Ways to Share Picture Books

Many teachers have emailed me since this blog launched, sharing their successes with the read-aloud approaches I've provided for books such as Enemy Pie, The Empty Pot, and the Holocaust. An equal number, however, have asked about general ways of sharing picture books. Some feel unprepared to do so, having never been trained in any literacy class in their undergrad curriculum. Others simply feel that their own approach may in some way be lacking. So let me offer just a few ways that picture books can be shared in the upper elementary and middle grades.
Teacher to Class Sharing

This strategy is probably as old as reading itself, and most closely mimics the reading experiences shared by many children at home with family (and for those children who have never enjoyed such an experience at home, what better place and time to start?). The close proximity, the intimacy of this approach, explains why reading picture books online feels so much less satisfying, and is unlikely to replace print picture books anytime soon. I would recommend this approach the majority of the time, no matter what the age group.

The purpose of the shared reading could be one of many:

Picture books allow you to activate not only prior knowledge, but also attitudes, beliefs, and misconceptions. Picture books then create a bridge between the student’s prior knowledge and the newly introduced learning. For example, a teacher reads aloud the picture book The Honest to Goodness Truth. After reading, the teacher says, “I thought we all agreed yesterday in our discussion about our novel's main character that ‘Honesty is the best policy.’ Yet this book seems to say almost the exact opposite! So who’s right?”

Picture books create common ground. Before reading a novel set in the Depression, for example, the teacher might read aloud or show several picture books which deal with that topic. One might be illustrated with photographs and eyewitness reports, one with captioned period murals sponsored by the WPA, and one with illustrations and a narrative by a contemporary author or artist. In just a few minutes, then, students acquire a shared set of images, thoughts, and perspectives on a single topic.

Pictures books help students to construct schema. A teacher wishing to introduce a fantasy genre might share a picture book which exemplifies six traits of that genre. Upon completion of the reading, the teacher asks her students to list the traits they noticed. And how best to confirm or disqualify these traits? Have the students read additional fairy tales in small groups (see below). Which trait are shared by all books? Which additional traits are discovered?

Picture books can make abstract concepts (such as life skills) concrete. As teachers we are expected to teach “fuzzy” character concepts such as cooperation, responsibility, and integrity. Where are those lessons in our textbooks? Here is where picture books can play a large role. Through picture books, universal themes such as patience, empathy, teamwork, cooperation, forgiveness, fairness, and responsibility are captured in just sixteen or twenty-four pages, creating a memorable model for children who still think and generalize in very concrete terms.

Lastly, of course, picture books help students develop the ability to "visualize stories" in their heads, a critical component of reading comprehension. Not visualize words, for that's simply decoding. Students who simply see words are often the students who read as if they're pecking corn from the ground. Students who can cobble those words into phrases which create pictures in their heads are the ones who will truly understand what they're reading, at several levels. This type of "mental picture making" can be wonderfully modeled by a teacher using self-reflective language a good picture book.

One last note about shared reading. I recently read an article stating that teachers are increasingly using picture books in the upper grades (hurray!). But the accompanying photo chilled me. It revealed students seated at their desks, in rows, as the teacher walked among them, sharing the book's illustrations. Please, I beg of you, don't do this to your students! Create a gathering place where students can come and sit on the floor to partake of the experience. Nothing special at all, just floor space. Once the ritual of gathering in this space is practiced, your students (yes, even your thirteen year-olds) will gather there quickly, and will shush themselves as you join them for the reading experience. That's the way it's meant to be.

Paired Readings

This type of reading usually occurs with a specific outcome in mind. In lower grades, paired readings allow readers to practice fluency and clarity. It also demands that readers are “attentive” at least 50% of the time.

Understand, however, that many students suffer in comprehension when required to read aloud. They are so concerned with the demands of meeting the needs of an audience (volume, clarity, inflection) that they “check out” from comprehending. It’s not uncommon for a student to read aloud an entire paragraph or page, and then have no clue what was read. So paired readings also need “checkpoints” for discussion.

