The Importance of Active Thinking in Reading

In today’s keynote, Ms. Stephanie Harvey talked about the importance of active thinking in reading. It reminds me of the keynote given by Prof. Calkins on the first day. She mentioned as teachers we need to explore our self-consciousness and be aware of our own reading preferences as well as when and why our learning levels reached sky high. The process of “pushing” students to have higher-level thinking is stressed in the teaching of reading. “Comprehension is an on-going process of involving thinking. It is the thinking that happens…all readers are developing readers,” Stephanie further mentioned.

A teacher at the beginning of the reading institute told me that she would prefer to ask students just read without putting down their ideas in the middle. She argued that when students started to write while reading, the writing would take for ever. Is that true? I wonder what questions the teacher might ask students before and after their reading, and what she might expect students to learn from their reading. Like Stephanie said today, even we as professional readers are often running our eyes across pages and often times need to go back to the previous pages. So, it is important to keep our young reader conscious and active in the reading process. After they learn envision (visualizing the texts in mind), prediction (predicting the incoming plots), connection (looking for the relationships among characters and chapters as well the connections between the book being read and books read before), interpretation (explaining their findings in the book, e.g., relationships, hidden plots behind conversations, features of characters, etc.), and critical thinking (recognizing the pressures around characters, social stigma on characters, marginalized aspects of the main story, etc.), they will be constantly thinking. The process of thinking while reading will further help improve their comprehension skills.

Keeping different strategies in mind and putting down ideas in the middle of reading, like the teacher said, may hinder students’ reading speed. However, as teachers, we need to think about the ultimate goals of teaching reading. Are we teaching students to merely understand the story plots? Are we teaching students to be speedy readers? Are we teaching students to be thinkers?

Students in China are used to filling blanks and doing multiple choices for reading comprehension after reading articles/books. The nationalized test-oriented instruction has caused many children losing the joys of reading. Furthermore, if a teacher wanted to punish a student, he/she would ask the students to read/write more. What a bad method that extra reading and writing has become painful punishment, instead of something fun and motivating! For teaching upper graders, one feasible way to adapt TC approaches to classrooms in China is, based on the nationally scripted curriculum, to develop topics related to the textbook. Maybe I can connect students’ book-club reading to the national curriculum. For example, when teaching a unit on traveling in foreign countries, we can gather books on foods, sceneries, festivals, people, etc. in other countries, and ask groups to read these books and come back to act as a tour guide to introduce the features they learned from the books… Meanwhile, reading strategies of envision, prediction, connection, critical thinking, etc. can be introduced regardless of the content we will be teaching.

Philosophically speaking, what is the essence of teaching? Teaching for interest? Teaching for motivation? Teaching for “proximal development”? Teaching for lifelong learning? All the strategies will serve for eventual realization of the essence(s) of teaching and learning that we believe in.

Book Club, Book Leveling System, and the Application in China

One of the methods to help children grow interests in reading is to set up book clubs. As introduced by the TC Reading and Writing Project, we can match students at about the same reading levels and with similar interested genres together. Members within the same book club can “monitor” and motivate each other’s reading. Book club members meet several times a week, discuss moments in the book that make them excited, touched, and passionate, and decide how many pages they will be reading in the next a couple of days. They also talk about their findings and understandings after applying certain strategies towards the book they are reading. Book club members are selected and matched first according to their reading levels. Reading levels, according to both Fountas & Pinnell and TC standards, ranges from A to Z which is mainly aiming at students from kindergarten to the 8^th grade. 8^th grader is expected to reach adult-level reading proficiency. To my knowledge based on a previous TC course in children’s literature and experiences in a number of public school classrooms in NYC, most teachers are familiar with the Fountas & Pinnell leveling system and their classroom books are leveled by this system. While many books are published with a labeled F&P level, TC’s book leveling standards are not in conflict with the F&P. TC’s standards further complement the F&P system with specific guidance about features of each level in vocabularies, sentence patterns, punctuations, grammar, story flow, picture flow, etc.

