Reading Power

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Reading Power

• insight into the Research

Rose Dodgson TDSB
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Learning to read is the greatest single effort
that the human mind undertakes, and he must do
it as a child.

• John Steinbeck

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Reading Power insight into the Research

• What does the current research tell us about
  reading?
• What are the implications for the school library
  program?
• How can teacher-librarians become literacy
  partners in school?

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David Loertecher

• Reinvent your school's library in the age of
  technology A guide for principals and
  superintendent
• Danger Signs

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Keith Curry Lance The Colorado StudiesSchool
Libraries and Student Achievement

• Findings
• Students at schools with better funded school
  libraries tend to achieve higher average test
  scores, whether their schools and communities are
  rich or poor and whether adults in the community
  are well or poorly educated.
• more school library media centre staff and more
  books, periodicals and videos
• the teacher librarian engages with classroom
  teachers to collaboratively plan and teach
• networked computers link school libraries with
  classrooms

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Further studies (Alaska 1999, Pennsylvania
2000, Oregon 2001, Iowa 2001)

• Findings
• Better test results are also achieved where there
  is a quality collection of resources to support
  curriculum, accessible to students and teachers
  all day.
• Leadership involvement on the part of the teacher
  librarian has a strong impact on collaboration,
  which in turn is an indicator of student success.
• Library program development (staffing,
  collections, expenditures) and technology are
  strong predictors of student achievement
  regardless of other factors including
  socio-economic.

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Research School Libraries and Reading

• Krashen, Stephen The Power of Reading, 1993
  (analysis of 20 years of reading research)
• The research supports the commonsense view that
  when books are readily available, when the print
  environment is rich, more reading is being done.

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Number of Books in Homes

• Children living in two economically depressed
  communities (in Los Angeles) had respective
  averages of 0.4 and 2.67 age-appropriate books in
  the home those living in the high-income
  district had 99.2.
• The Literacy Crisis, Jim McQuillan, 1998

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Reading aloud to children will change their
lives forever.

• (Mem Fox)

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IEA Progress in International Reading Literacy
Study (PIRLS) 2001

• Differences Between High- and Low- Scoring
  Countries
• large school libraries
• large classroom libraries
• regular book borrowing
• frequent silent reading in class
• frequent story reading aloud by teachers
• Gender Differences
• Girls achieved at higher levels than boys.
• Importance of books
• The availability of books is a key factor in
  reading literacy

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YITS (Youth in Transition Survey)

• Approximately 30 000 Canadian 15 year olds from
  more than 1000 schools.
• (Ontario sample approx. 4000 students.)
• Canada ranked second in Reading, sixth in
  Mathematics and fifth in Science.
• Ontario students performed at the same level as
  Canadian students overall in reading.
• In all countries including Canada and in all
  provinces including Ontario, girls performed much
  better than boys on the reading test.

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The study concluded

• Reading behaviours such as reading enjoyment,
  reading diversity and time spent reading for
  enjoyment had strong effects on reading,
  mathematics and science results.
• Reading enjoyment had a positive effect on
  reading achievement in all countries, with a
  higher level of reading enjoyment associated with
  a higher level of achievement
• There was a significant difference in reading
  achievement between those who borrowed books from
  public and school libraries once per month and/or
  several times per month and those who never
  borrowed books.
• Student achievement in all three domains
  increased with the number of books at home.

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Ontario Provincial Literacy Tests EQAO 2002 Gr.
3 and 6

• Reading
• 50 of the students achieved the provincial
  standard in reading, in Grade 3.
• 55 in Grade 6.
• Writing
• 55 of the students achieved the provincial
  standard in reading, in Grade 3.
• 53 in Grade 6.
• In Gr. 3 6 reading and writing, girls
  significantly outperformed boys.

