How much is your “Reading for Pleasure” Rubbing off?

Some of my fondest childhood memories were accompanying my father to our inner-city public library, or roaming the backstreet second-hand book stores and bargain basements. The children and adolescent sections of our public library were located on the ground floor, by way of a descending, spiral wooden staircase. Checking out my first fiction books, and every trip thereafter, fired my imagination on that staircase leading to worlds beyond my own. Akin to the stairs of some pirate ship (or a 19th century ballroom), plundering the public library shelves filled countless hours of holiday and after school reading for pleasure. Does any of this capture your own experience of reading in your own time? Or are you one of an increasing number, who rarely read recreationally? (See Literacy Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand)  

Public Library, Fort Street

This brings me to some research findings you may have missed over the holidays (because who on earth was reading literacy research during a break!?) Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! The first comprehensive review of “reading for pleasure” (outside of school) in Aotearoa New Zealand makes for interesting reading, not only because it updates what we all know about the benefits, but the reports emphasise one of the most important motivations for children learning to enjoy “reading for pleasure”, and that’s “rub off” from the people around them. When other readers (friends, family, teachers) share their enthusiasm for reading “it rubs off”. Which begs the question, just how well are we devising smart, engaging ways of getting (more) young people, reading for pleasure, more often, and with what sorts of “rub off”? 

Why we Should be Making More of the Benefits of “Reading for Pleasure”

The research I’m referencing, comprises three reports recently commissioned by the National Library’s Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers initiative. Ruth Botask, Celeste Harrington and John Milne looked into international and national research, showing the extensive benefits “reading for pleasure” brings:

• Associated with better achievement at school. For example: “Jerrim & Moss (2019) found strong associations between frequency of fiction reading for enjoyment and reading achievement assessed through PISA scores, whereas there was little evidence to infer an effect for reading other types of texts [my emphasis]. A 'fiction effect' might well emerge because it requires young people to concentrate and read deeply, encouraging meaningful thought and reflection upon what they are reading, rather than just superficially gathering information by skimming through shorter texts" (p. 182)” (also see latest NMSSA English report in the New Zealand context).

• Improved psychological well being. For example, “Children who read daily at age 11 showed better behavioural and psychological adjustment and mental health (Mak & Fancourt, 2020a)”

• Healthy behaviour. For example, Howard's (2011) own study of 68 12- to 15-year-old young people reports the social benefits such as understanding of the world, social conscience and empathy, empowerment, and guidance for life. Reading most days at age 11 is associated with a decreased risk of cigarette and alcohol use (Mak & Fancourt, 2020b). Book readers live almost two years longer than non-readers (Avni, Slade & Levy, 2016).

• Social inclusion (Wilhelm & Smith, 2016). Reading for pleasure is primarily a social activity even when it involves being alone with a text.

There will of course be learners who are already avid readers in their own time, who are aware of some of the benefits. But could setting aside classroom time to discuss the science, give learners a broader understanding of why the investment in recreational time reading pays dividends? 

 Are we Socialising learners into the Benefits (and “the Rub”)?

The review also points out that teachers have an important role in contributing towards reading for pleasure “rubbing off” and a culture of classroom reading that facilitates “children and tamariki's participation in that culture”. The authors maintain: Teachers also “need understanding of the reading experiences children have had outside of the classroom, knowledge to support new in and out-of-school experiences and for them [learners] to identify as readers.” 

As we start the 2022 teaching year towards advancing a culture of “reading for pleasure” for learners, here are some of the ways we could think about promoting “the rub”: 

• Share life stories, videos and anecdotes of “reading for pleasure” to promote discussion of the long-term benefits. These could be from the voices of well known personalities,  young people, community members, whānau, and authors.

• Early in the year, invite learners to take a survey of their reading interests, attitudes and behaviours. Use it as a baseline. Get them to compare their responses later in the year. Use the baseline survey to inform your plans for fostering a culture of “reading for pleasure”. 

• Set aside a “Whose Reading What Recreationally Time”. Ask learners to share / promote what they have been reading, reasons why it’s a great read and ways of loaning to others. 

• Find out what percentage of your learners have public library cards (e.g. through the above survey) and support home-school partnerships to enable access). Get learners to set achievable, accountable “reading for pleasure” goals (with some kind of rewards - Thanks Georgie for the heads up on The HELL Reading Challenge). 

If you already do any of the above and have resources or experiences you would be willing to share, please respond in the comments below.

I know in my own classroom(s), protecting time to engage learners in the scientific evidence around the benefits of “reading for pleasure”, and promoting recreational reading  (inside and outside the classroom), was not optimal. However, this review and the focus on well-being in a COVID landscape have revived my commitment to do more to promote learners “reading for pleasure” for the rewards of improved school performance, thinking ability, well-being and sense of belonging – “all especially important during these uncertain and disrupted times” (See article Kiwi-kids who read for pleasure do well”). 