While I love the structure and strategies given by the Reading and Writing Project, I have been thinking that how I can apply these good methods to classrooms in China, a place without a recognized leveling system in teaching English. Textbook so far is the main formal resource in K-12 schools in China. Students learn English through reciting vocabularies and practicing pronunciations and textual conversations. Students in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai are fortunate to have more after-school resources, including after-school English drama club, CDs and software in English stories and plays, English movies, and TV and audio broadcasting devices. Given the facts that there is no leveling system so far, English/bilingual picture books in China are insufficient, and there is no custom of having a classroom library, what can I do there? Can I develop a leveling system for learners who are learning English as a second language in China? Can I promote the idea of having a national English leveling system in China and connecting it to all the English picture book in the market and to be developed in the future? Students in China now start to learn English from 1^st grade (while fifteen years ago students in my generation started to learn English from middle school), with at least one-hour instructional time per day. One possible and feasible way to apply the book-club idea in upper-grade classroom is that: first, establish a classroom library by utilizing English books at school and local university libraries; second, ask several students to manage the classroom library, collecting students’ requests for books and returning books to the libraries; third, match students with similar English reading levels (based on evaluation) and interested genres to book clubs; fourth, ask students take turns to lead their book clubs and produce weekly report to the teacher reporting their reading progresses, questions, and problems encountered; fifth, ask each book club to present what they have learned from their books to the class on a monthly basis; the last but not the least, ask parents to attend students’ monthly book-club presentations, or videotape students’ presentations and post the clips onto classroom web log on a monthly basis.

The process of teaching should be creative and differentiated. Even with limited resources, we can still make a difference. I am enthusiastic about applying and adapting the literacy teaching approaches I learned here to students in China in the near future.

The TC Structure of Teaching of Reading

The following map may give you an overview of the TC method of teaching of reading in upper grades (3rd-8th grade). More details are provided towards the language used with students. For example, students are addressed as "reader" in reading workshops, while they are addressed as "writer" in writing workshops. Teachers are required to use specific language to start a conference with students, for example, "what are you doing as a reader?", "what have you learned from this book so far as a reader?", etc.

You can move any part around on the map to view details.

Smilebox: A Tool for Online Publishing

I want to introduce Smilebox, which is a terrific tool for personalized online publishing. Compared with Sophie which I blogged about before, Smilebox has several differences: (1) the system can "intelligently" display the photos/videos within the electronic "book". You can upload all the photos and videos at a time, select the background, and then the system will generate a designed book for you. You can further adjust the design and add texts; (2) While Smilebox doesn't have the function of getting feedback from readers, it offers more publishing formats (e.g., online book, online album, e-card, etc.) with various background choices. It can also be sent out via email or posted onto blog.

You can take a tour by clicking the yellow bar on this page.



The website says that over six million people have downloaded the software. The software is free. The process of uploading/inserting videos, audios, and texts as well as linking to the web space makes personal publishing become more creative and promising.

Self-Consciousness in the Teaching of Reading

In today’s keynote, Prof. Lucy Calkins asked the audience (who are about 760 teachers/graduate students from 38 states and 11 countries) a question -- “When was your learning curve sky high?” In addition to this question, we were also asked to think about our own journeys as readers. The process of recalling our own journeys as learners and readers is important to make our teaching better. Being self-conscious about my own learning curve can help re-affirm myself what good teaching might look like. Being self-conscious about my own favorite English books can help recognize my preferred genres, which further ensure me to make a better decision in selecting literature across genres to teach.

