The initial motivation for this project came from the 2001 Windermere Accreditation process where the majority of the Windermere staff identified 'Reading' as a school wide goal. Jack Allen, the school teacher/librarian, and Jack Miller, who teaches English to grades eight through twelve, accepted the task of developing a program that would meet the accreditation goal of improving reading skills. Their initial review of the research literature, however, reinforced their own view that many reading programs have too high an incidence of failure. In their professional experience, a combined sixty years, Mr. Miller and Mr. Allen have seen all kinds of well-intentioned reading programs and their acronyms: SSR, IRT, SQUIRT and FUR 'bite the dust', to use their phrase.
According to an April 2005 Reading Teacher article 'From SSR to Reading Stars', there are many component building blocks that have to be in place to effect a successful school wide reading program. The article points out that, " Successful programs have: evolved over a period of several years; strong administrative leadership; strong parent and community involvement; provision for effective professional development; attention to increasing student motivation for reading; and an emphasis on reading across the curriculum." The thought of implementing all of the above seemed rather overwhelming for the two teachers but they thought they might see where support could be found. However, informal interviews with teaching colleagues revealed minimal enthusiasm ranging from 'somewhat interested' to 'apathetic'. Miller and Allen concluded that a smaller scale project seemed to be a better option. The goal, then, became the development of a viable, realistic and manageable reading program that would appeal to and engage all students involved regardless of their language and literacy abilities.
"How do you reach all students when testing reveals reading and comprehension levels ranging from grade four to grade twelve?" was the question the teachers asked themselves. Both were admittedly quite uncertain what precise form their approach would take but they were very clear that it would be open-ended and subject to on-going revision and evaluation as needs be. They agreed that they would try what they believed to be a worthwhile idea, to bring the students to the reading experience and, based on its success or lack thereof, they would develop the next step and 'think/feel' their way through the process with on-going feedback from their students. A key element here was the trust and respect between these two master teachers and the trust and respect that is evident for them amongst the students with whom they work. Inherent in their thinking was that their students would have some ownership of, and say in, the design of the reading activities by reflecting upon the literacy experiences the teachers designed for them and providing input and feedback.
So, as stated above, the first obvious if well-worn idea they had was to implement an in-class silent reading program. However, they felt this is to be an inadequate solution. According to Jack Allen:
It's considered a panacea for reading. It's a very traditional, knee-jerk reaction. In my experience, as time passes students start to lose interest in silent reading periods, and after a month and a half or so most readers are only going through the motions of reading and are really not actively engaged in the process.
Instead, the teachers took different direction. After considerable thought, they decided to try to operationalize a basic assertion they shared. Their assertion was that active engagement in reading occurs when teachers design learning contexts which provide real-world connections to reading, give students meaningful choices about what texts to read that have interest and social relevance to the students' lives, for an authentic purpose. They believed that if they could foster a connection, built on students' prior knowledge and capabilities, to texts that students were intrinsically motivated to read, and build in instructional scaffolds for the students as needed, then an increased ability in their vocabulary and reading comprehension would follow. The paper reports the exploration of the claim. It describes the context, the literacy practices and events the students, their parents and their teachers engaged in, the data collected, and from an analysis of the data, the themes and understandings that emerged.
Windermere Secondary, an East Vancouver school of approximately 1400 ethnically and linguistically diverse students (36 home languages), is the site of this collaborative teacher-research project. The major home languages represented in the the student body, apart from English (3rd ranked ),are Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Tagalog and Spanish. The school provides Honours, Enriched, and Advanced Placement courses for highly motivated students. Elective courses are offered in art, drama, music, business education, information technology, foods, clothing, woodwork, electronics, drafting, and mechanics. Language instruction is offered in English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish. The award-winning library staff collaborates with teachers in hundreds of projects per year. The library is an academic and social hub of the school. Many graduates of Windermere have been recognized over the years not only for academic achievements, but also for their contributions to the school and community.The school has a warm and welcoming ethos. The entrance hallway is filled with rotating displays of wonderful student art and it is not uncommon to see groups of students chatting informally with teachers in the halls outside of class hours. Every five years the school undergoes an accreditation process that defines areas that might be improved. The last accreditation identified reading skills as the school's number one concern.
