Using Short Texts to “Warm-up” Reading Muscles & Build Community

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

Last spring, when the world did an abrupt pivot and teachers and parents were suddenly teaching on screens from home, we offered a series of blog posts.  We suggested using short texts that could be found “right at our fingertips” to create access and interest to keep children reading.   Please find all the posts below:

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Cereal Boxes

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Picture Books (Fiction)

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Images & Pictures

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Recipes

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Magazine Articles

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Jokes & Riddles

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Game Directions

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Field Guides

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Trivia

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Poetry

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Short Stories

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Articles

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Launching into Summer Reading

• Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Launching into Summer Writing

“WARM UP” THOSE READING MUSCLES

Now it is August.  The hoped-for, regular, back-to-school, normal that we are used to is clearly not going to happen.  Instead, we are faced with a lot of uncertainty and a myriad of education models.  Whether you are teaching remotely, face-to-face, or in a hybrid model, you will be meeting children who have not been in a classroom in more than 5 months.  While we hope that each of them had a rich reading life all summer, we will be facing a wide variety of experiences and skills.

Short texts offer a way to ease back into reading in a comfortable, low-stakes way because they are easy to read and discuss in one sitting.  Short texts are great to use with students across grade levels and content areas because they:

• Create conversation starters that can positively impact whole group, small group and one-to-one learning

• Increase reading volume by reading widely (lots of topics) and deeply (read a lot about one topic)

• Help students read the world around them, not just what they find in books

Short texts give us reasons to read, write, talk, and think because they entertain, inform, and often inspire us.   Here’s what we mean.

Entertain -- brings us joy 

Inform -- teaches us new information and/or renews our thinking about ideas and topics 

Inspire -- motivates us to read, write and share more

BUILDING COMMUNITY

When we ask a group of students to read the same short text, whether they are face-to-face in the same room or interacting online, it gives them a common experience and a way to build community and positive relationships.  Here are some examples of short texts your students might enjoy!

ELEMENTARY

Picture books are wonderful short texts! Check out these resources about friendship, community and being an upstander! Click the links below to order copies!

My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems

• Use the text as reader’s theater.

• Examine the thought and speech bubbles and the use of punctuation.

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

• Read the story aloud and discuss their friendship.

• Discuss the problem in this story and how it is resolved.

Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev 

• Discuss how it feels to be excluded.

• Discuss how it feels to be included.

• Use this book as a springboard to creating a classroom community where all feel included.

Giraffe Problems by Jory John

• Read this story aloud or listen and watch it using this link.

• Discuss the giraffe’s perspective compared to the other animals.

• Make a list of ways we can be a good friend to others.

The Power of One by Trudy Ludwig

• Talk about different ways to be an upstander.

• Think about and discuss, What is an “act of kindness”?

• Make a list of different acts of kindness that we can do for one another each day.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Excerpts of novels, picture books, podcasts and short stories are great to use when curating short texts.  Reading short texts often leads to reading longer texts, especially when students’ interests have been piqued or they connect with authors.  Check out these resources about friendship, community and being an upstander!

Two Naomis by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

• Read an excerpt from the book.

• Read and/or write a review about the book.

• Listen to the podcast with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich.

• Read the entire book together or offer it to students who may want to read it independently.

• In addition, check out 50 Must Read Middle School Friendship Stories curated by Book Riot for more ideas!

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

• Discuss what it means to accept [and show acceptance of] others.

• Talk about ways we can ensure that everyone in our learning community feels accepted and welcome.

One by Kathryn Otoshi

• This book, often thought of as a book to read with younger students, is an amazing story to spark discussion with older students.

  • Share and discuss the definition of upstander.

  • Discuss what it means to be an upstander.

  • Investigate websites committed to anti-bullying work.  Here’s one example.

Dear Bully: Seven Authors Tell Their Stories by Dawn Metcalf

• Read aloud and discuss one story or give students an opportunity to read several stories from this anthology.

• Find and share quotes related to being an upstander such as, “If not now, then when?  If not me, then who?” [Hilell].

Dictionary of a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham

• Explore this book and the many words, definitions, ideas, and illustrations across several days.

• Give students an opportunity to talk about how they can apply each word to create a better, more accepting, world.

