Reading, reading, reading

I got to hear Dr. Stephen Krashen twice this year.  Both times he talked about the importance of reading at the intermediate level for language acquisition.

What a force of nature he is!  What a smart, funny, elegant speaker!  Who makes all his research available...FOR FREE!  http://www.sdkrashen.com

What a nice person who let me take a selfie with him.  (I plan on putting it up in my reading library next to all the quotes I printed out and stuck to the walls.) 

Some highlights from my notes (paraphrased): 

• There are two camps of thought about second language acquisition.  One camp believe that comprehensible input develops language skills.  Research backs this up, over and over again.  The other camp believes that skill building (verb forms, worksheets) develop language.  There is not research that backs this up, but it is taken as a given in education that This Is How Language is Learned. To paraphrase Dr. Krashen,  the latter camp is an axiom, not even a hypothesis, and is pervasive in our culture.  He would like for this axiom to be reduced to at best a hypothesis.  (Aside: you know you have been hanging out with SLA researchers when people start saying things like "I posit.." and "My hypothesis is..." 

• Read and eat- let kids eat and read!  Why not?  (Our brilliant librarian at my school already does food and book projects...she is so cool.)
• Junk reading is good for you.   Dr. Krashen talked about comics, Sweet Valley High (and related Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley Jr. High, etc.), and others.  No more shall I feel guilty for my paperback mystery crime thrillers!  
• People who read more know more.
• People who read fiction are better at dealing with uncertainty.
• Star what you like: a simple system for rating books in a library- kids like it, put a star in the front cover.  BRILLIANT.
• The more accountability there is for reading=the less reading students will actually do.  This makes me so grateful that I have come to the conclusion that reading with no accountability is ideal.
• Fake reading (a popular argument against SSR/FVR in L1 and L2) is not really happening, and when it is happening it can be traced to crummy program implementation (books that are too hard, too boring, accountability, rigidity, uncomfortable places to read, etc.). 
• Light reading will prepare you for academic reading. Researchers showed that every hour of self-selected, sustained reading of any sort resulted in a .6 points on the TOEIC, a high-stakes test of English in many Asian countries.  
• We need more books.

Note: all the notes that I took were from lectures given in July 2017, in Denver, CO (Fluency Fast/IFLT) and San Antonio, TX (NTPRS17).  For the research and evidence, please see Dr. Krashen's website.  

How my own observations have found all this to be true:

Since I started Sustained Silent Reading/Free Voluntary Reading in my class, I have felt my own language improve.  Between reading the level 3 and 4 readers over a week or two during class time (because the biggest distraction to reading is a teacher who is not reading) and tearing through the level 1 readers (so I can make better recommendations to kids about what to read), I feel more confident in applying preterite vs imperfect, subjunctive, past subjunctive, and even the condition + subjunctive past.  

FVR outside, last day of Spanish

My kids took to FVR like kids in a water park on a summer day.  They ate it up, asked for more, begged for it!  They volunteered to do book talks, and shared their favorites, and curled up together, and groaned when I rang the chimes to indicate it was time to do something else.  They voted for a reading party outside for their last day of Spanish in 8th grade.

I saw changes in their language too- mostly in their writing.  Students began using longer sentences, more complex descriptions, and words that rarely came up.  Their spelling and syntax improved and their overall comprehensibility did too.  I never edited their writing nor taught a writing workshop, all year long.  

So, FVR, I am recommitting to you, and to my beautiful new classroom with a READING LOFT!  

Other Posts about FVR/SSR

Sustained Silent Reading / Free Voluntary Reading: it begins!

I started a FVR/SSR program with my Spanish 2 (8th grade) class this year.  I am SO EXCITED to report that it is a smashing success.  Kids ask for more, say thank you, and have a palpable sense of excitement when I announce it and a sense of disappointment when I ring my chime to indicate that it is over.

I researched and read a great deal about how to do it, and pulled in my background as an elementary reading teacher to set up a program.  Here is (roughly) what I did to ensure success.

If you haven't read everything that Bryce Hedstrom has written about FVR and reading, stop reading now, click here, (scroll down to Establishing a free voluntary reading program)  and read it. All.    Bryce has assembled a vast collection of truly useful resources (for free, for other teachers, for the good of the kids) and I can not overstate the impact his teaching style and philosophy has had on mine.Then come back to read how I applied my learning.

 Assembling a FVR library: 
Thanks to a generous grant from a parent, I was able to purchase a LOT of books.  I leveraged my grant and waited until a conference special, and bought as many books as I could carry.  I also used the conference attendees as a resource.  Brilliant teachers such as Karen Rowan and Alina Filepescu both made incredibly helpful suggestions in the moment as I was purchasing.  I love this TPRS community!

I also print out copies of each and every story that we create in class and have been doing so for two years and have those in page protectors.

Many TPRS teachers offer their stories for free on TPT and/or through their blogs, and I always take advantage of printing those up and adding them.

Newspapers, magazines, phone books,  and other community things get scooped up and added, and I inherited a bunch of stuff from another teacher.

Last, careful selection at Scholastic warehouse sales and Goodwill have earned me a good number of affordable non-fiction and very easy fiction.  Remember though: most children's books are written at an intermediate-mid level or higher, so they aren't necessarily a great fit for novice readers.  

FVR library organization:
Bryce Hedstrom and Mike Peto both have great resources for FVR library organization.

I approached the challenge of library organization like I did when I had an elementary classroom reading library: it neeeded to be organized, inviting, easy.  I decided to remove all the bilingual books *for now*.  I sorted children's books into very easy categories and used a simple bin/numbering system to keep it organized.  This way it is really easy to see where books go back and it stays relatively organized.  

Each book is tagged with our school's name, a bin number, and if it is a specific TPRS novel, the level (according to Bryce Hedstrom's great resource for leveling novels, click above and scroll down).
Here is a link to the bin categories and the labels that I use to label them.  Velcro on the bins (bins from the dollar store) + velcro on the labels means that the bins can be reorganized easily as needed.  Plus, you get a new book? Just figure out what number bin it goes on, label it, and add it.  Easily expandable!


Introducing FVR
Day 1: I showed students this slideshow, courtesy of a brilliant Latin teacher, adapted from a similar slide show.  The presentation is intended to show what 98%-95% comprehensible reading really is, and how the jump from 95% to 90% is really enormous.

I also showed some quotes from Bryce's excellent resource about reading; mostly quotes from Dr. Stephen Krashen, an influential researcher about second language acquisition and the power of reading.

Next, as a group, we looked at the library, discussed organization, and I had a couple of kids model browsing for books and taking them out.  This last step seemed silly, but someone had suggested it (I am so sorry that I forgot who and can not attribute!) but I think it really helped.

Each kid got a bookmark and wrote their name on it; they can check out books (click here for my check-out form) overnight but they can also just leave their bookmark in the book and I won't let that one leave the building until it is read.

 I gave the kids the expectations.  They need to read, just read, and read.  There is no accountability other than to list the books that they read.

Finally, I let them pick books and read.  For 4 minutes.  It was SO hard to stop them, but I wanted to leave them wanting more.

The following week I gave them 8 minutes.  They were so happy and asked for more.  The next week, they got 10, and yesterday, 15.  I also am reading, per Bryce's great suggestion, and it just feels so very, very good.

I hope these resources are helpful to anyone else who wants to try FVR/SSR.