Group Readings

Again, this type of reading should be chosen for a specific purpose. One purpose, for example, might be to establish common knowledge about a topic through its presentation in a number of diverse picture books. Students might read from a number of baseball picture books, for example, and then report back to the group on the perspective of the author in each.

In reading for another purpose, students will read a number of picture books containing the exact same print content (The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere) with different interpretations of that same content by the various illustrators.

Independent Reading

Students read independently for a number of reasons, pleasure being the foremost. But as students mature, they should also read picture books as models for their own writing. This makes perfect sense, as picture books are typically the length of student stories in the upper elementary and middle grades (and the length of writing tasks expected on standardized tests).

Students may also read picture books as sources of reference. A student seeking background on the Sioux tribe, for example, could attempt to wade through a difficult nonfiction text, encyclopedia entry, or web site meant for more mature readers. Or, this same student could access similar information through three or four picture books whose illustrations would aid in deciphering and extending difficult terms and concepts. When one of my students chose to read a historical fiction novel set in Ancient Egypt, I recommended that she first read The Egyptian News by Scott Steedman. This book provided her with not only concrete images of architecture and dress, but also a solid bank of vocabulary terms and a concept of Egyptian societal roles which would greatly aid her in understanding the intrigues of her chosen chapter book. This is an approach I'd recommend for many students' literary forays into unfamiliar territories.

If you need more particulars about the "how to" aspect of reading picture books with children, consult the experts. Not the authors of slick $40 "How-To" books. No, I'm talking about your colleagues in the lower grades. Ask around and you'll quickly discover who has the rep for using picture books well.

My kindergarten daughter is extremely fortunate to have a teacher who loves picture books and uses them well. When I went to pick my daughter up from school the other day, I wasn't greeted with the typical "Daddeeeee!" and enthusiastic cub hug. Instead, as I entered the classroom, I immediately realized that I was trespassing upon the magical spell of story time. Not that it mattered. I wasn't even noticed. Every little pair of eyes and every little pair of ears was trained upon the teacher as she read Michael Garland's wonderful Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook. But the children weren't transfixed zombies. As the story progressed they leaned and whispered in friends' ears, eagerly pointing at the book's illustrations. And as I watched, it occurred to me that this engrossed audience of diminutive scholars was behaving in exactly the same manner as my sixth graders that very day when I had shared aloud a picture book. And each audience, in its own way, enjoyed a total understanding of the book's word and picture relationship. Yes, teacher questions would later peel away additional layers of the literary onion, but at that moment, the reading experience was nothing less than transcendent. It can be in your classroom, as well.

I'd love to hear your own experience with reading picture books to your students, at any level.

What Makes a Good Children's Book?

What makes a good children's book? I'd suppose that's a tough question to answer, otherwise Microsoft would have already written Newbery Notebook 1.0 and Caldecott Creator for Windows. A good children's book is far from formulaic.

It seems, however, that Little, Brown Books has done a pretty good job of nailing some of the more prominently recurring traits of good children's books (both novels and picture books). See the whole list at the Upstart Crow Literary blog (a cool place to peek behind the curtain of the writing and publishing biz).

What use is this list to the average classroom teacher?

• It may help you understand why some books win with children while others fail. The list explains, for example, why a common literary motif of many children's novels (Harry Potter, Lord of the Flies, Narnia, Holes) is the removal of the protagonist (and other main characters) from adult supervision and control.
• The individual attributes may help you create some connections between otherwise unrelated texts. One successful exercise with every novel, for example, is looking at how a character grows or changes over time. I've used this approach with Number the Stars, Because of Winn Dixie, Crash, Flipped, and Island of the Blue Dolphins to name just a few. Check out this sample recording sheet.
• The list can be used a fairly accurate indicator of a book's overall value when teachers must choose just two or three titles for study. Many teachers, for example, complain that their boys just don't "get into" books which feature strong female protagonists. A book like Poppy, however, which features a female animal protagonist, is somehow more readily embraced.
• Teachers can use the list as a reference for writing minilessons. If these are the traits that make good children's books work, and if these are the attributes with which children have the most first-hand experience, then perhaps many of them could inform student writing as well.

