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Shared Reading:Empowering Kindergarten and First Grade Readers

How do children learn to read?Researchers have identified many factors that contribute to successful reading development.

Explicit teaching, however, gives the greatest number of children the greatest opportunity to learn to read.

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While many children learn to read with implicit teaching,

we facilitate the learning of all children with explicit teaching.

Where in the day do young readers have the opportunity to see and hear explicitly what proficient readers do?

During shared reading.

Shared Reading: A Brief History

According to Holdaway, in this shared experience, there is a bonding between expert and novice readers:

“They’re in a relationship where bonding has made the unskilled person (the learner) very interested in what the other person’s doing….it’s an emulative thing.”

“Big Books Revisited: An Interview with Don Holdaway”

Shared reading, as an instructional strategy, is based in the work of Don Holdaway and his colleagues.

Holdaway developed the “shared book experience” which combined the powerfully positive context of bedtime/lap story reading with literacy instruction designed to promote active problem-solving.

“Shared Reading”

“Shared reading” is now a term broadly used to describe a multitude of variations on Holdaway’s technique.

Shared reading, as described in the CALL Literacy Framework, and the subject of this PowerPoint, is a collaborative, whole group experience that reflects Holdaway’s original ideas and intent.

Goals of Shared Reading

Orchestrate an enjoyable reading experience that provides easy entry into behaving like a reader.

Teach students systematically and explicitly what it’s like to be readers themselves.

“One of the major goals of shared reading is to help children develop a range of effective strategies for reading and understanding text.”

--Parkes, 2000

Support for Shared Reading

We know from Vygotsky, that children can do more and learn more with the support of a “more expert other” than they can do and learn by themselves.

During shared reading, learners observe an “expert” doing what s/he genuinely does (to make meaning) in the most authentic way (in the act of reading) and are encouraged to engage in the task.

Support for Shared Reading

Pearson and Gallagher have shown us that all learners benefit from a gradual release of responsibility model for learning.

Shared reading fills an important niche in the gradual release by providing less support than interactive read aloud but more support than guided reading.

The Gradual Release in Reading (the Elements of CALL)

How Shared Reading Differs from Read Aloud

Shared reading complements and extends interactive read aloud, but there is one critical difference--especially for the youngest learners.

In shared reading, students can see the text. This allows the teacher to clearly and explicitly show what proficient readers do to meet the challenges of text.

How Shared Reading Differs from Guided ReadingShared reading is primarily a teaching element. Students are taught what readers do through demonstrations and think alouds.

Guided reading is a practice element. Students practice what they have previously learned in read aloud and shared reading.

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Where do emergent readers learn what they

need to know about processing print?

In the CALL model, it’s shared reading.

Benefits of Shared Reading

…provides a context where all students can be successful.

…communicates that reading is about making meaning. Reading is surrounded by literate thinking and talk.

…models fluent, expressive reading.

…demonstrates what readers do with print (the reading process).

…builds skills (ex. letter/sound knowledge, concepts of print, high frequency words).

…exposes students to rich vocabulary and new concepts.

…guides students in navigating a variety of genres.

…offers guided practice in strategic reading.

Although demonstrations of the reading process are a critical part of shared reading, there are many purposes for shared reading.

Through shared reading, the teacher…

A Framework for Shared Readingas a Element of a Balanced Literacy

Program

These components of a whole group shared reading lesson contribute to a delightful dance between demonstration and participation.

Students and teacher move back and forth between easy tasks to build fluency and confidence and more challenging tasks to promote learning.

Warming up with familiar, easy texts (songs, chants, a poem)

Introduction to a new text or setting a purpose for rereading a familiar text

Students join the teacher in the shared reading and rereading of text with fluency and joyful expression

Discussion

Teaching points

Warm Up

…complete the transition from a previous activity.

…engage in fluent, expressive reading.

…experience immediate success and build confidence.

…orchestrate layers of previous learning on short, easy texts.

