I read an extremely interesting article this week that has really left me thinking about how I read with my children.
It left me thinking about my expectations for what we discuss and for what my children are capable of gaining from texts.
It left me thinking about how deeply we delve into the books we read and whether or not I am helping to prepare Maddy, Owen, and Cora for a ‘new’ literacy–a literacy ‘reconceptualized for the 21st century’.
I am fairly confident that during many of our read-alouds, I do my best to sneak in some sort of comprehension strategy, whether it be connecting, questioning, predicting, or the like. But I’m not sure how much critical thinking I have my kids do during read-alouds. I’m not sure how much ‘multi-modal’ reading we do, and I’m not sure how much ‘remixing’ of information they do with the texts they read.
I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s really not that difficult once I broke it all down.
A lot of ’21st century literacy’ is what I do every day on teach mama and we teach. It’s a lot of what many of us do on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest or perhaps in the presentations we create for work or the invitations we create for our kids’ birthday parties or the apps we use for gaming, exercising, eating, or shopping.
It’s a natural next step for many of us to bring to own children so that they–our future–are able to learn, adapt, and grow as ‘connected’ learners of the millennium.
Here’s the skinny. . .
- Critical Thinking & New Literacies: ‘New’ Literacies, as outlined in “Envisioning New Literacies Through a Lens of Teaching and Learning”, by Lapp, Moss & Rowsell (The Reading Teacher, March 2012), contain three principles — critical thinking; engagement with multi-modal texts; and the transformation and redesign of text information.
Yeeeowzers. That’s a mouthful. But I promise it’s do-able. And I do think it’s seriously worthwhile. . .
Zen Shorts (and Zen Ghosts) by Jon J. Muth are great texts for critical thinking exercises.
My goal in the next few weeks is to share several ways that every parent and child can incorporate all of the ‘new literacy’ principles in simple–and meaningful–ways.
Here, we’re focusing on the first element, critical thinking, because it seemed the most natural for us at the time. We were reading Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth–a perfect book for stretching minds.
Zen Shorts is a sweet and thoughtful book about a story-telling panda named Stillwater who moves into Michael, Karl, and Addy’s neighborhood, teaching them lessons that help the children better understand themselves and others.
We love the book for its illustrations, but even more amazing are the messages that Stillwater shares within the stories he tells.
I’m just sure that my kids have ever really understood them. They understand the surface, but I don’t think they understand the deeper meaning.
So with critical thinking in mind, during our read-aloud, I wanted to focus on one of Stillwater’s stories and really talk the kids through it. I wanted to make sure that they ‘got’ at least one of the stories, and I just knew that talking them through too much would be an instant turn-off.
My number one priority is that I want them to always love reading with me–which is why learning during read-alouds has to be totally sneaky.
So my comments focused on the story that Stillwater told Karl:
- The cool thing about this story is that Stillwater’s stories mean different things to different people. Here, Stillwater tells Karl about the monks carrying a woman over puddles. What’s your favorite part of this little story?
- What does the story say to you?
- Can you think of a time when you might have carried–or held onto–something longer than you needed?
- How did you feel when you ‘let it go’?
I didn’t push. I just wanted them to think more deeply, more critically. What surprised me was that Cora was the least inhibited–the one most eager to share her ideas and to think ‘outside the box’. Maddy and Owen were more conscious of being ‘wrong’, which was a red flag for me. We need to discuss-openly and supportively–more often.
I’ll definitely continue a teeny critical-thinking slant to our read-alouds, using some of the following prompts, depending on what we’re reading:
- Why do you think [the character] made that choice?
- How might the story have been different if. . .
- What clues does the author give us to show that. . .
- How does the author share his (or her) message?
- What might this character be thinking when. . .
- What do you think the author wants readers to remember most in this story?. . .
And that’s it–we talked through two of Stillwater’s stories and only briefly about the third; we had a pile of books to read, and I wanted to make sure I hit them all, throwing in a few think-alouds, questions, connections, and predictions when we could. Happy sneaky read-aloud reading!
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Hi,
I am glad you brought this up. I think we have always asked students to make text to text or text to self connections but the context of the question has not required students to go back to the text to find answers. They have been able to rely on their opinions and experiences; and while those are important as they lend themselves to setting the stage during pre-reading, I think some of these questions require students to delve a bit deeper and mull over what they are reading. It will require students to be more proficient in the actual act of reading so that more energy can be given to analysis of text.
Debbie–I totally agree. Thinking this way requires more effort, energy, and focus, but I think to succeed in the future and to be proficient in the ‘new’ literacies, children need to start practicing these concepts now! Thanks so much for reading, and I totally appreciate you taking the time to write, my friend!
I always love your posts about reading-aloud. So many great ideas that are completely doable for parents. Thanks for all of your hard work, Amy! It’s greatly appreciated at our house.
Holly! Thank you so very much–your kind words and the fact that you take the time to read these posts means more than you know, my friend!!
Such great information! Thank you so much for this simple and doable approach to critical thinking.
thank you so much, Terri!! I am so glad you found it helpful and cannot thank you enough for reading–and taking the time to write!!
Amy- Another great post. I especially love the questions at the end that can be applied to any book at any time! And I might very well try out these new ideas with Zen Shorts. I have read it with the girls many times (Jon Muth came to their school last year) but I have always wondered if they ‘got it!’
You are so welcome, Stacey! I appreciate the feedback and cannot wait to hear how it goes. . . and I am SO crazy jealous that Jon Muth came to your kids’ school–do you have photos!??!) eeeee!
Hi Amy,
I love your post about reading aloud to our children and having them review what it is they are in actuality reading. I remember when I was in school my teacher used very similar methods after we had finished reading a book and for me I always remembered what those books were about instead of forgetting. I retained information so much more. I have a nearly two year old who absolutely loves to read and although we aren’t having those “in depth” conversations having ask and answer sessions after each story I know is enabling her to retain the material. She always goes back to those books!
You make it sound so doable. Thank you for writing it down, so parents like me can understand and do this on a dail basis. I never really put so much thought on what all I could really do while reading aloud with the kiddo.
I am a new follower, and I love your blog. What a great resource, your blog is!
Veens–YOU made my year. Many thanks. Really, making this ‘doable’ manageable, and fun for parents is my goal because we all CAN do it–just takes a teeny bit of thought and prep. Huge thanks for reading, and many thanks for taking the time to write, my friend!!