Practicing Mindfulness while Reading

This is Jessica from Literacy Spark here today to share with you Chapter 4: Mindfulness from Reading Wellness by Jan Miller and Kim Yaris.  Be sure to check out all the posts from this week if you are just joining us (I posted about each chapter on my blog as well) and don't forget you can access the book online (currently for free!) from Stenhouse Publishers.

What is Mindfulness?

According to Merriam-Webster, mindfulness is defined as "the practice of maintaining...complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment to moment basis."

Do you practice mindfulness while reading?  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.  And to be completely truthful, when I read for pleasure, I do not.  I like books that are fast paced, quick reads with lots of conversation.  I'll skip entirely or skim through long detailed paragraphs just to get to the action.  I've been like this since I was a child.  I could whip through a Baby-Sitter's Club book in a couple of hours.  Sure, I knew what happened (which was all I cared about) but I certainly wasn't practicing mindfulness or thinking deeply about the text.

Now as an adult, I realize there are times that I have to force myself to focus more, to read the text slowly, and truly think about what I am reading (like when I read a professional book).  I literally have to read out loud sometimes to make myself read every word.

What about your students?  Are they like me?  Do they just want to know what happened and get to the end of the book?  Or are they truly engaged and aware of their thoughts while reading?  Are they able to switch from one mode to the other depending on the situation?

Breathing Deeply

Burkins and Yaris suggest that the key to mindfulness while reading is simply slowing down and focusing on the text.  How?  By taking deep breaths.  As you breathe, your lungs expand.  Students can feel this by placing their hands on their chests.  The deeper the breath, the more the lungs are used.  The same occurs while reading.  Full comprehension is not achieved unless the text is read deeply.  I love, love, love how this book uses concrete examples  to help students understand difficult concepts!  The lessons are described step by step as well making them so easy to implement.  

Close Reading with Photographs

I bet you have used photographs to help your students understand the concept of making inferences.  But what about close reading?  Burkins and Yaris provide sample lessons in which students are asked to "read" photographs closely.  Students "reread" by looking at the photographs three times.  Upon a quick look, students typically just make a simple observation (There is a girl).  But as students look at the photograph again and for a longer period of time, they should be able to make deeper inferences.  The same occurs while reading texts.  Examples of lessons for both primary and upper elementary students are included in Reading Wellness as well as picture books that can be used in the same manner with three reads.  

Reading Wellness Intentions

As will every chapter, the authors end with an explanation as to how the shared activities reading their reading wellness intentions.

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Reading Wellness: Alignment

Reading Wellness...Wow!!  Sarah from Simply Literacy and Em from Curious Firsties here today to discuss Chapter 3: Alignment.  We hope that you are enjoying this book as much as we are.  It has led us to some great conversations about our own students and what we can do a bit differently this year.  Below you will see a conversation that Sarah and Em had about the alignment chapter.

Alignment...
What does this mean to us?  Well in our own lives it means aligning our values with our day to day constraints.

I feel like alignment in my life is coinciding my school life and my home life.  My day starts and ends with my home life, all while my school life is intertwined. Aligning those two lives is an ongoing learning process and essentially a balancing act that I am still trying to figure out.

I know for me, alignment in my life is integrating and balancing my love for reading, blogging, teaching, and parenting.  It is easy for one to overpower another but I am always working to find that balance.

The authors, Burkins and Yaris, explain that the same alignment must occur for readers but through print and meaning.  Both must be attended to and in alignment.

I teach third grade and I tend to focus my teaching on meaning.  Of course with some students, I need to focus on both print and meaning.  When a student struggles with print, I tend to focus mostly on certain skills and leave meaning on the back burner.  I love how this chapter reminded me the importance of aligning print to meaning and meaning to print.  They go hand-in-hand, not separate.

Since I teach first grade, I find that I do tend to focus my teaching on the print.  Meaning is talked about and I always ask "does it make sense?" but I would not say that my teaching of print and meaning is in perfect alignment and harmony.  I could use some work on that.

The importance of print and meaning is comparable to a puzzle: the pieces versus the puzzle.  Which one is more important.  Both.  They are essential and important to the activity of putting a puzzle together.

I love this analogy.  You can't have one without the other.  And it makes me wonder if this would be a good analogy to help the kids understand the essential connection between print and meaning.

Whenever I read, I tend to comprehend better when I make connections to the text.  I love the puzzle and learning to dance example (pg71). These analogies immediately made me think of when I teach young girls how to fastpitch.  For years, I have taught several girls how to pitch and every time, girls immediately want to jump into full motion pitching before learning the basic drills.  This reminds me of aligning print with meaning.  Girls are not going to be able to throw strikes or throw with speed and accuracy if they don't align it with the proper techniques.  

The authors go on to explain that even the best readers make errors or misunderstand text but they have the alignment of print and meaning to resolve and cross check these errors.

