I love everything about this! I love reading aloud to my World History 10th graders, I love using REAL books, I love hyping reading :)
I'm thinking about reading a whole book to my classes next year (maybe I MUST BETRAY YOU by Ruta Sepetys), like the last five minutes of every class period. Not for an assignment or anything, just for fun.
I completely agree on the value of reading aloud in class--including history class. But I wonder at what point we can start expecting, or requiring, students to do reading as homework, and also to read at length on their own.
I ask because lately I've been thinking about what is going on in college classrooms. As you may be aware, even professors at elite universities are saying their students can't or won't do reading assignments, at least not lengthy ones. I've spoken to several college-level instructors about this, and it does seem to be a serious issue.
I realize you're teaching middle school, not high school, but it seems to me that students need to start reading independently outside of class at some point to be equipped for college-level work. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
You raise a great point about reading aloud vs. students reading for themselves. My thoughts: they are 2 different things and we need to do both. Reading aloud is of intrinsic value AND can help support students' ability to read on their own. Reading on their own serves different pedagogical purposes and is the best way to deeply engage with a text. Whether one is in middle school, high school, grade school or college has nothing to do with it: students at all levels must engage in reading on their own.
In my discussions with teachers at every level, including college professors, getting students to read seems harder than it used to be. But if we're honest, students have always resisted doing the reading. I remember that when I taught high school in the 1990s, I would constantly remind my students that they had to "read the book." When they would ask me why they got a B or C on a test or essay, I would ask them whether they had done the reading. And when they hadn't, well, that was the difference between A papers and others. When students would turn incredulously towards Zack, admiring his insightful comment or question, well, that's because Zack did the reading.
And now, confession time: I absolutely have done more reading aloud post pandemic because it is harder and harder to get kids to read for themselves. But one trick I learned during the pandemic from one the special education teachers: I recorded videos of myself reading assigned texts. The audio was me reading it aloud, pausing to make comments. The video was of the text, scrolling--showing where I would annotate, underlining things or putting notes in the margins. And then I would also be able to tell students, "Pandemic got you down? Don't want to read it yourself? Click here and Ms. Brown will read it with you. Only 12 minutes! Maybe another 5 minutes more if you pause it to take some notes."
That might sound cheesy, pandering or worse. But I remember being surprised by students who were good readers but watched the video because they needed motivation. And of course, this does wonders for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities.
The problem for teachers, as always, is time. It might seem like nothing--the video was only 12 minutes long!-- but add on another 5-10 to upload it onto the learning management system not to mention finding the reading in the first place and coming up with good questions that first help students get the content and second stretch their learning by asking interesting open-ended ones--and this run-on sentence is just the beginning of the endless work teachers must do if they want their students to excel.
I was just assigned two sections of US History for next year, and this post has been incredibly helpful in putting together the course! I had been looking at a lot of selections from Eric Foner's two-volume compilation of primary sources, "Voices of Freedom." There are a lot of great documents in there, but contra the obsession with primary sources in modern social studies classrooms, I've found that many students actually respond better to secondary sources and historical fiction. Looking forward to trying out the Stephen Ambrose chapter!
On the question of assigning reading raised above, I have really resisted extending accommodations like audiobooks to students without disabilities. The school social worker, guidance counselor, and many parents hate me for it, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Even many of the students with diagnosed disabilities need to actually practice reading, not avoid it.
That said, I think one of the problems that many education commentators do not want to touch is student motivation. The thread that unites pretty much all ed commentary-- from the goofy side-mic motivational speakers who talk about "igniting passion" to the more academic, research based journalists-- is that they refuse to acknowledge that there really is something going on with motivation. It's very clearly tied in to broad cultural factors. Sure, kids avoided the reading in the past too. But at my old school the most commonly failed class was P.E. For those who haven't been in a public school recently, in most districts students can get full credit for P.E. if they 1. wear some sort of appropriate clothing and 2. walk around the perimeter of the gym for at least 20 minutes while talking and texting with friends. The fact that many students refuse to do even that should speak volumes about where we are culturally. I'm sure there are lots of ways we can better teach writing and reading, but I really don't think most teachers are interested in hearing about them if the elephant in the room isn't addressed.