How else do you see putting this list to work for you? Email me or leave a comment below!

(This same post appears at my How to Teach a Novel blog).

Reading Skills List Using Picture Books

I noticed that many readers to this blog ended up here from Google after searching for "list of reading skills using picture books" or some similar term. Often it's a more defined search, such as "prediction skills using picture books." While I've certainly offered lots of skills-based resources and suggestions over the past year, I was never one to provide such lists. Until now.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I did a little poking around and found exactly what I was looking for. Nancy Keane (with the help of many others) created a wiki, organizing books by genre, topic, and value, as well as recommended grade level. It's an impressive list, and a great start.

But what many readers seek are "reading skills and strategies," and this was a listing I saw lacking. I therefore started a Focused Reading Skills List at this wiki. Already, with just the few books I've added, I can see that this list is likely to outgrow its single page format, but we'll worry about that when we get there.

So I absolutely encourage you to bookmark and share this page with colleagues. I also ask for your help in making it a truly awesome resource: please sign up for wiki spaces (at the upper right corner of the Focused Reading Skills page) and then help me edit the page by adding your favorite picture books. The whole idea behind wikis is that they're cooperative, growing documents, and this is perhaps one of the best examples of a wiki that would benefit from multiples authors and perspectives.

Email me if you add some titles or skills, or if you have questions about how to go about doing so. Through a community effort, we can create a pretty powerful resource for ourselves and others!

Into the Book: Learning Comprehension Strategies Online

Since this blog's inception I've received a couple of emails regarding reading skills: Which reading skills are most important? How do you teach skills that students will actually recall and use independently? Where can I access a list or description of reading skills?

Although I use several sources (which I'll discuss in future posts), one of the best online resources for teachers and students alike is Into the Book. (This links not to the main page, but to a page which shows all reading skills at a glance).

From the site:

Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and
teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge,
Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating
and Synthesizing. Watch our engaging 15-minute videos and try the online
interactive activities.

I love the site because all eight skills are not only defined in word, but also by video example. A teacher area gives teachers and parents all the information they need to begin using this framework, and the student area provides fun, interactive practice with each of the skills, using both video and online self-checking lessons. (The student area allows students to create a "key" for use upon return to this site; this way, no registration or release of personal information is ever required).

Teachers can benefit from additional resources including a discussion forum, a section on classroom design for literacy development (featuring a panoramic classroom tour as well as individual design tips), and dozens of downloadable songs, posters, and teaching guides, all relating to the eight specific reading skills.

If you're a teacher into picture books, these are the skills you need to make them extraordinary teaching tools, and this is the site to find them.

A Novel Approach to Teaching Novels

Since many of this blog's readers are upper elementary and middle school teachers (with a special shout out to my homeschoolers), I thought you'd like to know that I've launched a new blog.

How to Teach a Novel is aimed at teachers in grades 3-12 who are using this authentic literature in their classrooms. This blog will attempt to bring you the related web sites, effective and efficient practices, and most current and relevant articles related to the art and science of teaching the novel.

Now, if you haven't already checked it out, you might want to visit my older, static site over at Squidoo which bears the same name. The How to Teach a Novel "lens" (Squidoo's unique name for personal sites) presents a step-by-step approach for the teacher who holds a novel in hand but lacks the resources to teach it. It's the online companion to a popular workshop which I've presented several times over the past couple years. (As for the presumptuous titles? They make it much easier to find the sites when searching Google).

I'm a huge fan of novels, I love teaching them, and I feel that there's a right and a wrong way to go about it. I'd love to hear about your experiences as well. Drop me a line and share your favorite sites, favorite books, best practices, and your success and horror stories. After all, we're in this thing together!