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Choose a short text that you feel will grab your readers’ interests such as a short magazine article or a top ten list. Look for an engaging and “easy” text.  This experience should be fun, more like dipping your toe into a nice warm bath than plunging into an ice cold lake.  Find a way to make it available to your readers.  Consider print copies or post it in a place where your students can either read it online or print it for themselves.  Before reading, ask students:

• What do you notice about this piece?  

  • Title

  • Author

  • Illustrations,  images or graphic elements

  • Headings, subheadings

• What do you already know about this topic?

• What do you wonder?

Step 2

Read the text.  Decide if you want students to mark the text in some way to hold their thinking or if you want students to make that decision.  Consider sharing ways students could hold their thinking to note important or interesting information. Students could:

• Take notes in a notebook or on a piece of paper.

• Use sticky notes to capture their thinking.

• Create margin notes and/or highlight words, sentences or sections. 

Step 3

Share your thinking with others.   Some ways to do this include:

• Pose a question and have everyone answer it (on a post-it or via an online forum).  Provide time to read others' answers.

• Ask readers to pose a question, then have readers answer someone else’s question.

• If students noted their thinking in some way, ask them to pick 1-2 ideas to share with others.

Step 4

Look for other reading, writing and talking opportunities using this short text type.

Reading Ideas 

• Present students with another short text similar to the first.  Compare them.

• Present students with another piece that is on the same or similar topic, but is a different genre (e.g. both pieces are about penguins: one is an article and the second is a poem).  Compare the pieces.

Writing Ideas

• Use the short text as a mentor text.  Writers write about a topic they know a great deal about using the same genre and style as the piece you read together. 

• Make a top ten list. Be sure to share them with others.

Talking Ideas

• Invite conversation about students’ reading lives. Ask:

  • Where do you like to read?

  • How long do you like to read?

  • What types of texts do you like most? Least?

Step 5

Invite students to share other things they have been reading.  Students could share book titles, but it could also mean that they talk about other text types and genres they particularly like (e.g. graphic novels or magazines or a reading website).

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (Benchmark, 2021).

Instructional Coaches as Servant Leaders: 3 Actions to Consider Now More Than Ever

Back in 2008, when I received my K-8 Principal License, I adopted a stance. I took to heart the idea of instructional leadership as a mindset — leaders as servants to those they lead. Since then, I have worked to hold myself accountable to that mindset, both as a district leader and educational consultant.

During these tricky, unprecedented times, teachers have A LOT of stuff coming at them. Many are trying new things [e-learning routines, distance learning platforms, new systems and structures, content delivery via video and video-conferencing, etc] for the first time with little, or no, dress rehearsal time. It’s like building the plane while it’s already at 10,000 feet. The good news is if any group of people can do it, it’s teachers. That’s because they show up — regardless of the situation — and they do whatever it takes to serve their students. They are leaders, and servants, of their learning communities.

3 Actions to Consider Now More Than Ever

By nature, instructional coaches are doers. They are natural servant leaders because their work is heavily focused on serving the stakeholders in their learning communities. As instructional coaches figure out [and maybe even redefine] their roles across the next few weeks, here are 3 actions to consider.

1. JUST BE THERE

Some teachers may feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff coming at them right now. Instead of pushing stuff out, consider just being there and being available. Set up choices for teachers and ways they can receive support from you. Offer up support through:

• text messages

• phone calls

• email

• digital platforms

Support is often well-intentioned, but can feel like added pressure during already high-pressured times. Honor teachers by giving them voice and choice — offering up vehicles and modes of support that they need, if and when they want it.

2. CONNECT AS PEOPLE

Relationships matter. They matter a lot! Instead of just connecting about school stuff, consider connecting as people about ordinary stuff. This gives opportunities for colleagues to share the silver linings that may be tucked inside these tough times. Some ideas could include:

• share an uplifting quote or joke

• create virtual coffee or dessert hangouts

• organize a recipe swap

• pleasure reading book club conversation

Creating opportunities for teachers to connect with one another on a personal level helps bolster relationships, which can yield both short and long-term impacts.

3. TAKE SOMETHING OFF TEACHERS’ LISTS

By nature, teachers’ lists are endless. Instead of pushing things out, consider taking things on in service of teachers and the students they/you serve. Be of service by being at service. Ask teachers to share with you the top 5 items on their to do lists. Then, offer to take on one of them to help support their efforts. You could:

• create something that would benefit a whole class

• support a small group of students

• offer to “meet” or support one particular student’s needs

Sometimes help doesn’t always feel like help. Sometimes it feels easier to just do it yourself. That depends on the person, the situation, and the nature of the work on the to do list. Be extra aware of this and don’t take it personally if teachers don’t take you up on your support. Most likely, it isn’t personal at all — it’s just a response that makes sense to that teacher at that time.

