Teresa Cremin (Open University) Reasserting the potency of the personal

Presentation from the 24th of September 2018 Conference

Transcript

1. Re-asserting the potency of the personal in reading: teachers and children Teresa Cremin
2. What research am I drawing upon? My own research Teachers as Readers research • Phase I: A survey of 1200 teachers’ knowledge/use of children’s lit in 11 LAs • Phase II: TaRs A year-long project - 43 teachers from 27 schools in 5 LAs • Phase III: RLL A year long project - 22 teachers researching children’s literacy lives Extracurricular reading group research (J. Swann) Research into digital books (N. Kucirkova) Struggling boy readers research (A. H Jorgensen) Other RfP studies internationally
3. Changes in our concept of reading since 2000 have led to an expanded definition of reading literacy, which recognises motivational and behavioural characteristics of reading alongside cognitive characteristics. (OECD, 2016)
5. Considering positionality/ identities • Identity as plural, relational and positional, enacted in interaction (Holland and Lave (2001) • Teachers’ conceptions of reader identities, frame and limit children’s identities as readers (Hall et al., 2010) • Teachers’ identity crises in response to changing views of literacy (McDougall, 2009) • The role of literacy in young people’s identity construction (McCarthey, 2001). • Teachers’ conceptions of reader identities, frame and limit children’s identities as readers (Hall et al., 2010)
6. My trajectory • Reading Teachers: Knowledge of self as a reader • Teacher knowledge of children as readers • Informal text talk: reader to reader
7. ‘Teachers who read and readers who teach’ (Commeyras, Bisplinghoff and Olson, 2003) However RT studies … • autobiographical self-reports of ‘exemplary’ teachers • little attention to reading processes • focused upon the literary aesthetic • no observation in context • no attention to children’s perspectives • no documentation of classroom/learner consequences (e.g. Dillingofski,1993;Rummel and Quintero,1997; Atwell- Vasey,1998; Morrison et al; Rief, 2002; Bisplinghoff, 2009; Dreher, 2003; Blake, 2007) Reading Teachers: knowledge of self as a reader
8. • Invited teachers to participate personally as well as professionally as readers and researchers. • Sought to develop teachers’ repertoires of children’s literature and their reflective awareness of themselves as readers/ literate individuals – their metacognitive knowledge about the socio-cultural nature of reading/literacy. • Encouraged teachers to research children’s reading lives and practices beyond school. • Sought to explore the pedagogic consequences of teachers sharing their personal /professional engagement as readers/literate individuals with the children and knowing more about the children as readers. This strand of Teachers as Readers…
9. Reading Teacher data collection Full dataset (n:43) • baseline and end of project questionnaires • reading histories • ongoing reading journals/logs • teacher talk about texts in groups • termly written reflections on being a RT • teacher portfolios and final project presentations Case study teachers (n:17) as above plus: • observations in class –mid and late phase • transcribed interviews - early, mid and late phase Case study children (n:49) • observations in class - mid and late phase • transcribed interviews - early, mid and late phase drawings of readers and discussions of these
10. TaRs: Teacher text talk in sessions Autumn term Talk about children’s texts dominated by: - the amount of work it could generate; - related objectives which could be covered; - its potential for integration /connection to the wider curriculum. Talk about their own adult texts predominantly focused upon: - making meaning and connections; - personal views and affective responses; - social, cultural and moral issues.
