Reading Apprenticeship

Jenn Gusso, Facilitator

Emma Fujii

Jenn Gusso, Facilitator

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Location: Bel Air, MD

Years of Teaching: 18

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Relationship Builder – I believe that getting to know students and their family members is the essential first step in being able to accomplish anything in the classroom.
Joyful – I believe that, if we are not beacons of joy (even on the difficult days) for our students, we can’t even get to a place where learning can occur.
Learner – Every year, my students bring so many new ideas – about the world and the texts that we are reading. I learn so much from them, about new approaches and new interpretations to texts. I also love professional learning and bringing new ideas to my classroom.
Innovator – I always want to try new approaches. I am especially always looking for ways to subvert the traditional grading system, leveled classrooms, and many of the other practices that are “just the way that things are done.” In order to really create equitable learning environments for all students, we have to be willing to take some risks.
Believer – I believe that all students are capable of greatness. It is our job to provide a safe space to cultivate their greatness, and, if we do, greatness always follows.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

I love any professional learning – and the teaching of reading – so, when MSDE offered Reading Apprenticeship professional learning, I was in from the start. However, I had no idea how grateful I would be for that journey. Not only was Reading Apprenticeship a powerful game-changer in my classroom, I also just had such an amazing personal journey in the sessions. I learned more about myself as a reader and a teacher and became part of this amazing community!

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

Having to choose between The Golden Line Protocol and the Reciprocal Think Aloud is basically impossible.

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

I don’t know if I can think of a big “Aha” moment, but I feel like there is a point every year where I suddenly look around and realize how the protocols have become such habits for students that I feel like “my job is done” — at least for that year — because I know that the students now have a toolbox that they can utilize to approach new pieces of text.

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

A way to empower a new generation of readers

What are you reading right now?

I am rereading Zero Days by Ruth Ware and Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta L. Hammond

Kristina Pittman, Facilitator

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Location: Farmington Hills, Michigan

Years of Teaching: 25

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Passionate. Motivated. Optimistic. Collaborative. Caring. Reflective. I am passionate because I love what I do; motivated because I have high expectations of myself, my students, and my colleagues; optimistic because our attitude frames our experiences; collaborative because I enjoy working with others; caring because I genuinely care about what others are experiencing; and reflective because I am always looking for new ways to reach students as I tweak my approach and lesson plans to adapt to the learners who are in front of me.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

When I was working on aligning the English Language Arts curriculum with the Common Core State Standards, I was immersed in the shift from teaching content to teaching skills. After researching several best practices with my colleagues, I discovered the Reading Apprenticeship model of instruction, and after one Reading Apprenticeship workshop, I was hooked. Many teachers in our district are now trained in Reading Apprenticeship, and for the last several years, we have been meeting as an interdisciplinary instructional professional learning team, discussing routines that are working for our students across and within the disciplines. As a result, our students are active participants in their learning process, which has led to improvements in our students’ literacy levels, content mastery, and writing assessment scores!

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

#1 Think-Pair-Share and #2 I Think/My Group Thinks/My Community Thinks. These routines set an important purpose for writing: students have an opportunity to articulate their thoughts independently, but they know that they are writing in preparation for discussion. Once they capture their thoughts in writing, sharing in a small group creates a safe environment for students to engage in thoughtful discussion. Students are more willing to share their thoughts with the whole class when they are reporting out what their group thinks, which increases student engagement and collaborative meaning making.

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

A student recently said, “I love that in this class because we create our own questions, and as a result, we have the space to have important conversations that are relevant to us. Giving us the opportunity to create our own questions motivates us to find the answers to those questions.”

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

Reading Apprenticeship transforms classrooms into places where all students are engaged as leaders in the content area.

What are you reading right now?

I am rereading All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

Marissa Cavallini, Facilitator

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Location: Chicago, IL

Years of Teaching: 14

If you had to describe yourself as an educator, what six words would you use and why?

Intentional: If I’m doing a task with my students, I want there to be purpose.
Creative: I enjoy creating new ways to engage with content.
Organized: Being organized helps me stay in control and provide my best for my students.
Understanding: Not everyday is perfect so it’s important that my students know they can have an off day and come back the next to try again.
Funny: The school day is long, everyone needs some humor.
Hardworking: I put a lot of effort into what I create for the best overall experience.

What drew you to Reading Apprenticeship?

I didn’t know how to teach reading well. It’s something that was emphasized by my district but I never had the right guidance to do it. When Reading Apprenticeship PD was offered to me, I was excited to learn new ways to interact with texts that I didn’t do when I was a student.

What is your go-to Reading Apprenticeship routine?

Think-Aloud

Can you share a story about a time when you or a student had an “aha!” moment with Reading Apprenticeship?

My personal “aha” moment with Reading Apprenticeship was when I first participated in the PD as a learner. I finally felt like I was learning a way to teach reading that I could incorporate into a World Language class. The routines that Reading Apprenticeship is based on allowed me to use more authentic texts and resources with my students.

If you could describe Reading Apprenticeship in a sentence, what would you say?

Reading Apprenticeship supports reading at all levels.

What are you reading right now?

I am rereading Tom Lake.

How do you center student voice and experience in classroom instruction?

