Creating a literacy-rich learning environment

Editor's Notes

• #7: "Human beings were never born to read," writes Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert Maryanne Wolf. Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new. In this ambitious, provocative book, Wolf chronicles the remarkable journey of the reading brain not only over the past five thousand years, since writing began, but also over the course of a single child's life, showing in the process why children with dyslexia have reading difficulties and singular gifts. Lively, erudite, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians was a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy. The potential transformations in this changed reading brain, Wolf argues, have profound implications for every child and for the intellectual development of our species.
• #8: "Human beings were never born to read," writes Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert Maryanne Wolf. Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new. In this ambitious, provocative book, Wolf chronicles the remarkable journey of the reading brain not only over the past five thousand years, since writing began, but also over the course of a single child's life, showing in the process why children with dyslexia have reading difficulties and singular gifts. Lively, erudite, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians was a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy. The potential transformations in this changed reading brain, Wolf argues, have profound implications for every child and for the intellectual development of our species.
• #17: We are wired to connect… 6.5 hours of screen time per day 40.000 word vocabulary 800 words used a day Own views of their reading identity
• #21: „an immediate coping technique‟, Difficulty with much research on strategy use in reading is most of it is “task free” ie. based on readers perceptions of use rather than doing a task with the strategy
• #25: Schedule time for reading The curriculum is vast and everyone is so busy, it is important to remember to make time for reading during the school day. We have dedicated literacy lessons built into our weekly timetable, so that everyone still manages to focus on reading time.  The lessons are actually based around specialist software that helps us monitor individual reading levels.  This has been incredibly helpful not just to support and challenge students in the most appropriate way for them, but it also helps us to recommend the right kind of books to individuals.
• #26: Class text bank
• #27: Strategies for comprehension
• #29: Create a rubric that would inolve the thinking skills
• #30: See Think Wonder
• #40: Good beginnings Start each day as you mean to go on – we start each school day with a compulsory 10-minute reading session. This sends a clear signal to the pupils about the importance of reading and helps to ensure they get reading time in, no matter how busy their day gets.  We also find it is a nice way to start the day and engage pupils before their classes begin. We run additional group reading sessions too – these are a more interactive way of getting the children to read. Staff take part, which sets a positive example to students.
• #41: Be a reading role model It can be very powerful for pupils to see teachers’ reading lives, particularly if you’re sharing the rewards but also the challenges you experience while reading. We sometimes re-read old favourites, and read books which present varying levels of challenge, from classic literature to thrillers and more. We all experience challenges in our reading: sometimes we have to read and re-read before we understand something, sometimes we don’t finish books, and sometimes we don’t know what to read next. Talk to your pupils about your reading life – take some time at the start of periods to speak about what you are currently reading and invite them to do the same.   Let them see you reading a wide variety of texts – whatever you’re keen on; graphic novels, non-fiction, autobiography, magazines, etc.   Talk to them about the challenges you experience as a reader and how you get around them – talk about which books you haven’t finished, and why. For more information about this, check out the Teachers as Readers e-book in the Useful Links section of this resource on page 18. You can also read this article about how one teacher made the process of talking about books part of her class’s weekly activities: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/strategies-reading-success-rah-rah-reading
• #46: From a school in the UK “Spruce up your library We treat our 6th-formers as adults so decided to invest in creating the right library environment for them so that they can enjoy a child-free space to read and study, and hopefully really look forward to visiting. We have given the library a fresh lick of paint, soft seating and a new magazine area which has made a big difference to its overall feel.  We keep the magazine rack up-to-date with a broad range of magazines, so that it offers something for everyone, which we think helps encourage even the least interested student to have a read. We strongly believe that reading should not just involve books!  We have achieved a great increase in the number of students choosing to visit so far, which is wonderful to see.” 
• #48: Technology Don’t be afraid to use technology to encourage pupils to read and believe that good reading practice does not just involve hard copy books.   Some schools are testing a Kindle Pilot Scheme, so pupils can read a Kindle rather than a book and we have been very pleased with the results.  So far on the pilot Ts have found that struggling readers tend to prefer reading using Kindles because it is less obvious to their peers that they are reading different, lower ability books.  Similarly, if it isn’t a Kindle or book,Ts are still happy for our students to read magazines – as long as they are reading, that’s the main thing! Elsewhere, literacy software includes an App, which students can use to take a quiz on the books they have read. The App allows them to take the quiz at school, but on a mobile or iPad, which the students enjoy and is great if there is limited access to computers. 
• #49: A note about video games There are many book adaptations of popular video games like Assassin’s Creed. While these vary in quality and age appropriateness, they are popular with children. However, you can also recommend books to read after pupils have played video games – check out author Matt Whyman’s recommendations here: http://bit.ly/VidGameBasedBooks
• #50: When you walk around your school and visit your school website, what impression do you get of your school’s character? Is it proud of its sporting triumphs with a display case of trophies, or is the emphasis on art, the environment, religion, or does it celebrate taha Māori? What about reading? Does anything indicate that reading is important at your school? Below are ideas of ways to inspire a love of reading among staff (who are key reading role models) and students.
• #53: Creating a sustainable demand for literacy The tasks that people need to perform in their daily lives, in different domains and for different purposes, are increasingly complex. They require continuous learning and the further development of core competences such as literacy, numeracy, language skills and digital competence. At the same time, this set of core competences – and other transferable skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking – form an indispensable foundation for other kinds of learning. Responses to the ongoing challenges and demands of and fast-changing contexts must pay particular attention to motivating and helping young people and adults with low literacy and education levels – as well as their children – to become independent, confident and effective lifelong learners. It is not enough to design high-quality learning programmes, complete with well-designed and attractive learning materials, trained teachers and good monitoring and evaluation systems. It is equally important to motivate learners to enrol and remain in a programme long enough to develop sustainable literacy skill levels. Furthermore, they should be offered further learning opportunities and encouraged to make use of them. It is imperative, therefore, that the creation of literate environments be a component of all literacy strategies and policies. Creating a literate environment is not limited to providing access to reading materials and ICTs. It must also take on the complex task of creating the conditions needed to learn, to continue learning, and to build a culture that values reading and writing in schools, families, communities and society at large. The collective social value of and need for reading, writing and learning has long been emphasized (Torres, 1994), and underscores the importance of developing strategies that bring the culture of written texts closer to the people, especially people from disadvantaged communities, by harnessing their own languages, cultures and values. The examples analysed in this introduction and documented in more detail in the case studies that follow show how the creation of literate environments can have a positive impact on people’s motivation to (re-)engage in literacy and learning, and how they can be encouraged to use and practise their newly acquired skills in their everyday lives. Successful approaches to creating a sustainable demand for literacy and learning include: ■ making reading materials of direct interest to the learner freely accessible; ■ offering learners the opportunity to continue their studies and obtain recognized qualifications; ■ introducing ICTs into the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy, with the additional aim of developing digital competences; ■ bringing literacy and learning into peoples’ homes by involving the whole family in learning activities; ■ enhancing libraries’ ability to offer a range of services to learners; ■ reaching out to marginalized communities through reading materials and learning activities; ■ nurturing a culture of reading and writing for pleasure by encouraging (young) people to improve their literacy skills and find their own voice. The programmes featured in this publication reflect different cultural backgrounds and are transferable to a variety of contexts. More examples of inspiring adult literacy and learning programmes can be found in UNESCO’s Effective Literacy and Numeracy Practises Database (LitBase), a continuously developing database of high-potential adult literacy programmes: www.unesco.org/uil/litbase. CIT. Ulrike Hanemann Lisa Krolak