For Reading's Sake

In a WGM (world gone mad) with standardized testing, it can be easy to lose our way with writing in response to reading.  So one must ask:

What are teachers' intentions when asking students to respond to their reading? 

Do these intentions have anything to do with how "real readers" might actually respond to texts?  

Is it possible to help students learn to respond as "real readers" in ways that are natural, authentic?  

Teachers must (and do) consider aspects such as:

• How can I teach this so that my students will do well on "the test"?
• What does my grade level's curriculum require in reading and writing?

Hopefully, we are also considering the affective aspects of reading response:

• Is this type of response something that a real readers actually do for authentic purposes?
• Could this be a pleasant experience for my students as readers and writers?
• Will writing this response actually consume more time than reading the text?
• Is this a good use of time or am I doing this simply as a means to hold students "accountable" for proving that they read?  
• Am I using this to deeply understand my students' reading or is this strictly for assessment or preparation for "the test"?
• Is this response to reading as solid a use of time as reading is in/of itself?

In his wonderful book, GOOD CHOICE:  SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT READING AND RESPONSE, K-6, Tony Stead describes his recollection of completing required book reports during his childhood:

"As I neared the end of a book, a dark cloud loomed overhead.  The book report soured a perfectly pleasurable experience."

Many of us believe that we are well past those days, but are we--really?

Stead goes on:

"I was also dismayed by the expectation that I had to respond to every book I read.  The pure joy of reading was diminished to a less than pleasurable experience."

Reading Response Overview, K-6

What we do in the name of reading becomes how our students view reading.

In that spirit, Tony Stead contends that, "Responses to literature need to be fueled by the learner's wonderings, surprises, and connections.  Responses need to be driven by the reader's passion and not by a prescribed list of questions that becomes a blueprint for all responses... What is important is that we don't expect our students to respond to everything they read... We want our learners to spend most of their time reading, not just responding."

Stead reminds us that as students become more sophisticated as readers, they may need longer periods of time to respond than their younger counterparts.  He advocates for allowing some class time, including reading workshop time (or, in my state, the 90-minute reading block) as well as other times during the day.  

Stead emphasizes that reading response must be modeled at first (like EVERYTHING we ask students to do).  You might do this in multiple ways with a variety of read-aloud texts (over time), constructing whole-class responses together, carefully demonstrating the thought processes required to generate quality responses.  Be sure to use both fiction and nonfiction!  Be sure to give students time to emulate your demonstrated response with their own text before introducing another option.

Reading Response in Grades K-2

He lists possible response choices for Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, selecting one, and constructing a whole-class response as a model.  He recommends providing additional support for those who need it during small group time.  In grades K-2, Stead recommends setting a goal for each student to respond (and share those responses in a timely manner) to one piece of literature each week (unless you have something else in your curriculum that must take priority).  He even builds in ways for students to listen to each other's responses and to ask sincere, thoughtful questions.  Students even learned to keep response logs, noting choices for responses and evaluating their performance on each.  He says, 

"...through repeated demonstrations, they soon became constructive thinkers, listeners, and talkers."

Doesn't this seem like a wonderful outcome?

Reading Response in Grades 3-6

In addition to modeling, Stead showed older students samples of responses from past years' students to give them ideas.  Students were asked to brainstorm possible, logical responses to the books that they were currently reading or planning to read.  This helped them to realize that the type of response should be driven by the material being read/responded to.  They shared their findings/lists on a chart and began the process of creating meaningful, relevant reading responses.  Via conferring, the teachers were able to provide timely and constructive feedback to their students.  Stead says, 

"Bringing students together and expecting them to know how to respond globally to literature is a difficult and unrealistic task."

They also set up "ground rules" for sharing, including how to prepare, duration, and reflection.  Peers also charted expectations for listening to someone who was sharing.  

Stead emphasizes how very critical it is to "constantly provide whole-class demonstrations to strengthen the students' skills in producing and sharing a well-crafted response."  Conferring with students helped the teachers to determine the demonstrations that needed to be provided, ranging from writing and drawing legibly to setting goals to respond to a variety of genres.  Eventually, this led to co-creating a list of essential components for a good response--a great way to build in assessment (and self-assessment) in this process!

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If you try this form of reading response with your students, you should be able to meet your curricular and test-prep needs while sustaining the joy of books and assessing your student's understanding of what they've read.  

H A P P Y      R E A D I N G!