…notice or learn something new in a familiar text.

…anticipate the work of reading to come.

Just as warming up helps athletes get ready to play at their highest levels, warming up for Shared Reading helps young readers prepare to read.

They have the opportunity to…

Introduction

“The introduction helps children think about the meaning of text before they [read].”

---Pinnell and Fountas, 2003

Introductions should engage readers in thinking and build anticipation for reading. Activate or build background

knowledge and vocabulary around a key concept.

Invite predictions based on the cover and/or illustrations.

Connect to prior learning. Set a purpose for reading. Establish relevance for teaching.

Comprehension begins in the introduction.

Shared Reading of a New Text

On the first read of a new text, the teacher will likely be doing much of the reading work. Why? The level of text should be

just above students’ instructional level.

Students need a model in their ears for fluency and expression.

The teacher guides readers in constructing meaning, gradually unfolding the text page by page.

Thoughtfully placed questions will support deep thinking. Some examples: What predictions or

inferences do you have? What makes you think that?

What are you learning about (this character, this topic)?

What do the illustrations help you understand?

Pointing While Reading

How deliberately you point during shared reading depends on the needs of your students.

“In order to learn to read, the young child must learn how to map speech onto print.”

“During shared reading lessons [and once 1:1 matching is well under control], you can help students make the transition away from using an external mediator to track print [by varying pointing].”

--Pinnell and Fountas, 2003

Purposes Behind Varying Pointing

Crisply point at each word to emphasis voice-print match for emergent readers. Encourage students to notice: Look at how I point to each word as I read.

When demonstrating fluency in reading, slide your pointer (showing how you group words) to model phrased, fluent reading. Say, Readers group words together to make their reading sound like talk.

On familiar text where students are highly fluent, pointing at the beginning of the line may be enough to track print. Engage readers in thinking: Where do we start? Which way do we go?

Discussion

“Texts read without conversation may soon be forgotten.” Fountas and Pinnell, 2003.

Once the reading of the text is finished, pose a question or two that will guide students in thinking about important ideas and enhance their understanding.

Did you enjoy the book? Why? (Beware of labeling every text as a “story” when many texts students read are informational text—not stories.)

What was your favorite part? Why?

What might the author have been trying to teach us?

Discussion Following Rereading

The discussion does not have to be lengthy. Just continue the conversation following rereadings of this same text on subsequent days.

Ask, “What new things did you notice?”

Students’ thinking will become deeper and more complex.

Returning to text with familiar content and structure makes it possible for students give their full attention to teaching.

Teaching

Once students have read and responded to the new text, teaching can focus on what readers do with print.

What do readers think about? Look at? Do?

Teachers need to be able to answer these questions for students in shared reading.

Know the Reading Process

Knowledge of the reading process is essential to guiding this instruction.

TeachingSome teaching occurs naturally during the reading, depending on what the text requires of the reader.

In reading a picture dictionary, emergent readers need to know where to look.

Directionality, voice-print match, and use of text features would be important teaching points to make during the first reading.

Teaching: Four Early Strategies

Directionality

Voice-print match

Locating known words

Locating unknown words

These strategies must develop first as they form the foundation for other learning.

They should be in place by the end of kindergarten.

Other teaching occurs following the discussion-after students have heard and talked about the text.

The earliest teaching in shared reading should focus on the four early reading strategies.

Which Teaching Points?

How are other teaching points determined?

Consider what readers need to know and do based on the Essential Learnings, the Language Arts Curriculum Framework, and your own background knowledge surrounding the teaching of reading.

Compare this to the information from running records and conferences to choose what is appropriate for students at this point in their development. What do my students need to know and do right now?

Creating Readers is a scope and sequence for District 12’s curriculum framework. Refer to it for a month-by-month view of potential learning for grades K-3. Use this resource to plan ahead or to check back on what has been taught.

How many teaching points?