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EQAO recommends

• that teachers use a variety of reading materials
  across genres and employ teaching strategies to
  motivate and interest both girls and boys
• that teachers have students focus on
  understanding the different organizational and
  presentation forms (non-fiction, for example) or
  understanding graphic organizers and how they
  connect information in boxes and sidebars to the
  information in the text.
• that teachers continue to read aloud to students
  throughout the elementary grades and emphasize to
  parents the importance of reading aloud to their
  children at home

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OSSLT 2002 Gr. 10 Ontario Secondary School
Literacy Test

• 75 of students passed both reading and writing
  components of the test
• 87 of students in academic program passed both
  the reading and writing component
• 44 of students in applied programs passed both
• 12 in locally developed program passed both
• a higher percentage of girls are performing at or
  above expected level

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OSSLT Recommendations

• recognize the strong connection between literacy
  and the use of technology
• determine how students' home reading especially
  in information text can be used to encourage to
  develop more effective reading strategies,
  increased reading comprehension and a greater
  enjoyment of reading
• extend the reading development strategies in
  Ontario's Early Years Reading Strategy across all
  grades (ega variety of reading materials for all
  students)

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Dr. G. Kylene Beers Types of Readers

• Avid - enjoy reading, have positive feelings
  about people who enjoy reading and like to talk
  to people about their reading
• Dormant - like to read but school and life are
  too busy at the moment
• Uncommitted -don't like to read but are open to
  change their mind if someone would just give them
  something interesting to read
• Unmotivated -do not like reading, prefer TV and
  video, have difficulty imagining the
  abstractions, people, and events in literature
• Unskilled - difficulty reading, do not read
  often, read to practice skills

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Ron Jobe Types of Reluctant Readers

• I cant readers - passive, avoidance experts,
  afraid to take risks
• I dont know how readers -easily frustrated,
  reliant on teacher, not responsible
• Id rather readers - hands on, interested in the
  world, like arts and crafts
• I dont care readers - disinterested or bored,
  habitual failures, expert at coping skills,
  usually older readers
• I dont understand readers -lack vocabulary, lack
  cultural meaning
• The real I have problems readers -specific
  physical or mental disabilities, inability to use
  language effectively, possible visual or hearing
  difficulties

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Boys and Reading David Booth. Even Hockey
Players Read
-What factors in the home and in the classroom
influence the literacy lives of boys? -Why do
so many boys select different reading materials
than girls? -Why do girls score higher than
boys do on tests of reading achievement? -Why
do so many males consider themselves
non-readers? -Are society's expectations for
boys' and girls' literacy lives different? -Do
we minimize the literacy needs of girls if we
focus on the difficulties with boys?
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Boys and Reading Brozo, William.To Be A Boy, To
Be A Reader

• Adolescent males need to be exposed to literary
  images they can identify with and look up to.
• He presents10 positive male archetypes that
  engage boys in reading and capture their unique
  male imaginations

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Reading Don't Fix No Chevies The Role Of
Literacy In The Lives Of Young Men 2002

• Findings
• Boys tended to prefer short texts
• Boys enjoy reading for a purpose
• Boys desire choice and freedom in classroom
  texts, assignments and projects
• Boys liked highly visual texts, and those that
  offered humor, a new perspective, and interesting
  facts.
• Knowing how to read was important reading itself
  was not.
• School reading involved mostly books and
  textbooks life reading involved media, video,
  TV, music lyrics, Internet sites and a variety of
  popular culture texts, magazines and newspapers.

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University of Victoria Study Morphing Literacy
Boys Reshaping Their Literacy 2002

• The study found that boys can read, but are
  selective in what they read.
• boys are less interested in fiction or
  traditional literature
• boys are engaging in literacy outside of the
  classroom
• boys use texts as a point of connection
• they use reading strategies that they have
  adopted in school and have "morphed" them to help
  make sense of new literacies that appeal to them
• boys displayed expertise and interest in digital
  literacies
• 5 literacy practices emerged

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5 literacy practices

• personal interest
• action
• success
• fun
• purpose
• impacts all of the others and is the strongest

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Cautions

• be wary
• of overly simplistic solutions that suggest that
  boys can be motivated to read simply by
  introducing "boy-friendly" literature
• to be wary of literature that serves to reinforce
  undesirable stereotypes for boys
• of putting boys and girls into rigid,
  gendered categories

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Implications for SLIC Program

• Build Access
• Collection Development
• Environment
• Motivate Reading
• Program
• Instructional Strategies

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The more you read, the more you know, and the
more you know, the smarter you grow.

• (Jim Trelease)

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No single place at the school is more important
in developing reading than the school library.

• (Paul Kropp)