DFI - External Recognition!

Unfortunately, today was the final session of the DFI. It's been such a fabulous 8 weeks and I highly recommend the programme to anyone who has the opportunity. This is some of the best PLD available on how to be an effective digital educator. Huge thanks to Dorothy and our coaches Vicki, Kerry, Maria and Makaore! You are all such inspiring and talented digital innovators who deliver an exceptional course. 

Today, we also got to demonstrate our newly acquired digital proficiencies with the Google workspace apps by having a go at the Google Educator exams. I celebrated passing both  Level 1 and Level 2 - woo hoo! I did find the way some of the questions were worded to be tricky, but the team had done a great job preparing us. I also managed to completed one of the Apple Mac badges. A future goal would certainly be the Google Innovator or Trainer certification and I'll definitely be taking time to get the Screencastify badge by next week. 

This course has a superb balance of theory and practical through the mix of Chalk 'n Talk, Deep Dives and Explore. Each week these built coherence from the sessions with Dorothy which were critical in understanding the rich history, values and philosophies of change that are the fabric of the Manaiakalani kaupapa. It was a real privilege to hear Dorothy's stories directly and to appreciate the progression of the programme and the extraordinary milestones that have been achieved.  

I could not sign out this week, without acknowledging my fellow DFI colleagues and all the learning we shared with each other in our "bubbles". All the very best Nicola, De, Marian and Ian - it's been great trialling and exploring (and commiserating) together! Look forward to following your educator blogs in the future. 

Nga mihi nui!

DFI - Computational Thinking

Dorothy underscored how “Empowerment” is a critical joist in the Manaiakalani kaupapa. An important distinction in the languaging of the programme is a preference for “empowerment” over “agency”which has been found to have negative associations for communities who have had a history with government agencies. Dorothy’s review of the hardship of low income families was sobering and emphasised the civic imperative for digital provision as one factor for affecting educational and social change. This reminds me of the research into the digital divide and notions of not just the first, but now the second - and third - digital divides (Deursen & Helsper, 2017).

While the initial (first) digital divide focussed on ameliorating the gap between the “haves and the have nots” through access to Internet connectivity, the ‘second’ goes beyond access to focus on the all important gaps between skills and adaptive capabilities, for example in leveraging the internet for social-economic advancement. It’s those second and third digital divides that are our challenge as Manaiakalani educators, and as Dorothy alluded to, improving social and cultural realities for students and families (third divide).

Connected to this idea is “What a Future Workplace looks like?” and Vicki took us on a Deep Dive to ask the important question of “how are we readying kids for these possible realities”? The 10 breakthrough technologies were an eye opener, particularly the G-PT3 technology in writing which is paving the way for mass-automated machine generated text. The TikTok platform has been pivotal for broadcasting content using new algorithms facilitating overnight celebrity status such as Josh Nanai, the student from Manurewa, who now has a Sony record deal from a global following facilitated through TikTok. Similarly, RocketLab, Trimble (e.g. smart milk tanks) and Rex Bionics are New Zealand industries and technologies that have forged cutting-edge breakthroughs, not only influencing the rest of the world, but current, mainstream jobs that were not even in existence a decade ago! 

   

For example, YouTube (and social media) content creators are lucrative prospects for young people these days, but unlikely to have been thought of as careers not so long ago.

An important aspect in the critique of new technologies includes of course the development of A.I and privacy, bias and other ethical considerations. The Moral Machine Activity was a fascinating look at the decisions that come with future technologies and the role of empowering young people to be critically literate about these uses. 

Kerry then took us into a Chalk ‘n Talk tour of Hangaro Matahiko and we had the opportunity to explore each of the progressions in the Computational Thinking strand. A very useful resource that Kerry played a role in Raranga Matahiko's Decoded for Learners which presents the PO’s in student-friendly language. I found the wide range of resources Vicki talked us through in the Coding | Tuhi Waehere session to be equally useful across the year levels. Of particular interest was the mahi by the Pt England Google on Air teachers (thanks Matt, Khismira, Clarelle and Danni) who give priceless advice on ways to engage students with Scratch and ways to integrate coding into the maths and literacy curriculum areas. Take a look here: Khismira, Clarelle, Matt and Danni. 

Today's Create

We had the opportunity to create with Jnr Scratch, Scratch, TinkerCad and 3D. I had a lot of fun (and a fair bit of tinkering!) using Tinkercad:

 

DFI - Devices!

 The Ubiquitous Nature of Learning - Rangiwhāwhā

The focus of our first session was the concept of “ubiquity” and ubiquitous access as a powerful affordance of digital learning environments. The notion of A4 captures the four dimensions of ubiquitous learning as Anytime, Anywhere, Any Pace with Anyone. 