The participants in this project were two teachers: Jack Miller, a well liked and respected English Teacher, and Jack Allen, the beloved Teacher Librarian, twenty-seven grade ten students in an English class, and their parents. In this class, twenty-three of the twenty-seven students had parents who spoke a language other than English in the home. There was a wide range of language and literacy proficiency levels among the students. In early September 2003 this class was tested for Reading and Comprehension ability using Gates-MacGintie Reading Test (Level E, Form 2). Vocabulary skills ranged from grade 4.5 to 10.7 and comprehension skills from 5.3 to 10.4.
The research claim in this study is that active engagement in reading occurs when teachers design learning contexts which provide real-world connections to reading, give students meaningful choices about what to read for an authentic purpose, and interesting texts that have relevance for them in some way.
To investigate this claim there were multiple sources of data collection i) Gates-McGintie Reading Test; ii) Home Reading Forms for Student and Parent Discussion and Completion; iii) interest forms completed by students and parents; iv) a library research project; v) post project students' written reflections; vi) parents' marks and reflections vii) the teachers' written reflections; viii) audiotapes of teacher interviews, and ix) researcher's field notes. In the next section, a description is provided of the literary practices and events that the teacher designed to engage the students in readings of texts that were engaging to them and/or to their parents. In the section that follows, we discuss some of the themes that emerged in connection with the research claim that is central to the study.
As stated above, a motivation for this project was to improve students' print-based reading skills. However, in order to combat what they perceived from experience to be an all too common loss of interest over the long term in programs such as Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading (USSR), Allen and Miller explored a different route. As a first step, they developed a home reading log requiring the adolescent students to read anything of their choice for 15 minutes a day, for one month, with their parents acting as monitors. A wide range of materials were chosen from the classics, through popular magazines and mangas to the Guinness Book of Records. Once this month-long trial period was over, the teachers collected each student's 'reading log' and every student was given credit in the form of marks for returning the completed form as requested. The teachers were delighted to see that all the students and their family appeared to genuinely engage in the process and all logs were regularly kept. Building on this home-school connection, Allen and Miller took the next step by having students interview their parents on topics chosen from an extensive interest list. Parents were required to indicate their interest in everything from dirt biking to animal training, cooking to musical instruments. To further encourage discussion and communication, parents in turn were then required to interview their son/daughter using the same interest form to establish their areas of interest. Based on the information from these interviews, students were challenged by their teachers and prepare for their parents a presentation, in PowerPoint form, on a topic that would be, for their parents, 'a gift of knowledge' on a topic they were interested in, but had no time themselves to learn more about. To provide a model, Jack Allen, an experienced ICT teacher, interviewed his 91 year old father. Based on this interview, and his father's expressed interests, Jack developed a quality PowerPoint presentation to share with his father, one that he could also present as a demonstration to the grade ten class. In talking to the students, Jack discussed not only the content but the form and format of the slides and emphasized his key points with 'Tips For Effective PowerPoint,' a presentation summarizing ways to maximize communication through this method. Issues such as amount of information per slide, layout, and effective use of colour and graphics were considered. By their own account, students felt motivated and were encouraged by this session to develop their own PowerPoints. Knowing that they would be making a presentation to their parents made the PowerPoints an important medium for the students and they were keen to learn the technological information about design, inserting visuals, tables, using flash, adding music and making links that they needed to make the presentations as content rich and aesthetically appealing as they could.
Using the library's comprehensive book and electronic resources, students then researched a topic of interest to their parents drawn from the completed interest form. They were encouraged to be innovative and use any presentation format they wished, but were directed to draw upon at least three sources from the library for their research information: a) information books, b) a specialized reference or encyclopaedia, and c) websites. In the context of undertaking the research, the students were taught as required such 'new literacies' as: how to use a search engine effectively to locate information; how to critically evaluate the usefulness of information on a web-page relative to their purpose; how to determine from information on the web-page who created the information, how the author is positioned, and how this position may be shaping the information presented. Then, after further training in the library on how to translate research notes into a well organized, informative PowerPoint presentation, students were advised to pre-book an appropriate presentation time with their parents. After the home presentation, parents, as participants in the project, were required to grade the effort in three areas: variety, enthusiasm and organization. Both parents and students were also asked for written comments as to whether or not the presentation was a worthwhile experience and what was gained by it. The themes from an analysis of this data are reported below.
