Reading Apprenticeship

Last spring I was lucky enough to attend training on Reading Apprenticeship.  It was part of an initiative that Washington High School embarked on to commit itself to improving literacy instruction.  Given my background in literacy and my passion for reading, it seemed like the perfect fit.  And it was and is.  I love RA.  The training we received was relevant, easy to apply, and just made sense.  In short, RA is a combination of best practices in reading instruction.  It is not a program, it is not a curriculum, but it is a way to transform literacy for people of all abilities. The book Reading for Understanding has changed my life and highly recommend it to anyone interested in helping their students become better readers.

Some of my favorite strategies to use in RA include QAR, MIPS, Text Coding, using anchor charts, activating schema (and having students discuss their schema!), and triple journal entries.

At Washington, we are striving to incorporate RA in every content area and have committed to doing the work in homeroom.  It is a logical place to use active reading strategies and to have students practice close reading.  Like any new endeavor, it has not been without challenges.

Some of the challenges include:

1. Engaging struggling or disinterested students in independent reading and class discussion

2. Helping students to understand the relationship between literacy and power

3. Helping students understand the relevance of building schema and using active reading strategies

4. Integrating technology with RA and close reading

We know and understand that our students must have 21st Century thinking and reading skills, both of which require close reading.  This work must be done.  Yet, we must also acknowledge the challenges that come with trying something new.

What strategies do you know of or use that could help us in our work?