Several times a semester we gather together—parents and teachers—to talk on various topics of interest. This is an opportunity to consider how to support one another better, to offer ideas that might help families at home, and to discuss timely educational issues.
In November we focused the conversation on cultivating and sustaining a positive and robust reading culture in our learning community. It was a great discussion, anchored in these three reading-related articles. The conversation was also contextualized by a reminder of the goal at Long-View: we want our learners to “read ambitiously.” More clarity on this goal is captured here.
Some reflections shared by parents and teachers present at the Community Conversation were:
Reading diet and modality evolve: Young readers read for enjoyment and can grow in complexity over time, changing their book selections from primarily fiction to more of a balance of both nonfiction and fiction. Through this evolution, many learners lean on rereading comfortable fiction texts because they are familiar with the story elements. Research shows that this type of rereading is beneficial for young readers' fluency and deepening their understanding of story elements. To ensure balance in learners' reading diet, several parents expressed….