Of the 20 students who participated in the project as research subjects, fifteen (75%) explicitly reported in their written reflections that they had found the project to be extremely engaging and enjoyable. Below are some representative student comments:
I was very enjoy this research and presentation. It's very different from another kind of presentation. The things struggle me is the creative writing for not being bore and too long or too short. But I did it.I've a lot of fun. Look at those beautiful shine my eye. When I was looking through the information I often forgetting time to eat or sleep and bit out of control. It's good. (Student 2)
I enjoyed this. At the beginning of my presentation, I was a little bit nervous because I had never done a presentation for my parents. I had to explain my presentation in English and Chinese. I found this parent interview project a great way to share knowledge about things. On Monday night, I made my Mum and Dad sit down in front of the computer and I presented my project to them. I wanted to do a good job, because this would show how I am doing at school. After the power-point presentation, I read my creative writing to them. My Dad enjoyed the piece of writing. I felt nervous and confident when I presented this project.(Student 11)
My presentation topic was musical instruments. My experience at Tom Lee Music was memorable. I borrowed a digital camera and planned to take pictures and interview a professional player. They did not let me take pictures, but I took some anyways. The six floors of music is what they say as a slogan. I want to live in that kind of house. I loved it so much I would love to do more research. This experience with my Mum is totally worthwhile. The laughter and the humour. The memorable stories as a family. (Student 17)
This was a nice experience interviewing my Mummy for the very first time. She thought it was a nice experience, too, because she really likes to talk. She really loved the samples [of sushi] I brought in to let her try. My Mum didn't want to do this interview at the beginning because she was sleepy and tired, but it still went great.(Student 9)
I had fun showing the power-point presentation. I like the expression on my Grandma's face. My Grandmother thinks the same way as I do. She really likes to talk with me, her grandson. My Grandmother gave me a very high mark. She would like me to do more of these projects in the future. (Student 15)
One of the first things that strikes you about so many comments from the students is simply how much they enjoyed doing this project and how invested they were in creating a quality presentation for their parents that demonstrated their knowledge and skills. One student even so totally involved in the work that he described what Csikszentmihalyi (1978) describes as a "flow experience", losing track of time and self awareness, because he is so completely absorbed in his reading and accomplishment of the activity. The way the teachers had contextualized this project was that the students were giving their parents the gift of knowledge in an area that they had expressed an interest in and a desire to learn something more about. Knowledge goals were prominent here as well as real world connections to reading for a meaningful purpose. The students also expressed that the task wasn't always easy and that at times they struggled but they persevered because the task engaged them. The positive affect that goes along with this approach to reading is clear.
While comments about the students' engagement and enjoyment did not appear as frequently in the parent reflections, parents did also comment on how enjoyable this experience was for both and how seriously their child engaged with the task, as the following comments show:
We are very enjoyable of the presentation. It was interest and we had known more greater knowledge about it. It was fun and good. I hope I will see more of this kind of presentation. (Parent 2)
I could see that [student's name] spent quite some time and effort to do this project. (Parent 15)
[Student's name] works very seriously and discuss with me details in this presentation. I am impressed mostly with his presentation with power-point. It recalls very happy memories and I can also teach [student's name] the techniques of photography during our discussion. (parent 11)
Yes, I am pleased with this presentation. My son is able to deeply show his effort. (Student 10)
A second theme that emerges from the data is that the context for the student learning was a highly supportive one both in and out of school. In school, Jack, the teacher-librarian, modelled this process for the students. This not only gave them a clear sense of the process but also the expectations of the task. Perhaps more importantly, according to the teachers it was highly motivating to the students to make their own presentations. Jack Miller commented:
After Jack finished the session, the students couldn't wait to get to work to put together something similar for their own parents. This session really motivated them and made them see that they could do this too if they wanted.
Moreover, to the university- researcher, the respect and trust for each other, and for their students, that the two teachers have is evident in all classroom interactions. In part, the respect is displayed in the high standards that are set for all. Jack Miller explained:
I think we believe that these students are a lot more capable than they sometimes believe themselves to be and we hold that up to them as a mirror for them to start to believe in themselves.
However, tutoring and scaffolding was ever available for the students to ensure that they would achieve success as they prepared for their presentation to parents and the two teachers were willingly on hand to assist the students both with their reading of the information texts if they experienced any difficulties and with their planning, design and construction of their multi-modal PowerPoint presentations. In addition, guidelines were given, timelines for certain parts of the task to be completed by specific times were given, and feedback and help with both the reading literacy and the information technology literacy requirements of an effective PowerPoint presentation were available to the students at all sessions, in and out of school hours. Rather, than placing pressure on students these 'scaffolds' provided a safe and supportive context in which to work. Moreover, observing these teachers work with students it becomes evident very quickly that each question and request is treated seriously and with the utmost of respect. This is an environment in which students are not afraid to learn and are comfortable to ask for help thenever necessary.