Looking back on my learning journey during my formative years in China, I started to learn English as a second language from middle school. At that time, mathematics, rather than English literacy, was my favorite subject. My passion in mathematics never reached such a high level that math was my first choice in doing homework and I often couldn’t help discussing math problems with boys in my class, although at a sensitive teen age that boys and girls didn’t talk much to each other in class in the early 1990s in China. I set up a high expectation in math for myself and I was the top one female student in the subject who won district math prizes together with all other boys for our school. Why? There was a secret behind. I adored my math teacher Ms. Tang. She was a smart, artistic, humorous, but also rigorous middle-aged lady. I never saw a female math teacher as smart as her. The instruction she gave was succinct. She had the “magic” ability which could change complex problems into simple and clear interpretations…As Prof. Calkins mentioned in the keynote that U.S. DOE’s recent report showed that the access to a good teacher is the most likelihood that can increase children’s success, I was fortunate enough to enjoy the “sunshine” from Ms. Tang through my middle-school years, however, I was unfortunate to experience an ignorant math teacher in my high-school years who most of the time tried hard to “feed” students with textbook knowledge, like most teachers in China did/are still doing today. The big contrast directly caused my decreased interest in math which eventually influenced my choice of future career. Coming back to the discussion at the beginning of this reflection, what is good teaching about? Good teaching should come from the facilitator of the classroom, the teacher. Good teaching should be succinct, guiding, motivating, and involving. Good teaching should be interesting and creative in a predictable way (Calkins, 2001, The Art of Teaching Reading) so students can be self prepared. Good teaching should be constructive and social. Good teaching should be collaborative, differentiated, and open to new possibilities…

I read limited English literature before coming to the U.S. My favorite ones in mind include Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women. Jane Austin is always my favorite author whose writing style influenced me a lot. The conversations she wrote were models of succinct but powerful writings. I noticed that my favorite books were all fictions and all feminine. As an individual, I admired some glittering points of the female characters within the books: Scarlett’s undefeated spirit and persistence, Elizabeth’s intelligence, confidence, and courage, and Jo’s independence and pursuit of personal life goals. All of them conversed with me and created a beautiful world, full of imagination, colors, and lights, during the later stage of my formative years. I realized that I tended to use the limited flexibility (under a national curriculum) to do storytelling about fictions and fantasies with elementary students I taught in China. Being aware of my own preferences, as a teacher/educator, I need to pay more attention to other book genres and make sure that students will be able to read across genres in their English class. I need to develop more passions in other genres to facilitate students’ learning.

Ten Transformative Ideas to Create a Richly Literate Classroom Culture

By Mary Ehrenworth

1. Talking passionately about books (example book described: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)

Instead of saying the book is good, make specific recommendation/introduction of the book (e.g., personal connection, etc.) Try to reach genres and authors when talking about the book. Further suggestions for teachers: A need to develop passions across genres.

2. Being visible as a reader

Physically carry the books when they are running around.

[Ting's comment: How does this happen? Can we allow students to bring classroom books with them to the dinning room and recess?]

3. Create communities around books (another way to keep readers visible)

Fox can be read with every grade.

4. Create an online experience: goodreads.com, which can help to make a book club and keep track of books they read.

[Ting's comment: An online book club is a great way to involve parents and students. Students can see what books other peers are reading/ have read. The options of leaving comments and keeping track of the books they are reading will be very motivating. It would be interesting to have a comprehensive investigation of the users on the website and specifically see how students interact with their peers through these digital literacy activities.]

5. Seek books (in classroom; another classroom; school libraries; public libaries) – the capability to search for books

[Ting's comment: This will cultivate students' research skills: How to search for information they need and how to utilize potential resources.]

6. Reading across the day – out of school

"We are going to try reading at different places: on the train, sitting in an art museum, in a park, etc."

This will help students to get a sense about carrying books and reading across the day.

[Ting's comment: This approach will definitely benefit students' life-long learning experience -- Reading can happen anywhere and reading is a joyful experience.]

7. Form book clubs

E.g., every adult at the school leads a book club.

[Ting's comment: How much time and energy does each teacher need to devote for the book clubs?]