11. Increased pleasure in reading I feel like I’ve exposed part of myself to the children and have regained a love and pleasure of reading which had stopped – you have to make time to read and share it – it’s vital. (Written reflection, Kent) There’s more quality time for reading so there’s more enjoyment of reading. And we’re not feeling guilty. (Written reflection, Birmingham) We’re enjoying books more together rather than me only using it as a tool for literacy …we haven’t got to work out where the prepositions are or whether it’s got an ellipsis …. I still use books for that - but it’s different. (Written reflection, Suffolk)
12. Increased awareness of themselves as readers • Practices, preferences and purposes • Affective engagement • Rights as readers • The socially situated nature of reading I read the newspaper on the bus to work and I’ve started to talk to the children about that. I think they have quite a narrow view of what counts as reading. (Interview, Early Ph, Birmingham) I often skip the long descriptive passages, flick forwards into the action and re-read bits to get going again (Interview, Early Ph, Barking and Dagenham)
13. I’m not sure they need to know about me as a reader, after all my focus should be on them- on raising standards and so on. (Interview, Mid Ph, Kent) I feel guilty I should not be talking about me (Written reflection, Kent). How far should we allow our personal lives into the classroom? (Interview, Mid Ph, Barking and Dagenham) I’m not used to working without specific objectives (Written reflection, Birmingham) It’s hard to know what one is ‘covering’ if you know what I mean. (Interview, Mid Ph, Medway) Reading Teachers: tensions and dilemmas
14. When teachers developed as Reading Teachers, this positively influenced children’s: • attitudes towards reading • frequency of reading for pleasure at home and school • knowledge and perception of their teachers as readers • teacher- child reader relationships RT influence appeared to be more marked and more personal. Classroom consequences
15. Knowledge of children as readers • Teachers explored children’s passions, preferences and practices at home and at school • Teachers considered the difference this new knowledge might make … to – what counts as reading in class – the texts available – teacher expectations – teacher text recommendations – the available reader identities.
17. 24 hour reading • Facebook updates • Paul Hollywood recipe • The Next catalogue • Boots Advantage card vouchers • An insurance claim form • Junk mail: making a will, charities, local offers • Bits of The Guardian • Some parts of the TES online • My jobs list • More of The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge • School planning documents • Dental appointment (in a text message) • Notes on Green group’s Guided Reading book • Endless emails about school and home stuff We talk about what we’re reading now, share our views and swap books sometimes. They know I read the newspaper and that I don’t always agree with what's going on or the paper’s perspective.
18. 24 hour reading
19. Reading Rivers
21. (Biddle, 2017, OU site)
22. I read the cereal box to see what type of cereal it is and I also read the back of the box, to see how much sugar it has. I like reading new notifications on my tab and sometimes I read the manual of the tab to see how it works. When my mum makes something new, then she reads the recipe book to get the instructions. She is an adventurous cook. Afraa’s Reading River Sometimes when I get bored, I read some magazines. The celebrity stories keep me interested. My dad’s reading river My dad reads the Tom-Tom , when he gets confused about which way to go. I sometimes read the newspaper to keep me alert about what’s happening in the world. My mums reading river My mum also goes to Facebook to talk to her friends and see what’s going on I was less aware of the online reading that they did, as well as the magazines, comics, etc, that they enjoyed. (Biddle, 2017)
23. Trajectory ▪ Context ▪ The BC:RLL Research project ▪ Dilemmas and difficulties A. Challenges at the outset: initial knowledge, assumptions and perceptions B. Challenge of being positioned as researchers C. Challenge of building on new knowledge ▪ Potential D. A case study of school-centricity shifting Learner Visits to children’s homes
24. Researching Literacy Lives Funds of knowledge (Moll et al, 1996) Home School Knowledge Exchange (Hughes et al, 2007) Making visible the lives of people whose stories are not often told (Gregory, 2003) Considering pedagogies of re-connection (Comber and Kamler, 2004) Helping children to unpack their ‘virtual schoolbags’ (Hall, 2005)
25. An asset blanket of new knowledge An asset blanket of new knowledge
26. Sophie learns about Jo • Sophie: 15 years teaching, a deputy head, small school Sophie drove Jo and his siblings home for the first Learner Visit, then visited again during half term at Jo’s mother’s request and again later Jo was chosen due to his behavioural problems and as he was ‘new’ to school • Concern about Learner Visits ‘‘I felt physically sick at the thought of it on the way home on that first day’. (Final interview) • Single stranded knowledge of Jo ‘He’s quite a challenge behaviourally’ ; ‘is all front, a bouncy, dominant child’; ‘he has yet to finish a book or anything really’; ‘it’s excuse, excuse, excuse’. ‘I think he has the potential to be quite unruly’… ‘he’s a big “I am” and “I know, I know, I know”. He has to have the last word ‘(Initial interview)
27. New knowledge about Jo • As a child – his cultural interests, passion for computer and PlayStation games and related reading and drawing • As a family member - reading to his sister and other roles and responsibilities • As a learner - his capacity to finish, to listen, to stay focused In the car on the way home, he kept asking me questions about my family, it was… well, different, kind of personal for me too. He does so much here as the eldest and some of it independently as well. In school he doesn't have the same space or opportunity I guess. He’s very talented at drawing and often draws characters as well as his family and animals, mainly dogs - he wants one ! Sophie (LV1)
28. Carol learns about Cole Carol: 5 years class teaching, city centre, school on a council estate • The first thing that Carol noticed in Cole’s home was the range of reading material on nature and the countryside scattered around the house. • She spotted several Countryman’s Weekly magazines and a bird spotting book. • In the garden there were bird feeders and in the kitchen binoculars on the table. • Carol also learnt that Cole went out fishing, ferreting and hunting with his father and adored these activities and being with his dad.