In the case of home, in all but one case, both the parents and students reported that the context in which they had shared their knowledge and skills was a very supportive one; one that in some cases brought close family members closer and in others contributed to more communication than was there norm.
Below is a representative sample of comments from parents and students:
I had fun showing the power-point presentation. I like the expression on my Grandma's face. My Grandmother thinks the same way as I do. She really likes to talk with me, her grandson. My Grandmother gave me a very high mark. She would like me to do more of these projects in the future. (Student 15)
My parent interview was fun because my Mum kept laughing at me throughout the presentation. We had a special bond together because we both like the topic. Even though she laughed at me, she understood. This parent interview is good because you learn a lot from each other. Not only do you learn more about something, but your parent learns something about you. (Student 10)
Usually we don't talk to each other very much. Me in my room and she's in the living room. But this time I actually got her into my room to look at this. We did the quiz and we had some laughs.(Student 3)
Yes, I really felt it was a worthwhile experience with my daughter. I really appreciated what she had done. We had much more communication through the presentation. (Parent 17)
I got to spend more time with my daughter. I got to know more about what my daughter is interested in. I also learned more about my interest, painting, from my daughter. (Parent 9)
My Dad and I went on internet and went through lots of stuff. Then we went to the library where we found a lot of interesting books. When I finished my project we watched Discovery Channel. Then we went to Stanley Park Aquarium all four of us. It was fun. We didn't only see sharks, I even touched a butterfly.(Student 7)
This presentation helped me and my Mum get even closer than we already are. Even though she doesn't know much about hockey, she tries her best to follow along. Maybe with the help of this project, she'll be an expert in no time. By closing, all I have to say, is that this project really helped me and my Mum get closer.(Student 5)
The teachers reported that they had not anticipated the extent to which the assignment had impact on other aspects of family life. One of the clear outcomes of this project was the extent to which it fostered relationships.
While an analysis of the student data seems consistently to foreground their levels of interest, engagement and enjoyment in the project, the parents more frequently commented on students' learning and their deep understanding of the topic they had chosen to present. The students also commented about the understandings they had gained but not as frequently or as markedly as their parents a sample of whose comments are below:
This presentation was a worthwhile experience for me and my son. The most enjoyable part was that he presented something he really understood to me and that I learned something from him. (Parent 1)
We are very enjoyable of the presentation. It was interest and we had known more greater knowledge about it. It was fun and good. I hope I will see more of this kind of presentation.(Parent 2)
All knowledge is worthwhile whether it be about atoms or hair. We probably benefited from this presentation more than (student's name) did, although he learned a lot. (Parent 6)
(Student's name)works very seriously and discuss with me details in this presentation. I am impressed mostly with his presentation with power-point. It recalls very happy memories and I can also teach (student's name) the techniques of photography. This parent interview is good because you learn a lot from each other. (Parent 11).
After seeing the visual presentation, I was impressed with the quality of photographs and how she used the written presentation to complement the pictures. I thought this assignment was a very worthwhile experience. What really impressed me was that she has learned how to use the tools in the computer to present a very effective communication medium. (Parent 20).
This parent interview is good because you learn a lot from each other. Not only do you learn more about something, but your parent learns something about you.(Student 9)
The two teachers sought to help their students gain 'deep understanding ' of the texts that they read but they also had an agenda that would see the students' valuing more greatly the knowledge that they already possessed and brought to the school context. A fundamental learning principle shared by both teachers is that students come to school with great wealth of untapped knowledge. Speaking for both of them, Jack Millar explained it thus:
All students enter high school with knowledge that is often ignored. The teaching of English often becomes text-dominated instruction where the 'right answer,' is the ultimate goal.
For Millar the 'right answer' was all too often what the students thought their teachers wanted to hear rather than an articulation of their own understandings and opinions. He continued:
All students don't know what knowledge they have until they discover it for themselves. This discovery begins with writing in response to their reading of a text. With teacher guidance and support, students will develop sufficient trust in the process to the point where this writing can be shared orally within the classroom context or with trusted others. Student knowledge based on a personal written response to the reading is supportively shared. Rather than a teacher focused interpretation, many interpretations created by the students provide a much richer insight into meaning. Encouraged to share some of this valuable experience in an atmosphere of trust, sincerity and safety, students learn that their thoughts and feelings relative to the work under study have value. This experience, we believe, improves their interest in reading, and at the same time builds confidence in their ability to write and think for themselves. This is especially important to ESL students or those struggling with the language.