8. Parent workshops/book clubs

Most parents don’t know that most of the children in the country drop two levels in the summer because they don’t read.

[Ting's comment: This is a good approach to get parents involved in classroom literacy activities and let them be aware of the literacy approaches applied by teachers.]

9. Book clubs that test “hot literature”

A mixture of parents and students who will test that “who will be appropriate to read the books”.

[Ting's comment: It will be very motivating to be part of the "test" group.]

10. Read, read, read and read

If you read, your students will be reading too.

Three essential elements in teaching of reading: Visibility, Passion, Integrity

Thoughts on Digital Literacy

Today's August Reading Institute mentioned a popular website called Goodreads which is used by a great number of young students and adults today. I had a trial on the website and found many students use it to keep track of their own readings and let their friends on the site to monitor their readings. They also comment on and rate books and post book-related videos. I was told that some schools use the Goodreads as a collaborative online book club for students, parents, and teachers to leave comments to books they read or have been reading.

Students can limit their group discussion to their friends. One interesting thing happened recently was about a book named The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. A group of students were discussing the book on the site and opened the access to their classmates, teachers, and the author. One day, they surprisingly found the author left a passionate comment to a student who wrote a poem for the book...

Digital Literacy Project Design

This online book club drove me to think further about my potential digital story telling project with a class of 5^th graders in P.S. 199 in the fall. The classroom teacher has given me great flexibility in co-creating and co-working on this digital story telling project. Our original idea was about teaching children basic movie editing skills and guiding them to convert photos and pictures into a video story/book with different texts inserted. So students will, based on the books they will be reading in the fall, make reflective video works or create books in their interested topics. They will in the process additionally learn design skills and 21^st-century media skills. However, this original idea has potential uncontrolled challenges: (1) potential difficulties of managing Windows Movie Maker as 5^th graders; (2) limited space and time to show texts within a video story/book; and (3) a potential website to house these digital stories.

Goodreads is a great “online book club” to share, monitor, and keep track of books. But how can I connect it to the digital storytelling project? How many students in the class have internet access at home? Is the website allowed within the school? Since videos can be uploaded to personal profiles, how many videos can be uploaded for each individual and what is the upper limit?

Idea Two is, instead of trying a fancy video project, to let students publish their works/reflections and make comments to others’ entries through a classroom blog. Small-scale videos, images, and mind maps can be posted on the blog.

Idea Three is about Twitter. Twitter is a place we can use for collaborative writing and also individual publishing.

…

Before making a final decision, I need to think more about the classroom facilities, students’ internet access, and the main publishing activities students will be involved in the fall.

August Writing Animoto Clip

August Writing IE Group Photos

Final Piece of Adult Writing

Thanks to Josh for proofreading my piece. And thanks to Sandi for listening to my rehearsal.

I was asked to read my adult writing piece to the audience at the closing ceremony of the Teaching of Writing Institute this afternoon. The following is the final version for this afternoon:

This is a story about my grandma, happend in the 1940s in a small village in southern China.

“What happened, Mom?” Lin asked as she walked to her Mother.

“Oh, my little sweetheart,” her mother couldn't help crying before her daughter. “Your father will have you marry into the Wu family next month.”

“M...Mom,” she stammered with her black eyes opened wide, "which…which Wu family?"

“My poor girl, my baby, you will marry the oldest son of the Wu family in the Kim Village...He is ten years older than you. How could I live without you?” Lin's Mother looked at Lin as her heart was breaking.

“Mom, I don't want to get married. I don't want to leave you! Let me go to talk to father,” as Lin was about to walk out of her room.

“My silly girl, are you crazy? You will be beaten to death. Oh, my poor little girl.” Her mother held Lin in her arms and kept sobbing.

Lin rushed back to her room and cried hard in her bed. “I hate him. I hate this suffocating family!” The hatred and pain soared in her heart, “I hate the fact that I have to follow and accept everything arranged by others. Why do I have to follow father and why do women have to always follow men's decisions? Why could a woman as kind and noble as Mom never be well treated by father? Why? Why?!!!”