True...I cross check constantly as I'm reading professional and personal books.  But this doesn't happen naturally and the kids cannot see exactly what is going on in my head.  It would be helpful if I did more think aloud modeling to help them see the connection and alignment.

I agree 100%, Emily.  I feel like with most things in life, modeling is an essential.  Integrating the language and ideas from this chapter during think-alouds will help readers to align print with meaning.

Burkins and Yaris say that by offering explicit strategies such as "get your mouth ready" or "look for a small word inside the big word," we are not allowing students to be decision makers or problem solvers.  They state that we are "...telling them how to solve a problem rather than supporting them in solving the problem themselves." (p71)

Typically I use specific prompts to help them use strategies:

Yikes!  I have been doing it all wrong!!!! When print and meaning aren't aligned, my teacher instinct has always been to prompt and help the reader to solve the problem.  My prompts, such as "look back at that word carefully", basically tells the student how to solve the problem rather than supporting them in solving the problem themselves. This part of the chapter was so informative and eye opening.  

Also, while reading this part of the chapter, a past student popped into my head.  I wish I would have read this chapter three years ago.  This past student's reading process was out of alignment.  He was constantly inserting a or the in front of words in a text, and other print cues. The miscues made sense on a sentence level, but his insertions were changing the meaning.  I was always saying "does that make sense?" which led  me to telling him how to solve the problem rather than supporting him in solving the problem himself.  

Oh geez!  This is totally me!  Being a first grade teacher I prompt a lot during guided reading.  But I noticed that later in the chapter the authors do say that some students still need this specific strategy prompts.  I want to reread and explore this.

In the lesson "Does It Match," the authors offer a lesson and extensions to support the alignment of print and meaning.

I love the way the lesson does really help the students to have more independence in their reading.

I particularly like the vocabulary and prompts that are suggested for guided reading, shared guided, and independent reading.

Agree completely!!  But it is stated that some traditional prompting may still be key for some students.  I can see this for a new reader--but overall I want to foster more independence.

Yes, my students spend a lot of time reading independently.  The chapter gave an easy example of what to say to your students during that crucial reading time.  As the students settle to read, simply say, "Raise your hand when you solve a problem.  I want to hear about how you solved it!" (pg. 85)  So easy and so powerful!

When checking for meaning, I like to use "S-T-P" with my students.  This is from Jan Richardson's The Next Step in Guided Reading.  My students hear "S-T-P" (which means Stop-Think-Paraphrase) a lot throughout the year.  While students are either reading during guided reading groups, with a partner, or independently reading, students will read a page, Stop and cover the text with their hand, Think about what was read, and Paraphrase by softly telling themselves what was read.  If students cannot retell the page that was read, then a reread must be done. I think when using S-T-P, students are practicing the constant back and forth of checking and cross checking which will hopefully help readers move along the continuum of proficiency in reading.

I can't wait to try out the lesson and discover the impact that it has on my students.  When reading this chapter, what stands out to you and your readers?
 

 



 

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Motivating Students to Embrace Hard Work

How do we motivate students to embrace hard work?  This question pops up frequently in conversations among teachers. With the recent push to raise rigor in reading, teachers are wondering how to encourage students to persevere through complex text. 

Today we'll take a look at Chapter 2, "Posture", from Reading Wellness to find some possible answers.   

Reading Wellness by Jan Miller Burkins and Kim Yaris

Developing Posture 

Posture is the way in which students demonstrate a sense of empowerment about a task, according to Burkins and Yaris. 

How students do their work depends largely on how they feel about doing the work. 

Many times, students believe that they can't do something, and therefore they are unwilling to try. However, we can teach students to think differently about their work.  

Chapter 2 provides lessons to develop posture.

Leaning In/Leaning Out Lessons

Leaning In and Leaning Out is the metaphor used in this chapter to teach students that even when a task seems difficult, they can still tackle it. Students can Lean In, or embrace a task rather than Lean Out, or resist it.  

We can teach students that they have power over their learning.  We can teach them that their words, thoughts, and feelings impact their learning.  

We can use picture books to model and teach the Leaning In/ Leaning Out language.  Students can examine how characters lean into or away from a learning experience.  

We can model Leaning In through our own words and actions in the classroom.

Reading Wellness Intentions

Here's a look at the connection between Posture and the four Reading Wellness Intentions.

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The book is available for purchase or to read online for free through Stenhouse.

How do you encourage students to embrace difficult tasks? We would love hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below!

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Love - Real Reasons to Read Informational Texts

As the shift in reading has moved toward informational texts, we all seem to have to find a way to entice students to want and love to read those informational texts. Buy why would they want to read them if they have no interest in them, especially if someone tells them they have to read them! But with a special lesson called "Heart, Head, Hands, and Feet" students will want to read informational texts and learn from them!




How many of us have heard the story of Jane Goodall? She went out to study the chimpanzees not because someone told her she had to but because she had the passion to go out and learn about it. That is where we want our students to be as lifelong learners, so the"Heart, Head, Hands,and Feet" lesson will help our students find that passion in what they are reading.

