perspectives in Education and Deafness

Shared Reading and Writing

Directing the Tour Through Text

Shared Reading and Writing

Adults and students read a book repeatedly, helping students develop confidence in their ability to read. Students re-read the story, act it out, and make a new version of the book.

"Using shared reading and writing is like being a tour director," says Rhonda Burden, a colleague who works in my school. "The teacher leads the class through the text, pointing out areas of interest while making personal connections and modeling how people can connect with a book."

With my second through fifth graders, I am the tour director. Together my students and I read and re-read the text many times. We look for main ideas, predict what will happen in the storyline, and use the cloze procedure. At the same time, I teach reading strategies and the basic concepts needed to decode print. As my students and I collaborate, I make sure the atmosphere remains relaxed. I want my classroom to be a welcoming place where efforts and approximations are encouraged.

During shared reading, students are invited to read silently by themselves or to sign along with me. Students break into small groups, based on their needs and abilities. Small groups facilitate the development of skills and processes that students can apply in their reading and writing throughout their lives.

I often use a big book, which allows the students to see the book as we read. Sometimes big books are not available. Then I use poetry, pocket charts, and the overhead projector.

Poetry

I often use poetry as a vehicle to share reading and writing. We read poems of the week and month, as well as poems that tie into our lesson theme. Poems are always displayed in the classroom to be read and re-read. Children receive copies to place in their folders. Poems are also copied and sent home on the back side of our daily letter home. This gives parents the opportunity to practice reading the poem. Poems can be illustrated, made into a classroom book, or acted out.

Small Books

ABOVE: Students write their first sentences.

Many times I want to use a specific piece of literature in class and there is no big book available. Then I turn to small books. This allows me to chose literature that matches the learning objectives of my classroom, and I still have the freedom to incorporate the Shared Reading principles. In these cases, I sit on the floor with a small group of students and read from my single copy of the book. I still use guided questions to keep students participating and interested. After reading the text, students receive their own individual copies to use and enjoy later.

We also make new versions of the book, enabling students to develop their writing skills. Sometimes we write new stories, too, working together as a class. Students present and discuss their ideas. Sometimes I write sentences as students express them in signs, then as a class we change the sentences to make grammatically correct English. I act as scribe and facilitate the discussion. In this role, I direct the discussion, making sure specific vocabulary and concepts are included.

Then we read the new versions again.

	ABOVE: Illustrations are moved to provide room for embellishing clauses.

Pocket Charts

An alternative way to explore literature is through the use of sentence strips and pocket charts. With this method, text from the small book is copied or reprinted on strips of papers and placed in a pocket chart. Sentence strips are effective because they allow the print to be manipulated. A teacher can sequence the story, highlight basic sight vocabulary and other important words, and invent a new ending. Students enjoy illustrating each sentence on index cards, which then fit into a pocket affixed to the wall. They also enjoy creating their own big book using their own illustrations and text from the story. Equally important, students receive their own individual books.

Overhead Projector

Since one of my classroom goals is to introduce a variety of literature to my students, I use an overhead projector to display print where we all can see and appreciate it together. I've used the projector to display poetry, nonfiction, letters, lists, short stories, and single pages from a multi-page story or chapter book. The overhead allows the class to read the text together while discussing the concepts of print, reviewing basic sight vocabulary, and most importantly, working together on reading strategies.

One of the most important goals is to show students the beauty and flow of language. The use of the overhead allows me to introduce language-rich literature without worrying about students' individual reading levels. I use the overhead to display a page or two of a well-written picture book that uses simple words to create powerful and meaningful sentences.

Shared writing takes many forms in my classroom as well. We often write stories together as a class. Students raise and discuss their ideas. When we decided to write a class story about an earthquake, I listed students' ideas as they brainstormed. After we had a complete list, we sequenced our story. Then we worked on developing paragraphs. The older students worked on topic sentences, while the younger students worked on simple sentences to support the topic sentences. I wrote down the sentences as they were generated. Later as a class, we would revise and edit our work to make it correct English.

I often start a mini-lesson by using the overhead to model resolving areas of concern that I have noticed in the students' daily writing. The students see my mistakes and how I talk through them. With this modeling, they begin to understand the writing process. As the year progresses, students become more comfortable displaying and sharing their own work. With their permission, I put students' writing on the overhead. As a class, we discuss the work together, revise, and edit. In my classroom, students feel comfortable discussing their errors and learning from each other.

Reading and writing—to students, with students, by students—are central to my classroom. Shared reading and writing allow children to feel successful. Using these strategies, a community of readers and writers explores and generates a variety of text. Used in conjunction with other strategies, each is a valued component of a balanced reading and writing program.

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