Questions and Answers

The interviewees and guests on RIF Exchange 306: "Sharing and Extending Books " address these commonly asked questions:

Q: What is the best way to help children become lifelong readers?

A: Discussing books with children may be the most important thing you can do. Social interaction about books helps children to broaden their understandings and to extend their interpretations.

By listening to others' perspectives, children strengthen their own. They make connections to past knowledge and experiences as they critically think about books. Comprehension is expanded as children formulate evidence for their own thinking about books.

According to Linda Gambrell, one of the studio experts for this program, social interaction about books is one of four interrelated factors that influence reading motivation. (The other three are prior experiences with books, access to books, and opportunities to choose what to read.) Here's what Gambrell has to say on the subject:

"When children talk about books-what they liked and didn't like, what the characters were like, how the story twisted and turned, how the book made them feel, and so on - they build their own understanding and encourage peers to read the same book. We should provide plenty of time for children to engage in animated discussions about what they are reading, with a little coaching from a teacher or other adult … One of things that we know is that what children talk about is what they are most likely to learn and remember best."

A: Literature circles are small, temporary discussion groups of students who have chosen to read the same work of literature. Each member agrees to take specific responsibilities during discussion sessions. The circles meet regularly, and the discussion roles change at each meeting. When the circle finishes a book, the members decide on a way to showcase the book for the rest of the class. They then trade members with other groups, select another title, and move on to a new cycle.

Harvey Daniels, an expert on literature circles, believes that it is best to start forming literature circles by having children take on predefined roles, such as these:

• Summarizer. Prepares a brief summary of the day's reading, which includes main ideas, key events, developments, and conflicts of the day's reading.
  
  
• Facilitator. Helps the group run smoothly and ensures that everyone is participating appropriately.
  
  
• Artful artist. Represents with artwork a significant scene or idea from the reading.
  
  
• Literary luminary. Points out interesting or important passages in the reading.
  
  
• Discussion director. Writes questions that will lead to group discussion. Ideal questions are open-ended.
  
  
• Capable connector. Finds connections between the reading and something outside the text, such as a personal experience, a topic studied in another class, or a different work of literature.
  
  
• Word wizard. Discusses unusual, interesting, or difficult words in the text. (One variation on this title is "Wild and Crazy Word Finder.")
  
  
• Process checker. Records the preparation and participation of the students in the group. Participation is rated on a scale of 1 to 3 at the end of the session. (This role usually begins as the teacher's job and then children adopt it.)

Students in literature circles should not be grouped according to reading ability. As Katherine Noe, another recognized authority on literature circles writes, "Even students who have difficulty reading every word of a book can learn a great deal from that book when given an opportunity to share insights in a group. The collaboration of the group can be a powerful part of the comprehension process."

Literature circles can be used successfully for students of all ages, from primary grades through college. Such circles also have improved the reading skills and enjoyment of at-risk students such as Second Language Learners, poor readers, or reluctant learners. As Noe puts it, "The power of working together to make meaning cannot be underestimated for challenged readers, whether their challenges are related to language, learning, or motivation."

Q: Besides Literature Circles, what other techniques are successful for motivating children to read?

A: There are many techniques for motivating readers, and RIFNet Show 306 illustrates some of these techniques in action. Listed below are some of the methods most frequently cited in the literature.

Readers' Workshop
Based on the research of Graves, Calkins, Routman, Keene, et al., the Readers' Workshop is a philosophy and a classroom structure. The amount of time for Readers' Workshop varies according to the age group, but most schools that use this approach implement it at least weekly.

A Readers' Workshop must have four components: Time, Ownership, Sharing, and Community (TOSC). Students need consistent time, must be able to select some of their own work and be committed to it, must share aloud (using standards of speaking and listening), and must feel a part of a safe classroom environment.

Readers' Workshop often begins with a mini-lesson during which the teacher models a short lesson showing students what effective readers do when they read. Then students go into a sustained silent reading structure, practicing the lesson individually and independently.

Often the teacher moves from one person to another asking questions to see if the student is practicing the lesson and gaining increased proficiency. Or the teacher may pull a small group together to practice/conference. The teacher is required to model that he/she is a reader, because the adage supporting Readers' Workshop is: "A teacher of reading must be a reader."

Readers' Theatre
Readers' Theatre is an interpretive oral reading activity. Students use their voices, facial expressions and hand gestures to interpret characters in scripts or stories. Teachers and students may adapt favorite stories for Readers' Theatre through collaborative scriptwriting activities.

There are several elements of Readers' Theatre that help create a unique experience. First is the physical presence of the text on stage. A script is visible to the audience whether the performers actually read or not, which constantly reminds the audience that the performance stems from the text. The stageset is either nonexistent or minimal because the scene should develop in the imagination of the participants.

