Language Blog: Reading

Language Blog: Reading
by Andrew Reda Gavin

 Reading novels has always been a passion for me. As a young child and to this day, my favourite Christmas present was one that has a box of new books. I like the feel of the books, the possibilities for new learning and immerse myself in new worlds. As I read the article, Beyond the Sticky Note and Venn Diagram, and thought about the discussions in class, I wonder if students using Twitter as a means of classroom reading will still look to books, or will this be a thing of the past. Or will websites such as “2Titles” that can be interactive in choosing a book, encourage some students to turn to novels. 




I noticed that not many students were reading books for pleasure. I know as a student, I didn’t consider the activities that were called “Reading” to actually be reading. Those boring worksheets seemed to have nothing to do with actual reading. What happens to those students who do not have good books at home, or are exposed to good quality literature at school? To me, it would be sad to not have the opportunity to be immersed in a good book. As I’m beginning my teaching practicum, I want to have the knowledge to help students find this passion.

The Ministry of Education has a website for educators, “The Learning Exchange” which has a lot of resources to access. Currently the front page has an excerpt from Dr. Allan Luke, which seemed quite interesting on Critical Literacy. Some of the videoclips are very powerful and give a different perspective to teaching/learning Literacy.  Jerome Harste, Vivian Vasquez and Dr. Alan Luke talked about not using one strategy or method for all students but having a repertoire that can be used at the appropriate time. In their videoclips they talked about how teaching Reading used to focus on Method and has now moved to Perspective. It is about beginning with the text and whose perspective is it and who gets left out. 
Literacy is about more than reading or writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture.
(The Ontario Language Curriculum, 2006 )

 Critical Literacy is not just about higher order thinking, but “is a lens” through students view the world and examining social practices, which is what 21st century learning is about. How to engage students with critical literacy and using their questions and turning them into learning opportunities, turning them into learning opportunities, and technology has the means to make this different. 
The activities that were described in the article by Styslinger, Walker and Lenker (2014) seem to be quite engaging to students, especially the newspaper generator. But the use of technology in itself doesn’t seem to be the only thing that will make a difference, as it does have the potential to have activities that don’t address the Ontario Learning Expectations for Reading (page 11, 2006).




       1.    read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational  
              texts, using a range of 
              strategies to construct meaning;
2.     recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate  
        understanding of how they help communicate meaning;
3.     use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently;
4.     reflect on and identify their strengths as readers, areas for improvement, and the strategies  
        they found most helpful before, during, and after reading. 



Educators in Ontario have to be diligent in ensuring that these expectations, while meeting the diverse learning needs in the classroom. Also on the Learning Exchange Site, Todd Sniezek (Technology Consultant) wrote about the changes in classrooms due to technology. However, he has found that often times, teachers are using the same techniques but with more “flashy screens and apps”. The end result is still the same; that is, they are not teaching for the 21st century. In order to have effective change, students need opportunities to create and connect with authentic things. According to Sniezek, the impact of technology can be seen when students are sharing digital documents with each other, peer editing with diverse tools, showing their growth and providing some sort of reflect that documents their learning. These would seem to be activities that would be effective in a Literacy classroom to meet the global changes.


As an educator, I see this as one of the most important parts of my career, to share my love of reading and to model being a life-long learner.




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