Carolina Lewis's blog post

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When I was teaching I was constantly on the look-out for ways to engage and reach each of my students.  (It goes without saying that if students are not engaged it is difficult, if not impossible, to really “reach” them.)  We all know that the more students read the better readers they will become.  So, how can we get them to love reading?  

About a year ago I read a book (Reading Essentials: The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well, 2003) by Regie Routman.  I found her “no nonsense” approaches to teaching reading practical and quite refreshing.  She offered countless useful ideas and suggestions about ways to teach reading.  Since last year, as I have planned for my students, I have kept in mind three quotes from her book:

·        “It really doesn’t matter much what kids read as long as they read and enjoy what they’re reading.”

·        “Honoring students’ choices is not just about considering their wishes; students read more when the materials they are interested in are readily available.”

·        “Reading competence is closely tied to the amount of time children spend reading on their own, and students read more when they can choose their reading materials.”

Recently when creating a Text Set for a group of second graders Routman’s thoughts were at the forefront of my mind, in addition to the following key points from “The Power of Text Sets” (achievethe core.org).

·        Provide students with a variety of texts to help all learners build knowledge and vocabulary.

·        Allow students voice and choice for independent reading.

·        Support disciplinary content through reading.

·        Encourage and expect authentic writing and research.

I wanted to develop an interdisciplinary unit that could be used to cover some ELA, Social Studies and Math standards. I chose “Incredible Journeys in Our Country’s Past” as my topic of study.  In order to address the interests, needs and reading levels of all of my students I included many types of books (e.g. biographies, graphic novels, picture books, chapter books, historical fiction, poetry, etc.) as well as some YouTube videos and a movie.  I wanted to “reach” each of my students; my text set contained over 40 resources.  The reading level of resources was varied so that every student could be actively engaged in this topic of study.  Not every resource within the text set was chosen to appeal to every student; however, every student would find within the text set a number of resources of interest to him/her.

When I began to plan lessons around the text set I was truly amazed at the wide assortment of teaching strategies and multitude of activities that could be utilized within this one unit (e.g. reciprocal teaching, peer tutoring, project based learning, small group book studies, small group topic studies, etc.).  Many of the activities provided opportunities for formative assessment (e.g. completing graphic organizers, creating timelines, designing maps, etc.) during the unit as well as summative assessments at the conclusion of the unit.   In addition, ELA, Social Studies (i.e. History and Geography) and Math skills and standards were addressed.

I cannot take credit for the quotes from Routman or the key points to keep in mind when designing a text set.  However, when I considered them together and actually put them into practice I was able to design a unit of study that was not only engaging for my students on many levels but also covered a number of standards.  So, if you have not yet given text sets a try, I highly recommend that you do.  If you have, I would be interested in hearing about your experience.  Did your text set address different disciplines?  If so, what was your topic of study?