This applies not only to stage sets but to the acting as well. Readers usually sit on the stools behind the lecterns, and usually simply dress in black. Each reader portrays one or more characters; however, performers do not try to become the characters while reading. Instead, the lighting indicates when a reader moves from one character to another. Performers of the Readers' Theatre try to develop a connection with the audience, which helps them concentrate on the text.

Book Clubs
Classroom book clubs as well as school library-sponsored clubs have long played integral parts in school reading programs. To build on the traditional book publisher-sponsored clubs, innovations now use the Internet's publication and communication capabilities.

Free Voluntary Reading
Like literature circles, free voluntary reading (FVR) improves students' attitudes towards reading by relying on the twin principles of choice and sharing books. As its name implies, FVR is free reading: students are free to choose what they want to read. Students are also free to share the reading they've done.

As practiced in classes in California, each day a 45-minute period is set aside for Reading for Fun (RFF). Following the first 30-35 minutes of reading, a 10-minute book talk follows. During this time, students share their enthusiasm for what they've read. As one teacher reports, "Book talk is the greatest advertisement for reading. The best part is that the advertisements come right from the kids' mouths."

Students participating in FVR make use of other ways to share their reading. Some review books they've read in a class newsletter. Others report out in small groups of readers. Students may even join clubs based on the amount they've read.

Bookmates
Bookmates are student mentors. Older students visit younger ones to share books appealing to younger readers. In the Beck BookMates Project, eighth graders in Cherry Hill, N.J., visit kindergartners in Camden to promote literacy and help children grow into avid readers. In this program, middle school students write and illustrate the books they read to the kindergartners and then gift the kindergarteners with their creations.

In a similar program in Estherville, Iowa, sixth graders work with first graders. The older children write a book starring their assigned bookmate. The sixth graders publish the book and present them to the first grade partners during Children's Book Week.

For another bookmate program, RIF's Books on the Menu, fifth and sixth graders share food-themed books with kindergarten and first grade students over an 18-week period. During weekly "readtogethers," the older children share the joy of reading with emergent readers.

Dialogue Journals
Through dialogue journals, teachers extend books by asking children to reflect on their reading. Students write a response to their reading in their journals and then trade journals with the teacher. The teacher writes a short response back to the student (usually in note form), offering opinions, personal connections to the original response, or other ideas the journal triggered. With younger students, a picture or a few words work well as responses.

Dialogue journals encourage students to share reactions and write more clearly and legibly to communicate with a specific audience (their teacher). When responding to student writing, teachers model thoughtful responses demonstrating conventional spelling and the mechanics of writing, but not correcting students' writing mistakes.

With younger students and beginning writers, dialogue journals are most effective when shared between teacher and student. Teachers can help older students use dialogue journals to communicate with peers and to spark literature discussions. Having already reflected on their reading, students are better prepared to discuss their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Q: What can parents and other family members do to extend children's reading?

A: Over the years evidence across cultures has documented that if parents have books in their home, read to their children, and hear the children read, children's reading and love of reading develop.

One of the most popular and effective ways to extend children's reading is through book clubs. In recent years, book clubs have become "hot." Articles about book clubs for children have been featured in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Local bookstores often now sponsor not only one club, but many, for varying ages and interests.

There are a large number of books on just this topic for book-club beginners. The Essential Guide for Reading Group Members and Other Book Lovers by Mickey Pearlman (Harper Resource, 1999) includes not only blueprints for organizing a successful book club, but multiple annotated bibliographies for readers of all ages. The Mother Daughter Book Club by Shireen Dodson (HarperCollins, 1997) contains detailed descriptions of one woman's rewarding experiences with a mother-daughter monthly reading group, along with instructions for starting such a group, many suggestions for group activities, and reading lists.

Reading groups of elementary-aged children generally need a leader, not only to provide gentle direction, but to help out when (1) nobody is talking at all, or (2) everybody is talking at once. Younger children may prefer a reading club which involves shared books paired with book-related hands-on projects and activities.

An excellent source for organizers of such get-togethers is Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s by Shirley C. Raines and Robert J. Canady (Gryphon House, 1989), a collection of 450 different activities to accompany 90 favorite storybooks. For each book, the authors include a few simple reading-group-style discussion suggestions along with assorted art, music, science, math, and cooking projects. There are several sequels, covering many more books and many more projects.

Older readers may prefer a club that simply sits around on the living room floor and holds discussions. Straightforward as this sounds, it doesn't always come naturally: just what to read and how best to talk about it after you've read it are sticking points for many book clubs. Some helpful hints are found in Talking About Books by Marcia Fineman, a step-by-step guide for promoting rewarding indepth book club discussions.

Another excellent source for the discussion-minded is the Great Books Foundation, which provides creatively designed reading programs for persons of all ages, from kindergarteners to high-school students to adults. Great Books participants read a featured story or literary selection (or, depending, have it read to them) and then join in a "shared inquiry discussion," directed by a group leader. Readings are chosen with their discussion potential in mind; accompanying questions are thought-provoking, attention-catching, and bound to elicit curiosity and debate.