Ep 133: The Plot Twist: How Student Choice Is Turning Teens Back Into Readers

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Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District.
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This is a show about what we teach, how we teach, and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great.
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Students, teachers, principals, parents, and more.
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We meet national experts too.
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Learning is about making connections.
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So connect with us.
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Reading is how we learn.
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It has been shown to improve memory and boost our creativity, vocabulary, and empathy.
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But in the face of so many digital distractions, book consumption and daily rates of reading among all ages are on the decline.
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What does this mean for high school teachers as they work to prepare young people for the realities of life and rigors of college?
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Joining us here in the Connect Canyon studio today are two Alta High educators who have a few opinions on the matter.
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English teacher Peggy Deveni and teacher librarian Amanda Siler have been leading a student choice reading experiment that is producing some powerful results.
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Instead of always assigning a single book to an entire class, teachers are giving students structured choice in what they read.
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It's an approach backed by research, showing it can increase engagement, improve comprehension, and even turn reluctant readers into lifelong ones.
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Welcome to Connect Canyons, Peggy and Amanda.
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Thank you so much for having us.
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Yeah, thanks.
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It's great to be here.
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Peggy, let's start with you.
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Start with maybe the problem you were trying to solve, kind of what were you seeing in students and that prompted you to rethink maybe how reading was assigned.
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Of course.
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It was about three or four years ago.
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I think it was three.
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I'm trying to remember, it's the end of the year.
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I teach a lot of seniors, and it's trying to keep seniors motivated and engaged for that last quarter.
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And it was when our fourth quarter was a senior project, but I knew that wasn't going to take the whole time.
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So I was like, okay, what do I want them to do?
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Reading had kind of been a struggle.
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I had been seeing all the national trends.
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And honestly, I saw a social media post being like, hey, you should try this student choice reading thing.
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And I was like, hey, yes, I will.
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I did some research into it, and I was like, you know what?
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I think for a fourth quarter this is a really great idea because students need any type of motivation they can.
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I talked to Amanda and we came up with a plan and we gave them some guidelines.
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And what I saw that fourth quarter shifted so much for me because I had students who had kind of been checked out for even most of the year with the books that we were reading.
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Suddenly they're reading books and they were doing the assignments that went with it and they were going back to the library to get other books.
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And I had students who had struggled all year, fourth quarter pull two grade levels higher on or their two grades higher on what they were getting because they were engaged in that and the project, which also had choice involved in it.
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And so I was like, okay, next year we're gonna try this even more.
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And then I also became department chair and started weeding it out to the other grade levels, and it was just this problem that I think we were addressing of telling kids that reading isn't always this like arduous no-choice thing.
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Sure.
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It's something that you can deeply engage in in so many ways.
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Yeah.
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Well, add senioritis, I guess.
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The cure for senioritis, add that to the list of benefits.
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I love that.
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Well, so walk us through kind of what it looks like in practice.
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When you say student choice, like how much choice are you giving students?
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How does this really work?
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So, what we've been doing that's been effective, I'm doing it right now with the seniors as well, is depending on the unit, we have a set of guidelines.
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Second quarter is an informational unit, so that for seniors looked like you're picking a nonfiction book.
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Must be 200 pages, can be a graphic novel.
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They get choice from that.
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It can't be on the restricted list, and their parents have to sign off on it.
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But I legitimately give them choice.
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And then once they turn in the permission form, the big other part is all the reading is done in class.
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Our first 20 minutes of class, they come in, they grab their books from the box in the front, and I set a timer, and we all read.
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And I read too because modeling is so important, and I have noticed that really does make a difference.
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Also, it's a really great time for me to sneak 20 minutes of reading in, which is really nice.
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And then afterwards, there's an assignment that is aligned to the standards I'm trying to target.
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So for the informational unit, for example, it was we were looking at how multiple perspectives tell a story.
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So, what's the story being told?
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How is the perspective influencing it?
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And it can be done with any book, and I don't necessarily need to know the book to be able to understand if the answer they're giving me is hitting that standard.
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And then at the end of the quarter, they have a project that goes along with it where they had to take an element from that story from the nonfiction piece and do more research.
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Find other sources that talked about that.
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Were those sources different about that person's life?
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What did they say about it?
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Why do you think it changed?
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How does this different perspective?