We know from Richard Allington’s research documented in his article, “What I’ve learned about effective reading instruction from a decade of studying exemplary elementary classroom teachers,” that exemplary teachers had approximately sixteen explicit teaching points in an hour’s time.

If shared reading is approximately fifteen minutes long, that would be about a fourth, or four explicit teaching points.

Balancing Teaching Points

To make the shared reading experience a powerful one, it’s important to maintain a balance in your teaching.

One way to think about and ensure this balance is by supporting and/or planning a teaching point in each of these areas in every lesson: comprehension a skill a strategy a high frequency word

Teaching Skills and Strategies

Readers need both skills and strategies to read.

Shared reading, with enlarged texts, has tremendous potential as an instructional context for helping readers learn to read.

When is shared reading most powerful?

When teaching is explicit!

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Explicit TeachingWhat does it look like to teach

explicitly?

Explicit Teaching of a Strategy: An Example

Boys and girls. I’ve been noticing that some of you have been using pictures to help you read. Great! Good readers do that. But they do something else, too. Good readers check the print to make their reading match the text. Let me show you what I mean.

Right here, it says, “Run!” said the ___ (tiger). Hmm…I don’t know this word. When I look at the picture, I see it’s an animal--it could be a lion or tiger. When I check the print, I see a “t” at the beginning. Oh! “Tiger” begins with /t/, the sound “t” makes. When I check the picture and the print, the word must be “tiger.”

Now let me read and see if it makes sense. (Rereads to confirm). See how checking two things helped me read! I want you to do that when you read. You can show me when I stop by to read with you.

Running records indicate that first graders are substituting words that match the picture but do not match the print.

Students need to know that readers cross-check pictures and print.

Following the discussion, the teacher returns to a select page with a clear picture clue (picture of a tiger) and says,

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Why is this teaching point so powerful?

Students know what they need to do in their own reading.

What would a student say if asked, “What did you learn to do today in

shared reading?”

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Cross-checking, or checking two sources of

information, is vital to efficient processing of

text. If there is one strategy that we can

teach our youngest readers, it should be cross-checking.

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What might happen next…

…within this lesson? …during the next shared reading

lesson?…during guided reading?

…during independent reading?

Explicit Teaching of a Skill: An Example

Boys and girls, I’ve been noticing that some of you aren’t quite sure about the sound “sh” makes. Listen to this word—shoe. Hear the beginning sound, /sh/? /Sh/ is the new sound that s and h make when they are together. It’s not like /s/, is it? It’s not like /h/, is it? It’s a new sound. Say, shoe. Hear the /sh/ sound? I’m going to highlight sh because this is a sound first graders need to know.

Now let me show you how it helps me read. “Dan can put on his ___(shoe).” I know sh makes the /sh/ sound so I get my mouth ready. I check the picture—it’s a shoe. Now I know this word is shoe. “Dan can put on his shoe.” Yes, that makes sense. See how knowing the sound of sh helped me match the print?

When you’re reading, I want you to remember that sh makes the /sh/ sound so that you can get your mouth ready for it and match the print.

Running records indicate that first graders are confusing “sh” and “ch” when trying to solve words.

Students need to associate the correct sound with each digraph.

Following the conversation about the text, the teacher turns back to a specific page with an “sh” word and says,

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What is explicit in this lesson?

How will this explicit teaching empower young readers?

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What might happen next…

…in this lesson?…the next day?

…during guided reading?…during independent reading?

Explicit Teaching in Shared Reading

Explicit teaching simply means that students leave the lesson knowing exactly what they need to know and do as readers. How do we ensure that this happens?

Whether a skill or a strategy, the teaching target is clear and students understand why it’s important.

Teacher demonstrations with think alouds are key. Through demonstrations, students learn what it looks and sounds like to think and act as readers.

Elevating the teaching of a skill to a strategy level takes rote learning to the application level. Students need to know what to do with the skills they are learning.

