1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,760 Welcome to another enjoyable episode of the Reading Instruction Show. 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:08,440 I am your genial host, Dr. Andy Johnson. 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:13,960 Topic of today's podcast is Whole Language and Reading Workshop. 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:21,320 Now the Reading League, Emily Hanford and Science of Reading Advocates claim that Whole 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:28,840 Language and Reading Workshop and balanced literacy are the cause of the reading crisis. 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,560 And by the way, there is no reading crisis. 7 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,240 It's a reading crisis that isn't. 8 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:42,560 National NAP reading test scores have been rising steadily since 1971. 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,160 Today they're about the same as they were 10 years ago. 10 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:52,880 So this claim is kind of funny that there's a reading crisis coming from people who claim 11 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,800 to be the science of something. 12 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:03,160 It's funny because science does not use perceptions or I thinkisms and predetermined beliefs 13 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,440 to come to conclusions about things. 14 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,880 Real science uses valid reliable data. 15 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,480 It uses methods of science. 16 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,560 And a method of science is a predetermined established systematic observation. 17 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,640 So that's kind of funny. 18 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:30,680 The Reading League, Emily Hanford and the Science of Reading Advocates also believe 19 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,320 that they've isolated the variables causing the reading crisis that isn't. 20 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:45,520 This too is kind of funny because this process of coming to know something is the furthest 21 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,600 thing you could imagine from real science. 22 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,280 They use perceptions to isolate the variables. 23 00:01:53,280 --> 00:02:00,040 Now, perceptions are good if you're painting a picture or writing a poem, but not so good 24 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,560 if you're trying to identify causal factors. 25 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,920 The Reading League, Emily Hanford and Science of Reading Advocates also believe that they 26 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:15,280 have found the solution for the reading crisis that isn't. 27 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:24,480 And that solution is more phonics, which again is hilarious because in real science, one 28 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:31,120 usually uses some type of comparative research to determine if something is effective or 29 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,680 to determine if one thing is better than the other. 30 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,800 But they haven't done this. 31 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:43,520 So let's take a look at whole language. 32 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,520 According to Science of Reading Advocates, whole language is supposed to be the factor 33 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,480 that led to the great downfall in reading scores. 34 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:59,160 But of course, if you ask them to define or describe whole language, they wouldn't know 35 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,160 what to say. 36 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,160 They don't know what it is. 37 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,760 They just know it's bad and they're supposed to be against it. 38 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:12,800 They'll even tell you that there's a reading war between phonics and whole language, a 39 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,640 reading war. 40 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:21,640 And saying that sentence shows that the war is not between phonics and whole language, 41 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:26,720 rather between ignorance and information. 42 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:34,480 Because whole language includes very direct and very explicit teaching of phonics. 43 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:43,720 It includes synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, large unit phonics, and an embedded phonics. 44 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,160 Those things are all included in whole language. 45 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:56,040 Now whole language approaches to reading instruction look a bit different in every classroom. 46 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,760 That's because it's not a method or a program. 47 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:06,720 There's no recipes to follow or directions that must be adhered to with fidelity. 48 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:13,880 Rather, it's an understanding that literacy teaching and learning are most effective when 49 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:20,720 languages kept whole and meaningful instead of breaking it down into teeny tiny little 50 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:22,960 reading sub-skills. 51 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,960 We learn best from whole to part. 52 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:32,640 We learn to read best within the context of reading good books. 53 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:38,240 And we learn reading sub-skills best when they're found within the context of authentic 54 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,520 reading and writing activities. 55 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,040 But they say, how do they read if they haven't been taught to read? 56 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,560 They say, that's the question that is most often wind by the clowns who have been sent 57 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,040 into question whole language and reading workshop. 58 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:00,480 And therein lies one of the great un-understandings upon which the science of reading foundation 59 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:02,880 is built. 60 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,960 Reading is not sounding out words. 61 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,480 It's creating meaning with print. 62 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,920 All children can read on their first day of kindergarten. 63 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,200 Yes, they can. 64 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:22,400 They may rely more on picture clues than letter clues, but they're able to use that book 65 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,360 to create meaning they can retell you the story. 66 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:32,720 And we teach them letter sounds and letter patterns within the context of these good 67 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,240 books and real writing activities. 