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So it is still academically rigorous, but allowing so much more choice.
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And it gets your kids who are football players and basketball players, they love reading the biographies of their favorite athletes or that type of thing.
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It just does that.
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Right now it's fiction.
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And the students are reading fiction books that loosely they had to pick something that was transitioned to adulthood or coming of age because they're fourth quarter seniors, but that's pretty much any young adult, right?
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And they were just reading today, and it's just so lovely to like look out and see kids who are five weeks from graduating, like and they're actively reading, right?
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Like watching them turn pages.
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So that's heartwarming.
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For the initiated, the restricted list would be books that have been deemed for whatever reason age not age appropriate, right?
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And then I'd like that you were involving parents, right?
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Because not only are parents having an opportunity to say, you know, I'd really have rather have my child read something else, they're also getting engaged in this project, right?
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Maybe they're having conversations about the book at home.
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I mean that so that's kind of nice.
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Well, and I actually had a parent, I was in a meeting with a parent in right after Christmas this year, and it was after we had finished the second quarter project, and they're like, We've been trying to turn our student into a reader for so many years.
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And they had picked up the Elizabeth Smart autobiography.
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And then the student asked for a Kindle for Christmas and had read like four books since, and they're like, I don't know what you did, but wow that I was like, oh, okay.
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Right?
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That's amazing.
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And I think that's such a critical piece of this, is one of our goals is that we have students leave Alta High School seeing themselves as readers.
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Because if reading is just something that we do to learn information, it's not necessarily a part of who we are.
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But if we can have students look at themselves and see themselves as readers, they're much more likely to continue to be readers moving forward and get all of those benefits that reading brings.
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Yeah.
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And it does bring so many benefits.
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And I actually had going off of that, I had a student stop in last week, a former student who was in that first group that I had done three years ago.
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And he just stopped in to say hi.
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He's like, hey, I wanted to come in and tell you I am studying English now in school, and you instilled such a love of reading in me.
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And he loved a thing.
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We read Othello too that year, and he had loved Othello.
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He's like, I own two different versions of it now.
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But also he's like, I just love talking about literature, and that instilled the love of reading.
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And I was like, oh wow, thank you.
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I'm done.
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Okay.
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You're like, that's music to my ears.
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Well, and how powerful.
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So I do want to echo that as well.
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Because one of the things, so it's been so interesting to work, and interesting isn't even the right adjective.
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It's been amazing to work with Peggy with this project and with the entire English department.
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Because one of the things that we're seeing school wide is Peggy is seeing all of these incredible things happening within her classroom.
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And school-wide in the library, we are seeing students who come down to the library circulation desk who give us a copy of a book and say, I have a confession.
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I haven't finished reading a book since I think I was in fourth grade.
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I've just always spark noted or used the internet to do any sort of reading assignment.
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Yeah.
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I loved this book.
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Do you have a sequel?
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Wow.
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And we are seeing that transformation of a reading culture where I've had conversations with other English teachers who have done the same project at Alta.
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And they will walk into their classroom after having needed to leave for a few minutes and they'll come back and their students are talking about books and their students are giving themselves book recommendations.
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And in the past couple of years, I've seen students who have done this project in other grades, who are now seniors, who are recommending their favorite books to their friends.
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And so I think again, that culture of literacy is really given the opportunity to flourish when we give students the time to read and the choice to read.
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Yeah.
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And you did mention providing time in class, which I think is important, right?
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Because sometimes, especially high school students, they're pretty busy, they're pretty overscheduled as it is, and so it's nice to just at least, you know, let's set aside this at least this amount of time.
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Well, and I think time is always the limiting factor in education, right?
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Well, and and Amanda, to your point, so this is a place obviously where the library is really important.
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Like talk to me about your role and did you have to buy extra books?
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How did that work?
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Oh, such a great question.
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So when Peggy came down, the first time we did this project was with fiction and it was that transition to adulthood.
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And so one of the things that I've started doing now is I'll reach out to the English teachers the semester before or the quarter before, or at the end of the school year, and say, what style of reading are you thinking you want for your students?
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And then I get to do a research deep dive and see which books are most popular, which books are winning awards.
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And those are the ones that I purchase and that I book talk for students.
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Very cool.
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But a lot of times I'm really impressed with how creative some of the English teachers have become with this project.
