Encouraging Reading in the Classroom

The Facebook page We Are Teachers is a great page to following if you are interested in getting some handy tips and ideas for your classroom and teaching. In my feed this morning, I saw an article they posted on ways to encourage and foster positive relationships with reading in your class.

Some of my favourite suggestions included having students track their thoughts about what they have read by making bookmarks detailing this, making at that represents what they are reading and connecting the content and books read in class to students own contexts and experiences.

I am also in love with the idea of creating a small reading corner or nook within the classroom where students are inspired to explore and discover new stories, places and information. It doesn’t have to be grandeur or fancy, just simply a place to go to chill out and read in; which is something they might not get at home.

Reading is something to be treasured and I hope this is a message I am able to carry with me and share through my journey as a teacher.

Crash Course: How and Why We Read

I have always found the Green Brother’s Crash Course Youtube channel to be a fantastic place to go if I need some help understanding certain ideas or topics. So, it was only natural that I thought it might be a good place to check out to see if they could help me to better understand literacy. While it did not provide a full explanation of literacy and what it is, I did manage to find a video in which John Green discusses why and how we read and the meanings we can make from literature.

Through the video, he touches on some great ideas that I believe are connected to the root of what literacy is, even in the 21st century. One idea he touches on is that reading and writing is so important in literacy as it equips us with the skills that enables us to communicate, and therefore to make meaning.

“We privilege reading and writing because they allow us to communicate directly and transparently with people who live very far away from us, and they also allow us to kind of hear the voices of the dead.” – John Green

He also says at one point that he hopes that through reading and writing, we, as readers from unique contexts who make varied interpretations and meanings of the world through such texts, may “go out there and make a world.” (John Green, 2012). This quote is particularly striking to me as a pre-service teacher because I hope that I will one day be able to equip students with the diverse skills that they need to make their own world – just as Green describes. Literacy is definitely an important part of being active citizens and developing unique meanings, which all contribute to the world. I hope that I can keep this idea that I am capable of influencing children to make their own worlds as I continue on my journey as a teacher.

The Power of Literacy

A lovely and emotional video depicting the power and wonder that literacy can bring to those who hold it. Such an important skill to have that a number of people in today’s society still aren’t fortunate enough to have! As teachers, we have to capacity to help change this and to empower those by equipping them with the skills they need to get by and make meaning in the world.

Idea of the Day

“Literacy is not just about the written word.”

If this statement is correct, what exactly is it about? Share your ideas in the comments.

An interesting read for understanding and defining what literacy is is also available in UNESCO’s Understandings of Literacy: Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006.

The Knowledge Process – Deepen your Learning in 4 Easy Ways

The Knowledge Processes demonstrates a variety of ways in which knowledge can be made. In the below process, actions and things that you do in order to gain understandings are explained and laid out to clearly show the different approaches that can be taken to learning.

The Knowledge Process of Literacies Teaching and Learning

Experiencing

We learn first by looking at what is known by considering our own and others perspectives, ideas and communication and then experience the new by exploring new information and immersing ourselves in new situations to learn about the topic.

Conceptualising

To begin, learners name by making general assumptions about the topic which they then use to group and define this information accordingly. Connections are then made to theories and concepts, further linking and thinking about the information on more factual and theorised grounds.

Analysing

The information is first functionally analysed through making logical connections between information and the causes and effects of this. Perspectives, interests and motives are then critically analysed to reveal the purposes, consequences and predictions.

Applying

Knowledge is applied appropriately by learners in larger simulated or global contexts to discover the normal way to implement any actions. Then, innovative and creative uses of the knowledge are formed and applied to diverse and abnormal contexts so to experience some of the possibilities arising from this information.

Through these differentiated methods of instruction, a wide variety of learning can occur, enabling all students to better learn and understand concepts and ideas. This process also offers a great opportunity for multiliteracy practices to be implemented and taught; further allow diverse learning to occur.

For more ideas and activities that can be utilised at each stage of the knowledge process, check out New Learning Online’s section on Learning by Design.