"Students are learning how to reset the rhythms and structures of their days. They are learning different patterns and modes of communication. They may be taking on different roles in their homes and learning how to complete new tasks, engage in new games and develop or sustain new and different activities.
Some are learning from the outdoor world on walks that go slower and last longer than before. Others are watching nature change day-by-day out their window, in their gardens, and along trails and bodies of water. Some are spending more time in their imaginations because it’s the only place to go, but this is not unimportant work." - Rachael Gabriel
This is the 27th blog post entry of the 2019-20 school year. Last blog entry we explored possibilities for the long term relationships children might develop with literature as they progress and begin to see themselves as readers who appreciate the significance reading may hold in their lives as they grow into adulthood. This blog entry I am reflecting on some of the things I've noticed with readers through these long days of the COVID-19 quarantine as teachers and parents alike continue to support the steady practice of reading skills to ensure children become both proficient and joyous readers!
It has been 9 weeks since classes were cancelled and we entered this COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency teaching and learning. 9 weeks that have changed the world, our memories and how we cope in a world that suddenly has very little predictability. Routines that once governed our every step have fallen by the wayside and all we once counted on to mark the milestones of our days have changed so drastically they are barely recognizable when compared to 10 weeks ago!
I once spent my days in the company of children and adults keen on exploring every possible learning activity from as many perspectives as possible - the days flew by in a flurry of stories, investigations, research, questions, building, taking apart, walking, running, smiling, laughing and occasionally crying as frustrations and celebrations co-mingled in the typical, daily milieu of the elementary school experience. Now I spend my days in virtual meetings, trying to make decisions that used to take 5 minutes and now take upwards of an hour to a day or two by the time we investigate questions that arise from simple conversations. Occasionally I drop in on a google meet and say hello to children and wonder if they remember who I am; sometimes children walk by the school as I am arriving or leaving and wave enthusiastically and shout hello! and my heart breaks because we are so far apart in so many ways. A few times a week I am able to work one-to-one with a few students, offering a little extra support with children just on the brinks of becoming successful readers. These are the most joyous moments of my days - and they help me understand why I came to this profession in the first place - to spend my life in the company of the most interesting people in the world: children!
As I go through these strange and somewhat awkward days, I also communicate frequently - usually virtually or digitally - with teachers, parents, community members. And gradually I have begun to notice some fundamental changes on the home reading front - changes that I believe are not only notable but also will change the lives of our earliest readers forever.
I've noticed families are taking time to read together. Sometimes they are just sharing the stories we've sent home to be practiced, or assigned to be read in Epic Books, Raz Kids or Book Flix, but more often, families are sitting down together to read. Big brothers reading to toddler sisters. Big sisters sharing favourite stories with their younger brothers. Moms, Dads and grandparents bringing or sending books to each other through the mail or dropping off on doorsteps. Kids telling stories about the read alouds they are sharing at home with their teachers, or families also listening to the novel read alouds being shared by classroom teachers. In the first week we posted our Reader's Theatre version of the UNICEF online story 'You Are My Hero!' read by our teachers, it was viewed almost 250 times - an unheard of number of views for our school YouTube channel! Reading has taken on value again in a way that was not as visible just 10 short weeks ago. This is an enormous event in the lives of families, it changes the children's experiences of reading and of books and elevates the importance of reading as they see the value of reading escalate for their parents.
It's also been interesting to note the interest parents are taking in their children's daily progress as they travel this learning to read pathway. When we practice our sight words together, parents are watching and echoing these practices at home when reviewing the sight words recommended by teachers. When we model supporting children as they make sense of text - encouraging them to look at the pictures, supporting decoding when it makes sense and suggesting alternative strategies when it does not, reinforcing persistence when it pays off with decoding a word, double checking for meaning, asking questions to provoke thoughtfulness and reflection in the student - parents are noticing and beginning to work some of these strategies into their support for their child's continued success in learning to read. There is a new, collective understanding learning to read is a process, one that takes time and patience and a willingness to try whatever works, not only rely on what is familiar and comfortable from parental childhood memories of learning to read. And we teachers are being asked to recommend titles for children they can borrow or order online. This means, to me, that children are beginning to determine their own preferences as readers and are able to suggest genres or ideas they would like to read independently.