68 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:42,000 And this makes the skills they learn, the reading sub-skills, the teeny tiny reading 69 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:49,720 sub-skills less abstract, more concrete, more meaningful, and the whole thing is a lot more 70 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,800 enjoyable. 71 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:58,320 So we can see within this context, a reader, a reading teacher's number one job is to help 72 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,200 children fall in love with books. 73 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:09,320 After that, 98.97% of all reading instruction is taken care of. 74 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:16,600 Now I am going to describe to you one whole language approach called reading workshop. 75 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:21,640 And this is something that Emily and the Reading League seem to equate with the work 76 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:23,000 of Satan. 77 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,080 So let me describe exactly what it is. 78 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,120 Now reading workshop is an approach, as I said, that falls within the parameters of 79 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:32,760 whole language. 80 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:38,440 And when you first hear about it, it may seem more complicated because you don't have the 81 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,880 background information or knowledge, but once you understand the process and see the structure 82 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:51,000 of reading workshop, it's a lot easier and more effective to implement than a basal approach 83 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,920 or a standard traditional approach to reading instruction. 84 00:06:54,920 --> 00:07:01,760 It is more effective, it's multi-level, and it can be individualized to meet the specific 85 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:06,480 needs and interests of your students. 86 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,720 And reading workshop is not a method with step-by-step procedures that must be followed 87 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:12,080 like a recipe. 88 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:17,680 It's an approach to reading instruction based on research and research-based theory related 89 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,440 to how humans learn literacy. 90 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:28,080 Now again, it's not a standardized approach or method in reading workshop. 91 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:34,240 What you would see, the behaviors you would see would be based on the teacher, the students, 92 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,680 the age, their level, their interests. 93 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:42,600 What works with one class doesn't always work with another. 94 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,520 One size of reading instruction does not fit all. 95 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:53,160 Thus, in each teacher's classroom, you might see different things. 96 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,840 Reading workshop is structured, it's planned, and there's very, very direct and very, very 97 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:04,720 explicit instruction based on students' individual needs. 98 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:10,520 And it's strongly research-based using real science, not that fake stuff, based on how 99 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,680 real human beings learn. 100 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:19,640 So during a 40 to 90 minute session, you might see some or all of these things. 101 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,680 First, there would be independent reading. 102 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:23,680 Absolutely. 103 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:28,720 Yes, students, select and read books of their choice. 104 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:34,120 This is at the heart of reading workshop and it's only one part. 105 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:40,160 But if you want to get better at something, you need to practice. 106 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:46,000 That means that classrooms need lots of books in them, lots of good, good books, and ideally, 107 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,400 these books are at students' independent level or below. 108 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:51,880 Reading practice. 109 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,600 If you want to get good at something, you have to practice. 110 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:00,960 Just like wrestling practice or football practice or choir practice, you have to practice doing 111 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,920 the things. 112 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,800 There would be number two, a literacy log. 113 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:11,960 There's usually a literacy log of some sort and this is simply a notebook where students 114 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,480 are able to respond to aspects of what they've read. 115 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:21,360 Oftentimes, the teacher will put a prompt on the board before reading so that students 116 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,360 can think about the prompt and read with meaningful intent. 117 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:31,320 This could be something like describe an interesting character, describe where the story took place, 118 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:36,280 identify two interesting or important events, record an interesting or important word, tell 119 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:41,160 you what you think it means, find and record words with a long A sound. 120 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:46,840 You're limited only by your imagination, but students are reading and they're writing 121 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,080 and the reading and writing connection has been firmly established. 122 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,400 One impacts the other. 123 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,800 The reading log is used to respond. 124 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,640 It's not used as a book report to see if they're reading to catch them. 125 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:06,160 We trust students to read and if we have good books, of course they're going to read. 126 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,080 That's why it's important for them to have good books. 127 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:14,120 We don't have to test them to make sure they read or test them to make sure they comprehend 128 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,920 everything they read. 129 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:22,000 There are places to assess comprehension and other things, but it should be like taking 130 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,920 soil samples, bits and pieces here and there. 131 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,880 We don't assess everything students do for goodness sakes. 132 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:30,280 All right. 133 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,440 Independent reading, number two, literacy log. 134 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,640 Number three, whole class mini lessons. 