The Sails of Literacy

by Amy Shultz

...trying to become a writer without having been a reader is like setting forth to sail across the ocean in a boat without sails. – William Styron

What questions does this quote provoke in your mind? It makes me wonder... What is a reader? What is the relationship between reading and writing? How do I obtain the sails and pass them along to my students? Where is this boat going, anyway?

What is a reader?
A reader is a thinker. Writers Fountas and Pinnell, state reading actually requires you to connect your thinking to an author’s thinking. In their new book, Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, a proficient reader is described as using three types of processing: thinking within, beyond , and about the text. As a primary grade example: in Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, the story can be used as a read-aloud to reinforce thinking within the text about onsets (beginning sounds) such as “duck dashing. . .kittens kicking. . .mice munching.” Thinking beyond the text comes from the children’s own experiences and knowledge about animal behaviors as well as action words, and thinking about the text could reveal that the author used the alphabet to organize her story. Decoding within the text is necessary to grasp literal meaning but thinking beyond the text helps put meaning in context. Analyzing the writer’s craft and text structures, a reader’s comprehension is supported by thinking about the text.

What is the relationship between reading and writing?
Reading and writing are interconnected in countless ways. "Reading and writing are both acts of composing. Readers, using their background knowledge and experience, compose meaning from the text; writers, using their background knowledge and experience, compose meaning into text." (Butler and Turbill)

Considered reciprocal in nature, reading and writing are also complimentary in the way they support each other. Attempting to teach either in isolation is as challenging as tacking into the wind. A writer gleans vocabulary and knowledge from reading other texts. A reader becomes more proficient in comprehension by writing for different audiences and using varying organizational structures.

By consistently weaving together the acts of reading and writing, we share literacy experiences with our students that connect to their background knowledge and deepen their understandings. As a result this strategy will help our students develop a shared language, transforming our classrooms into learning communities.

How do I obtain the sails and pass them along to my students?
In the classroom, most students do not realize they are not comprehending what they are reading until they are asked to do something with the information. (Tovani) When requiring students to write or draw about reading, we give them opportunities to:

Reflect on the text in a focused way.
Reconstruct the meaning and present it in new ways.
Compose language or images to express thought.
Search the text for evidence to support their thinking.
Explore new thinking or reflect on understanding. (Fountas and Pinnell)

For younger writers, the methods of interactive and shared writing will allow students to hear the teacher’s thinking as time is spent together talking and writing about the reading text. Interactive writing gives emergent writers opportunities to physically add letters or words to classroom writing. Teachers and students, who collaborate with shared writing, discuss what the text should be saying as the teacher scribes. For students who are ready for more, a reader’s notebook is a place to collect independent responses to reading. Use a reader’s notebook as a tool to:

Keep a record of books read
Plan for future reading
Gather thinking about texts
Write notes, plans, and drafts of thinking
Engage in conversation about texts with other readers
Collect and organize thinking for oneself and to share with others
Write about thinking in a variety of ways
Plan for longer writing or future talk about reading
Gather resources for writing about reading (Fountas and Pinnell)

Where is this boat going, anyway?
As educators we have the opportunity to guide our students in the journey of knowing and being known. We want our students to set forth prepared not only with the skills of literacy, but with a love of reading, writing, and communicating with their world.

References:

Cronin, D. & Lewin, B. (2005)

Click, clack, quackity-quack: An Alphabetical adventure. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Wisconsin Literacy and Education Reading Network Source (n.d.).

“WiLearns: Reading and writing as processes.” Retrieved August 26, 2006, from Reading and Writing Web site: http://wilearns.state.wi.us/apps/Print.asp?ap=&cid=82

Tovani, Cris (2000).

I read it, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (2006).

Teaching for comprehending and fluency:Thinking, talking, and writing about reading, K-8. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Amy Shultz

Amy Shultz, former fourth grade teacher, works as a facilitator for the Buddy Teaching and Learning Center. She also writes for The Write Connection newsletter and The Writing Site, under the Buddy System Project.

This featured article appeared in Volume 2, Number 1 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.