Other Supportive Roles

You don’t have to have the title of “Instructional Coach” to apply these actions. In fact, anyone who serves as a Thinking Partner could consider these 3 actions now more than ever. If you are a school leader, curriculum director, team leader, department chair, lead interventionist, data coordinator, teacher leader or a teacher on a collaborative team — everyone deserves a supportive thinking partner to navigate the days ahead. Reach out to offer support and reach within and take the support you need. We’ll look back at these times — stronger and smarter because of our work together as servant leaders.

Reading Surveys: A Go-To Data Source for Creating a Focus for Instruction

It’s not unusual for teachers to survey students about their reading interests and habits at the beginning of the year. Anytime we ask kiddos their thoughts and ideas about important topics, their answers become a go-to data source for creating a focus for instruction—both in the short term and often across several weeks.

Take a look at this Reading Interest Survey and think about these questions:

1. What questions stand out to you? How do you anticipate you’d use the data you collect from those questions?

2. What questions would you revise or eliminate?

TRY THIS

1. Give students a copy of the Reading Interest Survey template.

2. Ahead of time, fill out a survey about yourself. To lift the learning across the classroom, share a few ideas from your survey with the whole class. This gives students an opportunity to get to know you AND serves as a model for how the survey answers can be shared.

3. Give students 10-15 minutes to jot down their answers.

4. Break students into pairs or small groups of 3 or 4 and give them an opportunity to share their survey answers with others.

5. As students share, listen in [or kidwatch] so that you get to know students as they are getting to know their peers.

6. Collect student surveys.

LOOKING ACROSS THE DATA

As you look across student survey results, here are some ways you might consider using the data to guide your planning. You could:

• Think about who likes to read with a partner and/or who likes to talk to others about what they read. This information could help you create Reading Thinking Partners.

• Take stock in what genres/types of reading materials students like best. This is a great opportunity to begin curating texts that students might want to read.

• Give students an opportunity to book talk [shout out or talk about] their favorite book with others by inviting them to share with the whole class or in small groups.

• Look for patterns and create a list of short text types that students like to read. Check out Chapter 2 if you want to think about launching small groups focused on students’ interests.

• Pay close attention to what students write [or don’t write] for question #11.

• Save a copy of students’ surveys. Across the year, re-visit this initial survey and ask students to reflect on their responses. Nudge: Put a note on your calendar to re-survey students a few months into the school year. Students’ interests, passion, and inquiries change across time.

Building Relationships: Who Are You? Game

Building relationships takes time. Since time across the school day and year typically feels limited, maximizing the time we do have is important. We can start by intentionally using the time we do have to build relationships among and between students and teachers across our learning community. One way to do that is through get-to-know-you games. One that I’ve played oodles of times with classrooms across grades 2-12 is called the Who Are You? game.

TRY THIS

1. Give students a copy of the Who Are You? Game Template [students].

2. Explain to students that they will list fun facts, ideas, interesting tidbits about themselves on the lines provided. Explain that line #1 is where they will list their birthday and line #10 is where they will list their name. Note: If age appropriate, you can turn these two lines into a teaching moment by showing students different ways to write their birthdays [August 2, 2009 or 8-2-2009 OR show students how to write first, middle and last names vs. initials.

3. Remind students that they can write single words or phrases for their responses.

4. Give students 5-10 minutes to jot down their answers. Roam around the room to provide support if needed.

5. Nudge: Ahead of time,, fill out one about yourself too.

6. Once everyone is finished filling out their template, collect all papers and shuffle.

HERE’S HOW TO PLAY

1. Ask all students to stand up.

2. Explain that you are going to begin reading some attributes from one person’s paper. If students hear something that is true of themselves [even if they didn’t write it on their paper], they remain standing. If not, they sit down. Once they are seated during this round, they remain seated. Then, move on to another statement on the same person’s paper. If students hear something that is true of themselves [even if they didn’t write it on their paper], they remain standing. If not, they sit down. Once they are seated during this round, they remain seated. Repeat until only one person remains standing.