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Dr. Cynthia Greenleaf puts teaching and learning in context

This summer, as hundreds of teachers take the time further their practice via Reading Apprenticeship professional learning, our Co-Founder Dr. Cynthia Greenleaf reflects on the field of adolescent literacy and the new edition of Reading for Understanding.

Check out this feature Q&A with Cyndy in WestEd’s “Insights and Impact” and learn about the assets-based framework that “helps both teachers and students see the resources and knowledge they already have, and how these are central to accelerating literacy and learning.”

“It’s Important to Dance with the Text”

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Teaching English in the Two-Year College Journal (TETYC) has published a special issue focused on “Teaching Reading in Open Access Contexts.” This volume is a wonderful resource for instructors wondering how best to support students’ reading in a rapidly changing world.

Guest Editors Joanne Baird Giordano and Cheryl Hogue Smith argue in their introductory article, “The Changing Realities of Open Access Reading: Where Are We Now? Where Might We Go Next?” that at a time when both the nature of reading itself and the place of literacy instruction at community colleges are undergoing rapid change, “faculty and administrators in open-access teaching contexts need flexible, evidence-based practices for helping students from diverse social, cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds develop the reading skills and strategies required for success across the range of courses that they teach.” The research articles in the issue describe such practices, from strategies for antiracist reading, framing strategic reading as a transferable skill, and supporting returning students to draw on their lived experiences to connect to reading and writing assignments in the composition classroom.

Reading Apprenticeship is featured in an Instructional Note article written by Nika Hogan, “’It’s important to dance with the text’: Enhancing Writing Instruction Through Reading Apprenticeship.” Hogan describes the Reading Apprenticeship’ framework as a support for instructors to orchestrate dynamic, contextualized literacy instruction that supports both student engagement and deeper learning about the discipline of writing studies.

You can download the article here.

Interested in a deeper dive into how Reading Apprenticeship can support students to engage deeply with texts as both readers and writers? Consider the Reading Apprenticeship in College Writing Course.

College workshop on May 12 – everyone welcome!

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College Educators Share Approaches to Scaffolding Engagement and Critical Thinking

Many faculty feel that student engagement has been on the decline since the educational disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In a workshop series this spring titled “Reviving College Reading in Today’s Learning Environments,” college educators are sharing how the Reading Apprenticeship framework helps them navigate today’s complex landscape and to scaffold deeper engagement, critical thinking, and sense of belonging as students transition to college.   Sign up now to join the last session on May 12.

May 12, 10:00-11:30amPST:  “A Literacy Garden: Plant the Seeds and Watch Your Students and Colleagues Grow” will focus on how to engage colleagues in conversations and professional learning communities centered on our teaching practice and disciplinary literacy.

Lora Bagwell, Assistant Dean of English and Associate Reading Professor at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, TN, will share her journey of bringing Reading Apprenticeship to her courses, students, colleagues, and campus. She will share the successes and challenges of the process and provide practical advice for planting your own literacy garden.

College educators across levels and subject areas are invited to explore how the Reading Apprenticeship framework can help orchestrate active, culturally responsive, and engaged learning experiences for our students.

The first three workshops in the series highlighted the way that educators from different contexts utilize Reading Apprenticeship to support student learning.

The series started with “Reading to Learn Across the Disciplines:  An Introduction.”   Participants reviewed the Reading Apprenticeship framework and engaged in text-based metacognitive conversations which activated some of the core concepts that animate Reading Apprenticeship learning environments, such as that reading is problem solving, that everybody sometimes feels like an “insider” or an “outsider” with certain texts and discourses, and that educators tend to develop blind spots to their insider status when it comes to the texts in their discipline.  

The second workshop, facilitated by Dr. Laura Garofoli, Professor of Psychological Science at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts, focused on the power of metacognitive question-posing to drive students’ persistence with and processing of challenging texts. In “The Reading Apprenticeship Framework as a Roadmap Back to Student Self-Confidence and Re-engagement in Our ‘Post-COVID’ World,” Dr.Garofoli described her methodology of “teaching metacognition as giving honor to the thoughts, feelings, questions, and connections that arise as students engage with learning materials. Anything that your brain gives you counts!”  Participants reviewed brain-based research highlighting the importance of student-generated questions for learning, and then practiced mapping their “thoughts, feelings, questions and connections” with a text set focused on the impact of sleep on learning.

The third workshop also introduced participants to deeper scaffolds for helping students generate connections which lead to academic engagement.  In “Scaffolding Thinking for Deeper Academic Conversations and Writings,” Caren Kongshaug, a College Readiness Instructor from Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, WA, presented several notetakers she has devised to support three distinct “thinking pathways”: 

Nika Hogan, Reading Apprenticeship College Coordinator and the organizer of the workshop series, says that the sessions so far provide support for dealing with the ways the world has changed while reinforcing the ways that learning stays the same.  “It’s still about transparency:  these are the rules of engagement; this is how we are going to work together.  It’s still about creating a culture of inquiry and providing opportunities for students to dig into text and to construct their own understanding.  It’s still about asking learners to share their thinking, but what we are seeing from the innovations that these faculty are sharing is that a slightly deeper level of scaffolding helps today’s students marshall the focus to make connections to text that they can build on for academic purposes.” 

For more information or to begin your own journey with Reading Apprenticeship, register for the My 12 workshop, or explore these resources:

Reading for Understanding, third edition

Reading Apprenticeship 101