You'll Really Like This Book, I Promise

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You'll Really Like This Book, I Promise!

• The School Library Media Specialist's Role in the
  Teaching of Reading
• Sandra Andrews and Linda Gann
• NCSLMA Conference, 2008

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What is reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Is this reading?
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Reading and Literacy

• Traditional definition of literacy
• the ability to read and write
• Many related definitions
• Information literacy, visual literacy, etc.
• Broader definition
• the construction of meaningmaking sense of
  reading, writing, and oral language
  --- Shannon, 2003

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Reading and School

• Educators must be concerned with
• Teaching children to read
• Working with children who can read
• Working with children who choose not to read
• Interest in voluntary reading wanes beginning in
  grade 3 and continues to decline during the
  middle school years
  
  --- Guthrie et al, 1999

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Literacy and Education

• Goal is to develop engaged readers
• to encourage and engage students in reading
  --- Information Power, 1998
• A readers competence grows through engagement
  with various types of text and reading for
  various purposes
  --- NCTE, 2004

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Engaged Reading

• Intrinsic motivation
• Curiosity
• Involvement
• Challenge
• --- Guthrie, 1999

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Engaged Reading

• Focuses on meaning-making
• Interrelated with knowledge growth,
  comprehension, and competence in reading
  strategies
• Involves both cognitive and motivational
  strategies
  ---Asselin, 2004 and Guthrie,
  2001

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Best Practices in Teaching Children to Read

• Children need time to do a lot of reading
• Children need access to a variety of reading
  materials
• Children need adult supporters
• Children need authentic literacy experiences
• Children need to be able to choose what they read

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Aspects of Learning to Read

• Phonics
• Alphabet recognition
• Vocabulary building
• Fluency
• Comprehension
• Motivation to read

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Are LMS reading teachers?
?
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The LMS and Learning to Read

• School library media program is to encourage and
  engage students in reading, viewing, and
  listening for understanding and enjoyment
  --- Information Power, 1998
• As literacy leaders, provide
• Inviting and interactive environment
• Access to wide variety of resources
• Activities and engagements -- experiences that
  support childrens literacy growth
• Reinforce and extend teachers classroom
  practices
  --- Shannon, 2003

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The LMS and Learning to Read

• Reinforce phonemic awareness (i.e. the
  relationship between sounds and letters of the
  alphabet)
• Share alphabet books
• Talk about unfamiliar words in a read-aloud
• Use vocabulary-building strategies
• Preview new or unusual words before encountering
  them in a read-aloud
• Utilize nonfiction

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The LMS and Learning to Read

• Help develop fluency (i.e. the ability to read
  text accurately and quickly recognize words
  automatically and quickly)
• Share books with repetition and have students
  join in reading aloud
• Use motivational strategies
• Book displays, book talks, student-written book
  reviews, displays with photos of student readers,
  etc.

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The LMS and Learning to Read

• Help develop reading comprehension
• Build background knowledge
• Determine main ideas
• Sequencing
• Comparing and contrasting
• Visualizing
• Predicting

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Role of LMS with Children

• Create and sustain the reading environment
• Foster childrens reading
• Providing access and just right books
• Guiding children in finding their own just
  right book
• Supporting children through all phases of reading
• Collaborate with teachers to support reading and
  writing
• Work with parents and families

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Literacy in Elementary School

• As children leave elementary, they should be able
  to read fluently and have skills to
  decode/comprehend text and
• Read for meaning
• Approach books and reading with enthusiasm
• Choose their own books
• Recognize different formats and genre
• Share and discuss what they read
• Learn about themselves and the world through
  reading

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Young Adults and Reading

• Young adults do read.
• Young adults view reading as a social activity.
• Gender plays a role in reading preference.
• Those who choose not to read have different
  reasons for opting out.
• Many young adults have difficulty reading
  academic textbooks.

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Young Adults and Reading

• Goals include
• Read diverse texts, think critically about what
  they read, and share their thoughts about what
  they read.
• Continue to build fluency and comprehension with
  little or no general skills instruction.
• Develop approaches for reading in academic and
  content areas.
• Develop literacy as a social and political
  activity.

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Role of LMS with YAs

• Create a library space that draws teens.
• Advocate for free reading time during the school
  day.
• Provide opportunities for free choice.
• Extend the reading community.
• Invite teenagers to read.
• Provide YAs with strategies for understanding
  academic texts.
• Invite YAs to write about what they read.

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Contact Information

• Sandra D. Andrews
• sdandre2_at_uncg.edu
• Linda Gann
• lagann_at_uncg.edu