful not to just turn to narrative non-fiction – as the skills needed to read this are not dissimilar to reading fiction – but should also teach pupils how to read ‘non-narrative non-fiction’ (NNNF).

In reading, the more you know, the more you learn. A broader and deeper knowledge of a subject before you start reading allows you to decide what’s important and what’s worth prioritising in a text, and also helps you to fill in the gaps in understanding. Background knowledge helps readers to make more accurate inferences – the jumps are smaller.

In fact – E.D. Hirsch Jr in The Knowledge Deficit argues that the ability to make inferences is not actually a formal skill – i.e. that the ability to make inferences in one setting won’t necessarily increase the likelihood of your making successful inferences elsewhere (so repetition is of limited value). The writers of this book, however, think that making inference requires experience (and therefore knowledge) of what sorts of things are often missing from a text – and so practising skills is useful, alongside building background knowledge.

Absorption Rate

  • Refers to how quickly pupils assimilate new knowledge as they read.
  • If pupils are simply taught non-fiction reading as a unit – and so read, say, 3 different non-chronological reports on 3 different days, then their absorption rate is likely to be low. The texts need context and children need a reason to absorb the information.
  • The way that NNNF texts could be used is as embedded texts within a unit based around a primary (fiction) text.

Embedded Texts 1: Inside the bull’s-eye

When texts are closely paired it maximises synergy – e.g., reading a novel set in WW2, then reading some NNNF about the conditions that soldiers lived in. In this example, children would be more attentive to both the emotions of the soldiers (as they understand more about what they are going through) and the factual information (as they care about the soldier characters in the novel). Pupils connect the dots. The absorption rate goes up.

Embedded Texts 2: Outside the bull’s-eye

Additional non-fiction texts can be used to help pupils to better understand the world generally. The example given is of pairing the novel ‘The Outsiders’ with an article explaining the social structures/hierarchies of groups of bull elephants (the novel ‘Holes’ would also fit this pairing) – and posing the question ‘how are the social structures of the Greasers similar to those of the bull elephants?’

By embedding such NNNF texts regularly in the scheme of teaching a novel we are showing the children that a book does not live in isolation, and we are also modelling, and building a habit of, intellectual curiosity.

Keys to Planning for Embedding Non-fiction

  • Choose your spot in the scheme of work.
  • Create synergy – use interlocking questions to enhance synergies between texts.
  • Adapt, combine, amend articles – to make them more accessible and applicable to younger children.

Use Fiction to Build Background Knowledge

There needs to be a coherent, sequential, knowledge-rich curriculum delivered every year from EYFS upwards.

E.g. – a book about a frog should be more than just practising reading skills – each time pupils read, taking away knowledge should also be an important (& planned) goal.

Resources from accompanying DVD:

Embedding Nonfiction: Quality-Control Checklist

Before reading a nonfiction text with your students, it’s always important to ask yourself,How do I know the nonfiction I’ve selected is good? Is it a worthy time investment? Here are some questions to ask yourself when you evaluate a piece of nonfiction for embedding. Or, better yet, ask a colleague to use these questions to evaluate the nonfiction text you’re planning to embed. Doing so can be a useful strategy for starting a deeper conversation about the text before you teach it.

Questions to help evaluate a piece of nonfiction / How will this text advance and deepen students’ understanding of the primary text? What specific themes or topics will it address?
Why is this text among the most useful and important things to add to students’ understanding of the primary text? (In other words, why not choose something else?)
What content are you seeking to add to the student’s overall, long-term knowledge base? Why is this content especially most useful and important to add to students’ knowledge base?
Questions to help evaluate the effectiveness of how you’ll use the nonfiction to complement the primary text / Have you explicitly linked the embedded text to the primary text using connecting questions?
Have you asked text-dependent questions from at least three levels (word or phrase level; sentence level; paragraph level; passage level)?

Examples of Embedding

Here are some examples of embedded nonfiction texts that teachers have paired with their primary fiction texts.

Novel / Embedding Examples
Paddington at the Palace by Michael Bond / Article on Buckingham Palace
Article describing the Guard at Buckingham Palace/changing of the Guard
Description of Big Ben
Short biography of Queen Elizabeth
Description of marmalade and how it’s made
Map of British railway stations
Article on child refugees
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr / Article on Hiroshima, Japan
Introduction to World War II
Article on the bombing of Pearl Harbor
President Roosevelt’s speech to Congress to declare war on Japan
Description of the atomic bomb, with an excerpt from President Truman’s speech about his decision to drop the bomb
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan / Article on the Mexican Revolution, used to establish historical time period and sentiment that leads to Papa’s death at the beginning of the novel
Article on behavior of vultures, used to analyse figurative language used to characterise Tio Luis and Tio Marco
Article on women in the Mexican Revolution, used to familiarise students with the concepts of gender roles, powerlessness of widows, and work opportunities for immigrant women in the United States
Encyclopedia entry or article on the phoenix, used to strengthen analysis of Esperanza’s characterisation of herself as a phoenix
Article on Mexican emigration to the United States, used to set up the immigrant experience in Southern California and living conditions
Article on Mexican repatriation, used to set up text conflict and Marta’s motivation
Encyclopedia entry or article on migrant labour
Nonfiction article by John Steinbeck describing his research for The Grapes of Wrath, used as a comparative description of immigrant agricultural worker life
Summary of a book about a Mexican American immigrant family involved in Cesar Chavez’s rights fight in 1960s, used to discuss the farm workers’ movement
Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank orNight by Elie Wiesel / Fast facts about World War II, used to build context
Examples of World War II propaganda, used to build context for understandingcharacters’ unique positions on the war
Excerpt on pogroms (mentioned in the diary, not explained), used to develop understanding of bias toward Jews during the time
Biography of Elie Wiesel, or other important Holocaust authors.
Biographical info on Dr. Mengele, used to develop understanding of Nazis
Article titled “Life in Hiding,” used to highlight the dangers to Jews in hiding, specifically other Jews willing to turn in hiding Jews to the SS in exchange for their own safety
Excerpt from the Jewish Virtual Library on concentration camp tattoos, used to introduce the concept of dehumanisation in Night
Description of a present-day visit to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee / Speech excerpt by FDR in reference to “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” to give context on the Great Depression
Excerpt from Blackstone’s Commentaries (for example, “Why is it surprising that Calpurnia taught Zeebo using this book?”)
Article on caste system
Article about causes of racism (students had to examine the root cause of racism in Maycomb)
Article about hierarchies in the animal kingdom (for example, pecking order)
Article on the Great Depression
Excerpt from memoir about life in a small Southern town by an AfricanAmerican author

Chapter 4: Writing for Reading

This chapter is all about the relationship between reading and writing, specifically how encouraging writing can help us build top-level readers. It introduces the idea of changing how we traditionally position the writing element of comprehension work – at the end. It gives some tips to enable the children to write brilliant short pieces of writing and finally explains how we can give the children more stamina in their writing. The chapter includes lots of great examples to back up each idea.