29. • New conception of each reader’s uniqueness • Wider diversity of texts valued and offered in school • Richer capacity to make more tailored and personal recommendations • Trigger for informal talk about texts Classroom consequences
30. Informal text talk: reader to reader • Prolific adult readers derive significant pleasure from text talk and in particular from activating their own life experiences when reading literature – through mental imagery, personal memories, self-relevant trait identification, and thinking about their possible future selves (Kuzmičová & Bálint, 2018; Schrijvers et al. 2016). • Teacher and child, as well as child-child reading conversations opened up in TaRs and RLL - about ‘texts in common’ and their views and values, lives and experiences. • These informal non-assessed conversations supported the development of new reader relationships and the development of communities of readers.
31. Voicing an affective response It’s okay to be moved by a book – if it makes you cry in public then it shows you’re human (Interview, Mid P, Suffolk). The children also became much more open in saying how a story made them feel - I suppose because I had modelled it (Interview, Mid P, Barking & Dagenham). We read a book called ‘The boy in striped pyjamas’ and she cried because it had a sad ending because they got gassed. (TaRs child, Mid P, Kent)
32. Affording readers’ rights The right to choose  what you read..  where you read…  who with… The right to  share your reading…  remain silent…
34. I’ve amazed how interested the children are in what I'm reading! And it works both ways- it’s kind of two way traffic now and I know SO much more about them as readers and – well as children. (Interview, Late Ph, Medway) Being a Reading Teacher makes me feel more connected to the children, we seem to have more in common now. Through sharing my reading life, I share more of my own views and values with them and they’ve opened up too. (Interview, LP, Birmingham)
35. My trajectory • Reading Teachers: Knowledge of self as a reader • Teacher knowledge of children as readers • Informal text talk: reader to reader
36. The last word… Through reading aloud, swapping books and talking about texts, I've got to know my class really well, as individuals with different interests and histories. I can’t believe I never knew this all this before. (Interview Late Ph, Barking and Dagenham)
37. Re-asserting the potency of the personal in reading: teachers and children Teresa Cremin
38. References Cliff Hodges, G. (2010) Rivers of reading: Using critical incident collages to learn about adolescent readers and their readership English in Education 44 (3): 180-199. Commeyras, M., Bisplinghoff, B.S. and Olson, J. (2003) Teachers as Readers: Perspectives on the Importance of Reading in Teachers’ Classrooms and Lives. Newark: International Reading Assoc. Comber, B. & Kamler, B. (2004) Getting out of Deficit: pedagogies of reconnection, Teaching Education, Vol. 15(3):293-310. Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Bearne, E. and Goodwin, P. (2008b) Exploring teachers knowledge of children’s literature. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38.4, pp. 449–464. Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F., Powell, S. and Safford, K. (2009) Teachers as readers: building communities of readers Literacy 43 (1):11-19. Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F., Powell, S. and Safford, K. (2014) Building communities of engaged readers London, Routledge. Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. & Amanti, C. (2005) Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Hall, L., Johnson, A. Juzwik , M., Stanton, E. ,Wortham,F. & Mosley, M. (2010) Teacher identity in the context of literacy teaching, Teaching and Teacher Education, 26:234-243. Kuzmičová, A., & Bálint, K. (2018). Personal relevance in story reading: A research review. Poetics Today 39. Moll, L C. and Cammarota, C. (2010) Cultivating new Funds of Knowledge through research and practice in K. Dunsmore and D. Fisher (eds) Bringing Literacy Home Newark DE: IRA. Schrijvers, M., et al. (2016). The impact of literature education on students’ perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences in relation to teacher approach. L1- Educational Studies in Language and Literature 16: 1-37;