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And so we look at different, like there was a book talk done entirely on mythologies from around the world where the teacher asked, I don't just want Greek mythology, I want mythology from all of these different styles or all of these different cultures.
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Is there something that you can do with fiction and nonfiction?
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And there are so many amazing books that are based off of African mythology or that are based off of, I am blanking right now, but there are just so many good books based outside of that as well.
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And then there's other times when teachers want a very specific historical era and they're like, can we find fiction books for this era?
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Or can we find fiction books that match this essential question?
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And we can.
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Okay.
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And so we're able to have students come down.
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A lot of times I will pull out multiple tables and separate like this style of book matches your teacher's this style of book matches what your teacher wants on this table.
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This style matches what's on this table.
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And we try and surround the students with books that would work for their assignment to make it easier for them to visually see it and be able to choose what they want to read.
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Yeah, so it's a true partnership, really, right?
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It really is.
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I couldn't I don't think it would be as successful without Amanda because she's amazing.
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Yeah.
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So I it is the true partnership.
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And for the uninitiated, again, what book talk?
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Explain what that is.
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Ooh, great question.
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This is when we have students come down as a class, we talk about what style of book that they're being asked to choose, and then I give them seven different titles that I recommend or that would 100% match what they're looking for.
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And that way I get to be excited and talk about the books that are really interesting that would match what their teachers are looking for.
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They have some recommendations from me, but then that way they can also connect with me as a way of seeing what else we could offer, what else the library could offer.
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Gotcha.
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This is not to say that there aren't some books that you're sort of required reading throughout the year, right?
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This is like sort of in supplement to that.
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Yeah, it's it's always either used, for example, for the seniors.
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Like it was our starter almost.
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We come in, read for 20 minutes, there's the assignment that goes with it each day, there's the project at the end.
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But then we move on to the other things we're doing in class.
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Like second quarter, it was Othello.
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So it's not taking away from, yes, it is just supplementing to whatever it is.
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And you can pick that.
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Like if you are reading Othello and I didn't want them to do nonfiction, I could say, hey, I want you to pick a book that has this idea, this common theme.
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And then you could do a great comparison, regardless of the book the student is reading, be like, okay, how is the theme of jealousy or miss and disinformation, which is what we focus on with Othello?
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How is that showing up in this book?
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How does it compare to a classic text like Othello or that type of activity that you could do?
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So there's that is honestly the gift of this type of um program, is it's limitless with what you can do with it.
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You can mold it into whatever you would like, you can make it tie into something else within your class time.
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It's just the idea of giving the students that almost free choice in a book.
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When then I have to say, hey, now we're gonna read Shakespeare.
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They're like, okay, I don't hate reading anymore.
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So like they're much more willing to dive into those older texts or texts that they didn't choose because they know they don't necessarily hate reading anymore.
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Because I teach AP English language and composition as well.
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And I've had those kids who are super high achieving students be like, all the assigned reading killed my joy of reading.
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Oh.
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And I get that because I felt that way when I was in high school.
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I was an avid reader, but I don't want to read great expectations.
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So I I get that.
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And I have dabbled with doing it with my AP students as well, but we just don't have as much time.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That's so interesting.
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Talk to me, Amanda, too, about how you kind of guide students without limiting their choices.
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I mean, I'm assuming that's like a one-to-one conversation for the most part.
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Sometimes, yes.
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Yeah.
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But in some ways, I think students can become overwhelmed with choice.
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Okay.
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And so I've have had students in the past that have come down and our teachers are open book choice, you can choose any book, which I love because I know what's most popular in the library, I know what's most popular at other libraries, and I can direct students in that way.
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But sometimes when students come down and they hear they have 18,000 choices that they can choose from, it you can become overwhelmed with it.
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Sure, sure.
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And so I have to say I love it when teachers ask for a specific theme because it lets me dive into my catalog, it lets me see what's working, what's not.
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Do I need a supplement with more purchases with different books?
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Can we what's available for students?
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But for the most part, I feel like if students can recommend books to each other, that's going to be far more powerful than if an adult recommends a book to them.
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And so that's what I try and do within my book talks is give students that space to recommend books to each other, but then also show them what's most popular, what's most engaging, maybe something that's new that is winning a lot of awards, those style things.
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I have to say it does sound like maybe a little extra work for the both of you.