I've been noticing increased patience on behalf of both parents and students as children travel their own reading journeys. Kids are not so anxious to be 'good readers' right away; they are willing to struggle a bit more with making sense of text, muck about in a story and try at least a couple of strategies to figure out a word. Parents are more willing to wait and give them time to make sense of a word, but also to jump in before frustration hits and offer a suggestion before giving the child the word. As parents sit beside their children as they read, they are nodding and smiling, understanding the effort and time their child is taking to develop reading skills and realizing the 'help and praise' phrases teachers use so frequently are not trite but useful in encouraging greater risk-taking and, ultimately, success for early readers.
It's spring and springtime is always a time of 'reading miracles' for our youngest readers - the efforts of the fall and winter, coupled with some developmental growth and maturity - so often is clearly demonstrated in the spring as children begin to display greater independence and success as readers. Fluency improves, decoding improves, sight word awareness grows exponentially. Little skills kids floundered with for seemingly weeks suddenly blossom and are used effectively every time. Children take huge leaps on the reading journey, demonstrating strengths as readers that were invisible for so long. I was worried, in the beginning of the shut down of classes, that those children who were just on the cusp of becoming stronger readers on the road to independent reading would begin to slide without the daily supports and interventions classroom teaching offered, and we would see children begin to lose some of the confidence and reading successes they had already experienced. It is here that I am so pleasantly surprised to see the opposite happen!
With support from parents and older siblings, with several targeted, intentional and brief meetings per week focused on building reading skills, I have noticed kids are not losing ground, not falling further behind. Students are making progress and improving every day; they are eager to come to meets and share their successes. Each day there are small, almost invisible improvements that yield easily traceable successes and their smiles over their reading successes are huge!
Finally, I've noticed an increased interest in online reading materials - kids are navigating book sites easily and choosing reading materials successfully as teachers have introduced them to materials on Epic Books, Raz Kids, Book Flix, Scholastic, Unite for Literacy and other sites. These are all free as a result of the pandemic; the interest generated in them has resulted from this as well but it is also a thought-provoking turn of events for the school - something to consider as we anticipate next school year will be whether or not we should subscribe to one of them as an alternative source of both home and school reading materials. This has not been on the horizon for consideration in the past - from every unexpected turn of events, a little sunbeam may be found!
From my own experiences as a mother and grandmother, I have not forgotten the panicked guilt I used to feel when it was bedtime and I realized we had not done the assigned home reading; when I would try and encourage a tired and cranky child to 'just try to read this page' of whatever read aloud they had selected for bedtime reading so I could sign off on the daily home reading chart without a guilty conscience, even if the book sent home was not the one we were reading. I remember taking the home reading book in the car on the way to a hockey game, trying to get a child to read it in the car, and looking frantically for the home reading book and the record book I needed to sign off almost every Sunday evening for what seemed like an eternity. Home reading was not always fun at our house - even though we loved reading together and we somehow managed to raise a house full of independent and successful readers in the end. It is important and valuable to read at home; practice is essential on the learning to read journey. That does not mean it was always a fun experience at our home...it might not always be a fun experience at your home either...
And so times change again. As hockey, karate, skating, swimming, dance, etc. lessons have all faded into the past and we no longer book end our days with schedules, play dates, meetings and 'events', reading becomes a bit slower, a bit easier to fit into our daily lives, a way of visibly seeing our children continue to grow as learners even as we wonder whether they are missing too much learning. The journey to learning to read hasn't changed - every child will still follow in it their own way, will stumble and succeed in different places and times, both leaping ahead and slowing down without warning. The process of learning to read has not been accelerated not stalled. There will always be a rhythm to learning established by each child that is uniquely their own. One benefit of the pandemic seems to be that we have a bit of time to pause and appreciate the complexities and nuances of each child's journey in a way we might have skipped over or not noticed necessarily in the past.
Like a snapshot from the past, this COVID-19 awareness makes me smile and acknowledge there is still joy in learning in the world that is appreciated by families coming together in celebration and recognition of the learning to read journey. Whatever else this pandemic has offered, being able to notice this with our families has been a true and valuable gift.
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School
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