“No, this is not what I wanted.” Lin wiped the tears on her face.

Suddenly, there was something glittering in her eyes. “Why not run away from this family and never be controlled by father or any other man in the world?” She recalled, “Lu mentioned that there were jobs for women in the nearby city Yichun...Yes! I should go to Yichun.”

“But I can't leave Mom...” Lin hesitated.

Lin walked to the window and stared at the light from her mother’s room. Everything around seemed frozen and there was no other sound heard except for her own heartbeat.

Finally, Lin walked back to her bed with the decision made.

The next morning, before dawn, a girl sneaked out of a big house and walked towards the mountains faced by the village. On the other side of the mountains, there was a city called Yichun. The girl started to climb the first mountain. The sun was rising. Bright sunshine started to cover the peaks. The girl’s face became as rosy as the dawn. She continued climbing, without stopping or even glancing at the house which was becoming farther and farther away.

...

Teaching via Picture Books

I have been immersed in a big number of children’s picture books these days, which I feel supper happy about. To become a children’s book editor and writer is one of my career goals when I get back to China in the future, in addition to academic life. All the recommended picture books by different speakers are interesting in a special way. They offer various teaching points for classroom writing workshops.

This is a book I like very much which is fun to read and of multiple teaching points.

Teaching points:

1. Punctuation is the craft (e.g., …)
2. A sentence can be written across pages
3. Use speech bubble to add conversation
4. Use text in boldface and exclamation mark to express strong feelings
5. Write words into different shapes (to match pictures) (e.g., a curvy shape)
6. Use repetitive format
7. Dialogue can be added by people not shown in the picture
8. Use pictures to show emotions
9. …

Minilesson and Conferring

The teaching of writing institute is intense especially when it conflicts with my final week of another going-on research methodology course. I have really got a CRAZY week... But fortunately it is a high-quality week-long class that is far beyond my expectation. I never thought about that writing can be taught in such a well-structured way which is full of fun. I feel excited about the processes of teaching: (1) the 10-minute mini lesson for building up connections to fit into students’ works, demonstrating strategies for writing, engaging students by asking students to practice the strategy just taught, and linking the going-on lesson to content/strategies taught previously; and (2) the ways of conferring with students individually and in a small group.

In a writing workshop, the min lesson which takes the first 10 minutes of the workshop is very important to support students’ independent writing. It will provide students with strategies for writing and students will be the ones who take the choices of strategies with them through their entire life in writing. The strategies may not help students to shape their main work that they need to complete on that day but will get students familiar with different meanings realized via different strategies. The processes of practices will enable students to build up a rich writing repertoire for their increasing growth. Since there are only ten minutes for the mini lesson, the instruction needs to be very succinct, and the demonstration of writing needs to be very detailed.

Conferring with students is another important component in teaching of writing. Conferring gives good moments for differentiated teaching. A conference consists of research (finding out what students are working on, where they are, and what problems they might encounter), compliment (encouraging students’ going-on work and support the strategies students already used in their works), teach (what further help they might need and what strategies they can apply to make their writing better), and link (link the aforementioned teaching to the mini lesson or the previous strategies/content).

The processes of both the mini lesson and the conferring well match the Constructivism learning theory. Students are continuously learning from new strategies and their own practices while being linked to knowledge already or previously acquired. These approaches assist students to write, rather then restrict the content students want to write about. Teachers are more like facilitators rather than instructors. I wonder can this structured set of approaches (for teaching of English writing) be applied to students learning English as a second language? And can it be also applied to other languages, for example, for teachers teaching the writing of Chinese literacy in China? Actually, I have a strong and positive feeling about applying the structure of teaching to the teaching in China. I would love to experiment this teaching method in the English teaching in China when I get back home in the future.