Ending the lesson in a way that sets the expectation for transfer leaves no room for students to guess what they’re supposed to do and when to do it.

If running records and conferences indicate that students are not learning, reflect on the explicitness of the teaching.

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We cannot prompt or expect a student to do something in

guided reading that we haven’t first demonstrated in

shared reading.

“Teach before you prompt.”Pinnell and Fountas, 2003

Steps to Explicit Teaching

High Frequency Words

High frequency words need to be taught.

Repeatedly testing the number of known words does not increase students’ ability to recognize high frequency words.

In the teaching part of a shared reading lesson, use this routine to teach high frequency words in the context of real reading.

Shared reading texts are full of high frequency words! During rereadings, students will have many exposures to these words that must anchor their reading.

Pointing out the tricky part gives students something concrete to use in remembering and distinguishing between words.

Differentiating Instruction

Even though shared reading is a whole group activity, you can still differentiate for the various needs of your students.

In every lesson, plan instructional targets for three groups of students: low, average, and high.

Apply a different weight to each level of teaching target, spending the most time on grade-level targets.

Choose a grade level teaching target to be your main focus. This is the teaching referred to at the end of the lesson.

Make other teaching points a mention. Model directionality or

teach a letter/sound association for low readers.

Challenge high readers to a deeper level of thinking or application of a strategy.

Literary Extensions

A goal of Holdaway’s original model was to provide such a powerful shared reading experience that it would generate writing, including bookmaking and publishing.

Reproductions and innovations on text support literacy development through a strong reading/writing connection.

Literary Extensions

Reproductions

A favorite predictable text—one that is worth returning to many times—is selected by the group.

The original text is reproduced, page-by-page.

The class (individuals or partners) creates illustrations to support the text.

Literary Extensions

Innovations

A favorite predictable text is chosen.

The structure of the original text stays the same: Who stole the cookie… _____ stole the cookie… .

Something changes (the setting, the characters, and/or the problem).

These changes are reflected in the new text. In this example, the children in the class become the characters in the rhyme.

The class creates supporting illustrations.

Benefits of Innovations

Text is negotiated in a collaborative effort.

Children think and act as writers.

There is a genuine purpose and audience for writing.

Children learn and apply skills in an authentic context.

The investment in time and energy is rewarded when the text becomes a beloved shared reading.

Innovating text is fun! Children enjoy playing with ideas and choosing the words to match.

Innovations take some time, but the outcomes are worth it.

Shared Reading in Literacy By Design

LBD honors the gradual release model of reading instruction.

There is a high correlation between the curriculum framework and the scope and sequence in LBD.

The scope and sequence offers consistency of instruction across the district, supporting students with high mobility.

Students are exposed to a variety of genres, promoting flexibility with reading strategies.

Teachers no longer have to spend hours searching for shared reading materials.

The model of shared reading in Literacy By Design varies from shared reading in CALL.

We should still use what we know about best practices while taking advantage of the benefits that LBD provides.

Meeting the Needs of Learners

Since LBD’s model for shared reading is more like a shared read aloud, you will need to carefully consider how you can adjust lessons to provide shared reading that meets the needs of your learners.

What if the text is too long to manage in one sitting?

What if the text is too difficult to take to fluency?

What if the text’s vocabulary is so controlled (to feature a spelling pattern) that meaning is affected—that it’s not worth coming back to on subsequent days?

Problem-Solving Text Selection

If the text is long, chunk it into meaningful pieces. Build comprehension and make teaching points on the part you read.

If the text is too dense or wordy to take to fluency, choose a page or two to reread (preferably with a repeating refrain) and make teaching points, or make the text a read aloud before bringing it to shared reading and focusing on specific parts.

If the text’s vocabulary is controlled to the extent that there is not enough real meaning to discuss, choose another text.

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Shared reading text should always be

engaging.

The adjustments we make determine how engaging the

text is for readers.

Doing “More”

Literacy By Design was written for a national audience.