I'm so glad, Jamie! There will be more USH stuff coming!
Re: motivation, sometimes I think it's not just the elephant in the room, but the elephant sitting on everyone's desks!! To that end, sometimes I think providing the audio book/recording yourself method is helpful. The other trick (and yes, I know that it's sad to resort to "tricks") is to read a bit of something out loud to hook them. It helps to find just the right reading, which isn't always so easy.
This reminded me of a great read that is best to introduce by starting aloud, but then students pretty much have to read it on their own, because it's a "choose your own adventure" reading, about Mexican Americans in LA during World War II. The story is based on the Sleepy Lagoon Case of 1942 and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, and you can find it without a paywall in the NCSS journal, Social Education. https://www.socialstudies.org/mexican-americans-era-world-war-ii-studying-sleepy-lagoon-case-and-zoot-suit-riots.
And one other great secondary source--I have only just started reading Jill Lepore's 789 page book, These Truths, but it is one of the best history books I've ever read, I think, and I'm only on page 25! If you read this essay, you'll want to get a copy for yourself: https://publicseminar.org/essays/on-these-truths/. And there is an "inquiry edition" (which I got for free at NCSS!) that includes primary sources and online access to all kinds of resources which I haven't looked at yet. Read more about that here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324046318
But this long response does not address your elephant in the room problem. I am reading another book, The Disengaged Teen by Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop that is giving me some insight on this very real challenge. I think I will have more to say when I finish it.
I love everything about this! I love reading aloud to my World History 10th graders, I love using REAL books, I love hyping reading :)
I'm thinking about reading a whole book to my classes next year (maybe I MUST BETRAY YOU by Ruta Sepetys), like the last five minutes of every class period. Not for an assignment or anything, just for fun.
I completely agree on the value of reading aloud in class--including history class. But I wonder at what point we can start expecting, or requiring, students to do reading as homework, and also to read at length on their own.
I ask because lately I've been thinking about what is going on in college classrooms. As you may be aware, even professors at elite universities are saying their students can't or won't do reading assignments, at least not lengthy ones. I've spoken to several college-level instructors about this, and it does seem to be a serious issue.
I realize you're teaching middle school, not high school, but it seems to me that students need to start reading independently outside of class at some point to be equipped for college-level work. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
You raise a great point about reading aloud vs. students reading for themselves. My thoughts: they are 2 different things and we need to do both. Reading aloud is of intrinsic value AND can help support students' ability to read on their own. Reading on their own serves different pedagogical purposes and is the best way to deeply engage with a text. Whether one is in middle school, high school, grade school or college has nothing to do with it: students at all levels must engage in reading on their own.
In my discussions with teachers at every level, including college professors, getting students to read seems harder than it used to be. But if we're honest, students have always resisted doing the reading. I remember that when I taught high school in the 1990s, I would constantly remind my students that they had to "read the book." When they would ask me why they got a B or C on a test or essay, I would ask them whether they had done the reading. And when they hadn't, well, that was the difference between A papers and others. When students would turn incredulously towards Zack, admiring his insightful comment or question, well, that's because Zack did the reading.
I wrote about this problem of student reading a bit in an earlier post I did: https://laurenbrownoned.substack.com/p/what-im-learning-about-reading-from?open=false#%C2%A7reading-stamina and in it, I referenced an article I highly recommend that addresses the myth and reality of "professors at elite universities are saying their students can't or won't do reading assignments" that everyone's been talking about because of that Atlantic article from November. https://cmsthomas.substack.com/p/the-atlantic-did-me-dirty
And now, confession time: I absolutely have done more reading aloud post pandemic because it is harder and harder to get kids to read for themselves. But one trick I learned during the pandemic from one the special education teachers: I recorded videos of myself reading assigned texts. The audio was me reading it aloud, pausing to make comments. The video was of the text, scrolling--showing where I would annotate, underlining things or putting notes in the margins. And then I would also be able to tell students, "Pandemic got you down? Don't want to read it yourself? Click here and Ms. Brown will read it with you. Only 12 minutes! Maybe another 5 minutes more if you pause it to take some notes."