3. The goal: Look at all of the things that we have in common while learning specifics things about each person.

4. Play the game for a few rounds and then stop to debrief with students. You could ask:

   • What are some things we have in common?

   • What unique things did we learn about specific classmates?

5. Consider playing a few rounds of the game each day [time permitting] and across several days. Make sure everyone gets a chance to be the last person standing.

SOME TIPS:

• Once you’ve finished the game and if time permits, create some flexible small groups and give students an opportunity to share a few ideas from his/her list, going more in-depth where applicable. For example, if a student shares that he loves hiking, he could share a hiking story or experience with his small group. For more ideas on small, flexible groups, check out What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers—Not the Book.

• If you are an Administrator or Instructional Coach—this works for building relationships with and among colleagues, too. This is great for PLC’s, Team Meetings, Staff Meetings, PD/Workshops, etc. Check out Who Are You? Game Template [adults].

Building Relationships: Re-thinking Surveys [Part 2]

A great place to start when building relationships with students is to find out about their interests, passions, inquiries, and habits. Doing so gives us some the intel to serve students’ individual and collective needs. Some of the ways we get to know students—both in the beginning of the year AND across the year—include:

• Conferring 1:1 with students

• Listening in and joining in small group learning opportunities

• Giving students the opportunity to turn and talk during whole group learning

• Playing get-to-know-you games and launching activities

  • A Colorful Get-to-Know-You

  • The Power of One Word

Surveying students in ways that give students the opportunity to share about themselves in unique and exciting ways is a high leverage move for building relationships and getting to know students. In collaboration with Barry Hoonan —my colleague, friend, and co-author—we worked to re-design new ways of surveying kiddos so that we could plan instruction and learning opportunities in unique ways.

TRY THIS

1. Give students a copy of the Tell Us Your Thoughts About template.

2. Explain that students should read the question stems and select the response [1-5] that best matches their thoughts and feelings.

3. Remind students that they can select a response that is in the middle of 2 different responses [Example—marking the line between 5 and 4].

4. Remind students that if they want to elaborate on their responses, they can use the boxes or space around the outside edges to add additional information.

5. Give students 5-10 minutes to jot down their answers. Nudge: While students are filling out their surveys, fill one out about yourself too.

6. To lift the learning across the classroom, share a few ideas from your survey with the whole class. This gives students an opportunity to get to know you AND serves as a model for how the survey answers can be shared.

7. Give students an opportunity to share their survey answers with others. Break students into pairs or Thought Partners. After pairs or Thought Partners have had a chance to share, turn Thought Partners into Groups of Four to do another round of sharing. For more about Thought Partners to Groups of Four, see pages 60-62 in What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers—Not the Book.

8. As students share, listen in [or kidwatch] so that you get to know students as they are getting to know their peers.

Building Relationships: Re-thinking Surveys [Part 1]

While writing What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers—Not the Book, we knew that finding out about students’ interests, passions, inquiries, and habits was a must-do if we wanted to serve their individual and collective needs. In collaboration with Barry Hoonan —my colleague, friend, and co-author—we worked to re-design new ways of surveying kiddos so that we could plan instruction and learning opportunities in unique ways.

Learning about others in our learning community not only helps us create meaningful experiences, it also helps us build relationships. Surveying students and giving them opportunities to share about themselves with others is a great way to create a positive classroom culture. It’s also a perfect opportunity to host small, flexible groups. #whatareyougroupingfor

TRY THIS

1. Give students a copy of the A Little Bit About…template.

2. Explain that students should read the question stems and write one or more answers for each question.

3. Give students 5-10 minutes to jot down their answers. Nudge: While students are filling out their surveys, fill one out about yourself too.

4. To lift the learning across the classroom, share a few ideas from your survey with the whole class. This gives students an opportunity to get to know you AND serves as a model for how the survey answers can be shared.

5. Give students an opportunity to share their survey answers with others. Break students into small groups of 3 or 4 OR try a share out using Speed Dating. Note: For speed dating to be successful, students need to understand the purpose. Depending on your students’ age/level of maturity, decide if you need to have a quick conversation about this protocol and its big intended take-aways.

6. As students share, listen in [or kidwatch] so that you get to know students as they are getting to know their peers.

If you come up with unique sentence stems for your surveys, we hope you’ll share them with us because that’s what makes this work so much fun!