Dorothy emphasised that ubiquitous doesn't mean advocating “death by screen time”!

What the ubiquitous affordances of digital learning should aim to afford is improved choice (when, where, how) and equity (access for all), especially for low-socioeconomic families not served well by education. Data from the Summer Learning Journey shows improved learning for matched students (by achievement level) when engaged in SLJ during holiday breaks (outside of school). Longitudinal data also shows students who remain in Manaiakalani schools demonstrate accelerated progress in the classroom, particularly in writing. 

Deep Dive into Cybersmart

Vicki emphasised in this session the importance of the positive language in the CyberSMART versus cyberSAFE messaging. I really like the use of the term “smart” to underscore the empowering of students to be resourceful and mindful digital citizens. Two key aspects of supporting students to become cybersmart is: a) Manaiakalani Cybersmart Curriculum ('iceberg above the water'), and b) Secure systemic structures ('iceberg below the water'). These dimensions were usefully captured through this iceberg graphic: 

In Manaiakalani there is a collective, across cluster focus in Term 1-3 on Smart Learners, Smart Footprint and Smart Relationships which is planned and shared through the Cybersmart Annual Review. In the same way as Learn | Create | Share, I like that cybersmart has a focus per term which builds coherence of practice and languaging across the network of schools. Should we have this for reading, given reading is a high target achievement focus for many schools?

Today’s Create

It was super inspiring to watch screencast videos of Year 1 students confidently explaining how they access and save projects in Explain Everything! Although I really appreciate the utility of EE, I’ve had little practice with designing learning projects, so it was useful to explore the whiteboard tools through Gerhard’s activity:

Conversely, I have used but not embedded Hapara Workspace in my classroom, so it was helpful to have Kerry and Vicki demonstrate some of the affordances, particularly for the secondary sector: tracking student completion, assigning grades (achievement levels) and the multiple copy feature for resubmissions (NCEA; formative assessment). I am keen to extend student agency this week by getting them to upload their Wordwall quizzes for other students through Workspace. I will let you know how it goes! For today’s mahi we curated some Cybersmart resources and I was able to setup cards and publish:

Other Very Helpful Tips for Today 💡

#Tip1 - Engage students in the Beinternetawesome site.

#Tip2 - It’s the little things … when searching for a file in Google Drive, first click on the file found, and the folder path is displayed at the bottom of the screen. How did I miss this before??

#Tip 3 - Use QuickTime to create a screencast on MacBook.

DFI – Enabling Access

Dorothy kicked us off today with a reminder that one of the main joists in the whare of our Manaiakalani kaupapa is being “Connected”. The diagram of the Manaiakalani Outreach clusters powerfully demonstrated for me the scale and richness of the partnership which offers extensive opportunities for connection (and conectedness). One of the essential ‘oils’ is the shared language of Learn | Create | Share across the learning network. 

Each year, in Term 1 the Manaiakalani Learning Community focuses on Ako, on Hanga in Term 2 and on Tohatoha Term 3. There are multiple layers of professional learning support for the community to come together and co-construct effective teaching and learning in connected groups, with this shared term-by-term focus. 

Additionally, RSS is a mechanism whereby Twitter has been commandeered for Manaiakalani purposes. Every time a student (or teacher) posts on a blog, RSS selects the last post to position at the top of the collective Twitter feed which now has 410,000 posts! What an achievement! The RSS Twitterfeed can be accessed in one place: 

Another opportunity to connect classes and learners is through Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu which promotes blog commenting in everyday learning. The TeachInquire RSS feed 'pushes' posts from Teacher and Leader Professional Learning blogs into our inboxes: this has its own affordances for being kept abreast of what's being innovated (and inquired into) across Manaiakalani educators. Google Currents is also harnessed to bring teachers together through PLD Groups in the Manaiakalani Community. 

Leading Learning using Google Sites

The visibility of sites is actually a form of gifting because it offers repurposing of others’ practices and resources to scale:

Visibility is one of the five affordances of L-C-S that independent research shows accelerates shift (Woolf Fisher Research Centre):

- Engagement 

- Teaching conversations

- Cognitive challenge

- Visibility

- Scaffolding

When we are creating sites for leading learning, it is vital we are intentional in designing learning that promotes these 5 affordances. For example, sites have a key role in facilitating Engagement incorporating: visual appeal; multimodal-multitextual; choice; connections to home & blogs; archiving).   

Paenga Kūkara

Vicki then took us into a Chalk ‘n Talk around personalising a learning site. The recommendation to use Unsplash and Pixabay for Royalty Free images was really useful. I added buttons and content to an Apps Toolbox site which our Digital Strategy team is creating in my school context. The idea of the site – under construction – is to have a single place where examples of activities can be accessed for a range of “go to” apps teachers have designed effective teaching and learning with.