135 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,120 Yes, there are whole class mini lessons. 136 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,440 Mini, by the way, means small. 137 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:48,560 Mini lessons using very direct and very explicit instruction to teach phonics or letter sounds 138 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:54,160 among other things and as recommended by the national reading panel, a variety of phonics 139 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,960 instruction would be included. 140 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:02,080 Synthetic embedded large unit phonics by spelling. 141 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:06,760 And mini lessons would also be used to teach comprehension skills and word identification 142 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,600 skills and vocabulary or grammar or spelling. 143 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,640 Mini, that means anywhere from two to 10 minutes or longer. 144 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:23,360 And these skills could be based on a suggested scope and sequence, but students are your best 145 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,200 scope and sequence chart. 146 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:31,760 So the skills you use for mini lessons could also be based on what you are seeing, what 147 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,720 the teacher sees, what the students need. 148 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:41,040 That's a very direct instruction because what you're teaching is directly related to what 149 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:42,760 students are doing. 150 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:48,240 Not to some abstract scope and sequence chart put together by some greasy guy in New York 151 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,520 who doesn't know your students. 152 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,360 That's indirect instruction. 153 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,160 We like direct instruction. 154 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:00,800 All right, we've got independent reading, literacy log, whole class mini lesson. 155 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,840 Number four, targeted mini lessons. 156 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:09,600 These are small, flexible, small group or individual mini lessons. 157 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,880 Students who are struggling with this skill might need to be called up front to the table 158 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:20,600 to work on one targeted skill related to a letter sound or pattern vocabulary, fluency 159 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:22,960 comprehension. 160 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:28,160 Our advanced students might be called up for more advanced reading skills. 161 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,280 These are flexible groups. 162 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:36,360 As you see and observe your students needing something, you teach what they need. 163 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,360 All right, conferences and there are several types of reading conferences. 164 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:46,600 This is where the teacher talks to the reader about what they're reading, listens to them 165 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:52,120 read, sets goals for the types of books to read and listens to how they respond. 166 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:56,680 And the teacher takes notes as he or she is listening. 167 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:02,280 You can also have small group conferences, drive by conferences. 168 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:08,520 All the while the teacher is taking notes, anecdotal notes, noting down, recording what 169 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,360 they see. 170 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,720 Students talking structured conversations. 171 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,120 You can also see this. 172 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:23,640 Reading is important for language development, it is related to vocabulary, reading fluency 173 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,200 and comprehension. 174 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:31,720 Structured conversations around books would take place in a whole class setting in small 175 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:33,840 groups and in pairs. 176 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:38,760 But students would be talking and authentic assessment. 177 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,880 And there are a variety of problems with standardized tests. 178 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:44,280 Of course, they don't reflect real reading. 179 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:49,040 They're a single snapshot in time, they're culturally biased and they're designed to 180 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,880 measure only that which can be measured. 181 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,080 They are inathetic and indirect measures. 182 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:03,120 Reading workshop uses some form of portfolio assessment to show growth over time, authentic. 183 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:08,920 And a variety of types of assessment are included here, a miscue analysis, running record story, 184 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:15,240 telling charts, clothes, words per minute rates, book talks, student self-assessment, 185 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,480 more authentic types of assessment. 186 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:25,720 So to sum it up, if you think reading is just sounding out words and reading class should 187 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:32,000 just be a bunch of sounding out word instruction, you're not going to understand what's going 188 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,880 on in reading workshop. 189 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:40,960 But just because you don't understand the thing does not mean the thing is not effective. 190 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:47,360 If you focus on sounding out word instruction like the science of reading advocates want 191 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:55,800 us to do, yes, you're going to get small blips on sounding out word tests, but do these results 192 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:00,280 transfer to real reading situations? 193 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,600 They do not. 194 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,720 We're not preparing our students to exist in a school world. 195 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,840 We're not preparing them to sound out words. 196 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:17,600 Our goal is to help students, each one develop their full literacy potential and to be able 197 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:25,360 to use literacy for real world endeavors in a real world. 198 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:31,360 To this end, we want students to be able to create meaning with print and use print to 199 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:33,640 create meaning. 200 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,480 This has been the Reading Instruction Show. 201 00:15:35,480 --> 00:16:02,640 I am your host, Dr. Andy Johnson.