That might sound cheesy, pandering or worse. But I remember being surprised by students who were good readers but watched the video because they needed motivation. And of course, this does wonders for struggling readers and students with learning disabilities.
The problem for teachers, as always, is time. It might seem like nothing--the video was only 12 minutes long!-- but add on another 5-10 to upload it onto the learning management system not to mention finding the reading in the first place and coming up with good questions that first help students get the content and second stretch their learning by asking interesting open-ended ones--and this run-on sentence is just the beginning of the endless work teachers must do if they want their students to excel.
I was just assigned two sections of US History for next year, and this post has been incredibly helpful in putting together the course! I had been looking at a lot of selections from Eric Foner's two-volume compilation of primary sources, "Voices of Freedom." There are a lot of great documents in there, but contra the obsession with primary sources in modern social studies classrooms, I've found that many students actually respond better to secondary sources and historical fiction. Looking forward to trying out the Stephen Ambrose chapter!
On the question of assigning reading raised above, I have really resisted extending accommodations like audiobooks to students without disabilities. The school social worker, guidance counselor, and many parents hate me for it, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Even many of the students with diagnosed disabilities need to actually practice reading, not avoid it.
That said, I think one of the problems that many education commentators do not want to touch is student motivation. The thread that unites pretty much all ed commentary-- from the goofy side-mic motivational speakers who talk about "igniting passion" to the more academic, research based journalists-- is that they refuse to acknowledge that there really is something going on with motivation. It's very clearly tied in to broad cultural factors. Sure, kids avoided the reading in the past too. But at my old school the most commonly failed class was P.E. For those who haven't been in a public school recently, in most districts students can get full credit for P.E. if they 1. wear some sort of appropriate clothing and 2. walk around the perimeter of the gym for at least 20 minutes while talking and texting with friends. The fact that many students refuse to do even that should speak volumes about where we are culturally. I'm sure there are lots of ways we can better teach writing and reading, but I really don't think most teachers are interested in hearing about them if the elephant in the room isn't addressed.
I'm so glad, Jamie! There will be more USH stuff coming!
Re: motivation, sometimes I think it's not just the elephant in the room, but the elephant sitting on everyone's desks!! To that end, sometimes I think providing the audio book/recording yourself method is helpful. The other trick (and yes, I know that it's sad to resort to "tricks") is to read a bit of something out loud to hook them. It helps to find just the right reading, which isn't always so easy.
This reminded me of a great read that is best to introduce by starting aloud, but then students pretty much have to read it on their own, because it's a "choose your own adventure" reading, about Mexican Americans in LA during World War II. The story is based on the Sleepy Lagoon Case of 1942 and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, and you can find it without a paywall in the NCSS journal, Social Education. https://www.socialstudies.org/mexican-americans-era-world-war-ii-studying-sleepy-lagoon-case-and-zoot-suit-riots.
And one other great secondary source--I have only just started reading Jill Lepore's 789 page book, These Truths, but it is one of the best history books I've ever read, I think, and I'm only on page 25! If you read this essay, you'll want to get a copy for yourself: https://publicseminar.org/essays/on-these-truths/. And there is an "inquiry edition" (which I got for free at NCSS!) that includes primary sources and online access to all kinds of resources which I haven't looked at yet. Read more about that here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324046318
But this long response does not address your elephant in the room problem. I am reading another book, The Disengaged Teen by Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop that is giving me some insight on this very real challenge. I think I will have more to say when I finish it.
Thanks for your comments!
Thanks for the additional tips!