DFI - Google Sites - It's all about the Visibility!

Dorothy led us in a session to explore beneath the floorboards of the Manaiakalani kaupapa: Making Teaching and Learning Visible. In the simplest terms “Can we see it or not”? Learning must be visible for students and whānau at home. But it is a two-way street because teachers need to have visibility of students’ mahi and that of other teachers. The default is “visible in the Manaiakalani kaupapa” of day-to-day teaching and learning including planning, process, assessment outcomes and reflections. A powerful analogy that really resonated with me was Dorothy’s use of the image of a fenced Council walkway to emphasise that:

Multimodal Affordances

Kerry took us on a Deep Dive into what is meant by ‘multi-modal’ as differentiated approaches to teaching in a digital classroom. The term multimodal refers to the different methods of making meaning: visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural. An important point that we didn’t cover this morning, is the different affordances of using (and combining) different modes and in education, decisions about which mode (or modes) best suit my communicative purpose. When thinking about multimodal design for learning some key cognitive processing principles by Richard Mayer are worth considering. Gunter Kress, “the father of multimodality” emphasises how our world is increasingly becoming image centric versus text centric, with text often playing a supporting (or explanatory) role in particular contexts such as online, digital spaces. 

Exploring Manaiakalani Teacher Sites

After Vicki took us through a Chalk ‘n Talk with Google Sites we had the opportunity to explore Angela Moala’s site and the multitext database. The database is a fabulous resource for curating and ‘borrowing’ text sets across clusters and year levels. I was particularly interested in Robyn Anderson’s choice of  an “anchor” or main text in only audio mode with supplementary print and video texts. I like that the learning design may intentionally foreground an audio experience to potentially free up cognitive resources to focus on meaning making (and potentially note taking). It would be interesting to capture teacher’s rationale for their multimodal (and other) choices of the texts in the sets.

Create

The culmination of today’s session was using our Google Sites and knowledge of text sets to create our own site. I joined Makoare’s bubble and have started a text set resource featuring Māui me te Rā: 

DFI - Dealing with Data

In this fourth DFI, I appreciated Dorothy tracing the Manaiakalani journey in choosing a digital platform and developing practices for sharing and connecting online. Dorothy posed the question “Why share?” and pointed out that Tohatoha (Share) is right at the core of all civilisations.  However, back in 2005, sharing exploded digitally through YouTube and then Bebo and Twitter. It reminded me that the digital action of sharing amplifies affordances from the speed, to being able to broadcast to the whole world. In the development of the Manaiakalani kaupapa, tahatoha was an important part of “hooking” learners into an authentic audience for their learning (especially when young people were first engaged with the emerging phenomenon of social media). Sharing with purpose is now unconstrained by time, people and place:

Dorothy also made some important distinctions about the ‘linear process’ of Learn | Create | Share. The act of sharing can be regarded as a ‘finishing point’ which is an important life skill for students to be ‘work ready’. But it can also be a starting point for learning: a student’s thinking on a blog post can kick off discussion and provocations for the next lesson. 

Google Forms, My Maps and Sheets

As today’s DFI was also themed around data we kicked off our sessions using Google Forms. I was inspired at the Wananga last week by Rebecca Jesson’s exhortation to “Know Your Learner as Reader”, so I created a form to gather student voice about attitudes to reading and gauging interests. I also added a video at the end to inspire reluctant readers and for students to listen to other young people’s views on reading that they may not have thought of before:

We also created Google My Maps which is an app I have not used before but has huge learning design opportunities particularly in maths, social studies and geography. I really liked that My Maps can import data from Google Forms and I can think of all sorts of ways students can connect to one another’s backgrounds, places of interest and where they have been/want to go in the world! If you are interested, here is a My Map of places you may not be familiar with in the Waiuku, Franklin area:

I found Vicki’s Deep Dive into Google Sheets extremely useful. Despite being a long-time sheets user, I still found a number of tips I will surely be incorporating into my everyday data work. For example:

• the shortcut to freezing rows and columns;

• paint roller formatting; 

• conditional formatting rules (e.g. to colour all students who are below a certain raw score or level);

• restricted editing rules (for cells you don’t want touched by anyone else!);

• explore suggestions - these Google suggested graphs and analyses of your data are a real time saver;

• data validation - for keeping entry clean and limiting responses to drop down choices.

But the Top Tip of the Day for me was Sparklines as a fabulous way for seeing trendlines in student data:

We concluded our day with a create session using a fabulous blog analysis task by the amazing Robyn Anderson at Panmure Bridge School. If you are not using this task, I would highly recommend, getting students to analyse their own blog statistics - great connections to information literacy skills in maths!