This quote is illustrative that a number of the key factors at play in this reading project are instrinsically related: knowledge validation and generation is interwoven with complex social and affective factors. In the summary and conclusions section these will be discussed in the context of implications for practice.
In this project, two masterful and caring teachers started out trying to encourage their students to read more and to find greater value in reading. In the process of doing this they began to appreciate and further develop the very powerful connection of parental involvement. Both teachers were aware of the literature on this topic with regard to younger children but were less sure how effective it was with adolescents. When they had a sense of the potential, they took the next steps as described above. Along the way, the teachers designed into the project some factors which appear to have contributed to its success:
Reading test scores did improve when the students were re-tested (see below) but as we shall discuss in a moment it appears as though this project was, in the end, ultimately about relationships. Firstly, the test results: in April of the following year, the students were retested for Reading and Comprehension ability using Gates-McGintie Reading Test (Level E, Form 2). This time vocabulary skills ranged from grade 4.3 to 12.8 and comprehension skills from 5.6 to 12.5. All but two students improved on both their reading and comprehension scores with about forty percent of the students making gains of two or more grades. The two students who did not make any gains were both students who scored several grades below their age appropriate grade level and their scores remained unchanged at the end of the eight month period. However, the teachers were extremely cautious about claiming any causal relationship between their project and these scores and were keen to point out as Jack Miller stated:
There are many possible reasons why these students gained in their reading scores. This was not a controlled experiment, there were other initiatives going on in the school, they are in seven different classes every day, they do other things in their lives outside of school. We were naturally pleased to see that the students did so much better on the test but when we evaluate the success of this project we do not want to have a single measure of reading score play too prominent a part.
Jack Allen expressed a similar sentiment:
Our efforts were for us successful in the sense that we received some honest and positive feedback from both parents and students about the process, particularly relative to the communication between the parents and their children. As well, our communication with the families has been enhanced. We don't know that we have actually improved reading skills but we have improved communication all round, enhanced our connection with the parents and gained some understandings about their lives outside the school.
One of the things the teachers learned about their students' lives outside of school that impacted them was their new learning regarding the students who were limited in the ability to share a language with their parents. One student had explained, thus,"In general, it wasn't finding the information that was difficult, it was trying to make it simpl enough for my mother to understand. I had trouble translating because my Cantonese isn't that great. " Another boy reported, "My older brother translated during the presentation. Making a presentation to my mother is a difficult task because of the language barrier between us." Yet another student told her teachers, "It gave me a chance to know what my parents' interests were. It was very fun though. I had to get my sister to translate to them."
Although both teachers had taught in this school for many years, they had not realized that this was the situation for some of their students. At this point, they are undecided about what they may do to take this into account in future in the design of home-school assignments but it is a new learning they intend to factor in future home-school literacy projects. And certainly, the students would welcome more assignments such as this one. So, to return to the original claim that the teachers sought to investigate through this project: that active engagement in reading occurs when teachers design learning contexts which provide real-world connections to reading, give students meaningful choices about what texts to read that have interest and social relevance to the students' lives, for an authentic purpose. I think it is safe to say that based on the accounts from parents teachers and students above this assertion held. As further evidence, here are a few representative comments from the students. One said, "Overall this was a great experience and I would like to do it again." Another student concurred, "I would be delighted to do this again in the future." A third told his teachers, " She (my grandmother) would like to to do more of these projects in the future, and so would I." Yet another enthusiastically reported, "I loved it so much I would love to do more research." Another boy concurred, "She (my mother) would like to do more presentations like this with me in the future, I agree."
As Miller and Allen state, it is hard to 'prove' that a direct link between the reported attitudes and motivations for reading and improved reading scores. What is clear however is that a project such as this has been enthusiastically embraced by teachers, students and parents alike, and has motivated students to read to discover, research to share, and for students and teachers to teach to learn. In the process, foundations have been laid for all concerned to open up new channels of communication. So, regardless whether or not this project may or may not have improved reading scores, it is hard to argue with the teachers' view that this project was in many regards an unqualified success, one on which they are continuing to build.