To make the most of this resource, teachers need to consider the needs of their learners and make adjustments to the content of shared reading lessons.

Some adjustments that will enhance shared reading instruction are:

Embed the teaching of skills like spelling patterns and high frequency words in the most meaningful context—familiar shared reading text.

Weigh the value of the teaching targets in the teacher’s manual.

Teach those that lead to mastery of our essential learnings.

Add other teaching points your students need.

More Shared Reading for More Literacy Learning

In the same way that “calendar” has promoted additional mathematical thinking in an authentic context, Morning Message provides another opportunity for emergent readers to have meaningful interactions with print.

You may want to consider composing a daily letter to the class like this example.

Constructing a Morning Message

Consider using questions to invite reflection.

Keep it simple.

“This is not a time for new instruction. Is is a time for practicing skills…and sending students into the day feeling engaged and capable.”

--Kriete, 2002

Use a deliberately predictable structure to set students up for success in reading by recognizing the text’s pattern and exposure to high frequency words.

Incorporate information about the day to come that students need to know or will be interested in. Let them know what they’ll be doing and learning.

Setting Morning Message Routines

Introduce the Morning Message by reading it to students and reacting to the content. Build meaning around the message first. Use shared reading to engage students in reading and rereading the message with you.

Over time and as students become familiar with the routine, they can read the message as they enter the classroom and follow any directions contained within.

Learning in Morning Message

Invite students to share what they notice. You can “share the pen” to circle punctuation or letters, underline CVC patterns, divide compound words, etc., all as part of reinforcing learning.

What children notice and what you reinforce should reflect current teaching and learning.

Initially, share something you “notice” in the text. (ex. I see a word I know—and.)

Concepts of print (letter, word, first letter, etc.) are particularly easy to reinforce in this context.

Morning Message Evolves

Over time, incorporate new challenges for your increasingly skilled readers.

Continue to probe: What do you notice? How did you figure that

out? How did you know how

to spell ________?

Values of Morning Message

Welcomes students and builds a sense of belonging

Builds anticipation for the day’s learning

Lends structure to day’s opening

Provides a fun and interactive learning opportunity

Communicates that information can be learned through reading

Warms up brains

Consider these ways that shared reading of a morning message contributes to your classroom community.

The Expectations We Have for Young Readers

By the end of first grade, they are expected to have completed the transition from emergent to conventional reading.

They must learn that the message is in the print, not the pictures, and that readers have strategies for making meaning because reading is an active process.

They are finding out how print works, discovering text structures, and all while they are learning to bring together multiple sources of information to problem solve unfamiliar words during reading.

Young readers have a huge mountain to climb!

With the implementation of purposeful, explicit teaching in shared reading, you will be in the position to guide readers to the top.

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“Shared Reading is the driving force of a balanced literacy program. The richness and appropriateness of resources and how effectively they are used by a responsive teacher will largely determine the extent to which children develop a self-extending system in both reading and writing.”

--Parkes, 2000

Bibliography of Resources

Allington, R. “What I’ve learned about effective reading instruction from a decade of studying exemplary elementary classroom teachers. Phi Delta Kappan.

Calkins, L. 2001. The Art of Teaching Reading. Addison-Wesley: NY

Dorn, L. and C. Soffos. 2005. Teaching for Deep Comprehension: A Reading Workshop Approach. Stenhouse: Portland, ME.

Kriete, R. 2002. The Morning Meeting Book. Northeast Foundation: Turners Falls, MA.

Parkes, B. 2000. Read It Again! Revisiting Shared Reading. Stenhouse: Portland, ME.

Pinnell, G. and I. Fountas. 2006. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency. Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH.

Pinnell, G., I. Fountas, and P. Scharer. 2003. Teaching for Comprehension in Reading Grades K-2. Scholastic: NY.

Primary English Teachers Association. “Big Books Revisited: An Interview with Don Holdaway.”