Purpose

This lesson helps students see connections between their actions today and in the future. It also helps students to read informational texts more closely. All of this leads to helping students as they become lifelong learners and find their own passions for what they want to read. 

Implications

After the lesson, students will begin searching for their own passions. Once they start reading about others and how they learned what they felt was their passion, students will become engrossed in looking for books that ignite their own passions. They will look for different nonfiction books about a topic they love and read them. Once they read what they love, they in turn learn to read more closely. And then we are right where they need to be as readers of nonfiction.

Intentions

How does this lesson help with our intentions as a teacher and learner?

Alignment 

This lesson helps us to show our students that they need to move beyond their own experiences and into a world of so much more. Their perspective changes, helping them to find their own passions as lifelong learners.

Balance

The standards say "teach more nonfiction", but we don't always want to. This lesson makes nonfiction real for our readers causing them to read closely without even knowing it. It's a win-win for everyone!

Sustainability

This lesson allows students to find a passion for reading in all different genres. It also helps in different subject areas for students when they transfer it to their independent thinking and reading. Exactly what we want!

Joy

And what joy these students get as they read about something they are passionate about! And the joy we have as teachers as we see our students enjoying what they read and learning from it. The best part is that we don't have to tell them to read it! What joy!

This lesson seems so simple, yet effective. I can't wait to use it with students in my school this year!

If you want to start with the introduction, stop by this post for a deeper understanding of how the book works. Stop by tomorrow as we are introduced to another lesson to create lifelong learners.

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Reading Wellness ~ How Is Your Reading Health?

It's summer, and I am excited to join my fellow Literacy Land friends as we journey into the book Reading Wellness by Jan Miller Burkins and Kim Yaris. I have seen that many of us have also been reading Who's Doing the Work? which is the book they wrote after this one. As a team, we will work to introduce you to this amazing book and help you and your students have "Reading Wellness"!

One of the buzz words we hear so much in reading is "student choice". Many schools have adopted this and taken it to new levels, but how do we get our students there? Many of our reluctant readers don't know how to choose their own books, much less use them as learning tools in any capacity. We have to get them there and keep them there. Reading Wellness does just that with simple lessons that are applicable across all grade levels and subjects.

The authors believe we need to be teaching students intentionally, so they are learning intentionally. Throughout the book, they use the following four intentions to show how we should be teaching, so students will continue as lifelong learners.

Intention 1: Alignment with our inner teacher

When we became teachers, we set out on a path that we chose. Each year we grow as teachers through professional development, reading books, and reflection. Each day, we check that we are aligning our instruction with our curriculum, but are we aligning it with our inner teacher? Are we helping our students become lifelong learners, just as we are? Each lesson helps us evaluate our beliefs and align our teaching with our own teaching beliefs.

Intention 2: Balance

We are given a curriculum to teach, yet we know what is best for helping our students become lifelong learners. As teachers, we have to balance our expectations of others and our expectations of ourselves to have perfect alignment. And even though we believe something to be true about teaching, we have to make sure it is good for us and our students. Then we have balance.

Intention 3: Sustainability

Though we only have a certain amount of time in the day, our lessons should be sustainable, teaching processes, strategies, or routines that will enhance other learning opportunities. Each lesson should help students grow as lifelong learners and not simply have an immediate end. We want our students to dig deeper into their learning as they grow as learners each and every day.

Intention 4: Joy

Yes, joy! This is my favorite because I feel this should be what makes lifelong learners. Joy doesn't necessarily mean that your students LOVE everything they are doing and have a smile on their faces. {Wouldn't that be nice?} It simply means to those moments when you and your students are engaged in work that matters to you and aids in making those lifelong learning habits become more solidified. 

Throughout the book and this study, we will refer to the intentions and how they are affected by each lesson. With these in place, we can have classrooms full of lifelong learners ~ those students who strive to learn even when they don't love the content!

Join us by clicking on this post as we check out Reading Wellness! While reading the books and our posts, feel free to ask us questions. At the conclusion of the study, we will take a day to answer your questions to the best of our abilities. We look forward to sharing Reading Wellness with each of you!

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Reading Wellness: A Summer Book Study

For many of us, summer vacation is officially underway!  Our days will soon be filled with fun, sun, rest, relaxation, friends, family, travel, and maybe even a book or two. ;)

Here at Adventures in Literacy Land we've been planning our summer book study.  We're so excited to announce that the book we've chosen is...

 Reading Wellness: Lessons in Independence and Proficiency by Burkins and Yaris.

Reading Wellness offers teachers a series of lessons to help children read closely and carefully while still honoring their interests as readers.  Join us in July as we learn how to instill confidence, curiosity, and the joy of reading in our students.

The book is available for purchase or to read online {for free} through Stenhouse.

Not only can you comment here on the blog, but you can also link up your posts throughout the week with your own blog posts and thoughts.

We can't wait to hear your thoughts on Reading Wellness!

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