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I mean, would you say that for as a teacher it is a little bit more extra work?
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Because you're you're engaging with multiple texts with multiple students and having to craft the assignments a little differently.
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I mean, does it take a little bit of a I mean it took a little bit to get it set up and I'm always tweaking the assignment, but I think the great thing with how I have a lot how it works with our units is because our units are we only have four for the high school level and they're we already have key standards picked out.
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So it is very easy to say, okay, here are my three key standards.
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So creating questions or analysis that could address each of those standards for any text, once you get it figured out, it's actually pretty straightforward.
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Um, and then yes, trying to make sure, okay, this kid is reading these pages as I'm grading them, and I have a rubric that goes through to grade them and when I grade them, and okay, does this make sense?
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Does it look like they're pulling my leg or anything like that?
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And it's always on paper, it's never typed.
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And they physically, I give them 15, 10 to 15 minutes, depending if it's a co-taught class or a regular class.
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And there's scaffolds built in, there's sentence frames for my co-taught kids that I've added because they needed them.
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And they physically give me the paper.
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So it's not something they can take home.
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It's not something they lose, or they're not allowed to have phones or computers out.
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So I know they're not using AI or anything to answer them.
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Yeah.
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So it does, it is a little bit extra work at the front end, but it's kind of I've I have found great books reading the kids analysis questions like, oh, I think I'm gonna write down this title.
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Like, I want to read this book now.
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:25.360
So it's it is, but it isn't.
00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:30.799
Then the message for any teachers who happen to be listening now, then if you've ever been curious to try it, just try it, right?
00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:31.840
It's not overwhelming.
00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:32.159
Yeah.
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:33.840
And it sounds like a huge dividend.
00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:42.000
We'll gladly share all of the things I have made, permission slips and assignments and projects, and just reach out to me and I will gladly share it with you.
00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:45.440
And I would like to say to those teachers too, you're not alone.
00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.799
You have a school librarian, and the school librarian wants to do this.
00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:55.120
Like the school librarian is someone who does want to have more classes come into the library and have more students find books that they enjoy.
00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:56.399
So please partner with us.
00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:03.360
Yeah, I've always said like librarians are like such like untapped resources, maybe not untapped, because every time I go to the library, it's actually quite busy.
00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:06.559
But like honestly, like they feel like they know everything.
00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.000
And if we don't know it, we will find the answer for you.
00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:10.559
Right?
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:10.960
Right?
00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:12.319
They're research experts.
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.880
So talk to me about how it is taking on at Alta, then at Alta High School.
00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.480
You said you're as department head, it's kind of trickled in through your department.
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:21.839
Is that all grades?
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:22.559
Yeah, okay.
00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.039
Because at this point, it is all grades.
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.200
It is all teachers.
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:27.519
Yeah.
00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.720
And it wasn't at first.
00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.119
It was for some of them a harder sell.
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.680
And it took some convincing, but they've seen what it does.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:40.160
And some of them have modeled it in their own ways and made it more specific or that type of thing.
00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:44.559
But they're all seeing the impact that it has.
00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.240
And now we're enough into it where we've got kids who have been doing it for two years or three years.
00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:53.279
So it's really the kids are like, Oh, okay, this is what we're doing.
00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:53.599
Yeah.
00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.079
And then it's funny because the person next to me teaches ninth grade and they're reading night.
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:01.039
And it just happened, they were really quiet, which is unusual for ninth graders.
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:02.160
And I popped my head in.
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.400
And they're reading night, and literally every kid in there was reading.
00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:11.599
And I was like, Oh, and they're doing their independent reader, their student choice reading book in the beginning, and then they were reading that later.
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.039
And I was like, Oh, but they're still reading.
00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.160
I was like, Oh, okay.
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:14.960
That's great.
00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:31.279
So it it it has it took a little bit of convincing for some people, but it really has created and it's now part of our culture for the department fit with that, isn't the state's emphasis like with the portrait of a scholar and all that is to get students really to sort of have ownership of their learning.
00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.400
And this is an opportunity to do that.
00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:35.920
So I think it's fascinating.
00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:38.559
What about other uh just benefits that you've seen?
00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:42.640
You've talked anecdotally about some, but has the data shown anything?
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:47.119
We have seen in the library a massive increase in book circulations.
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:47.599
Okay.
00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.880
We've also seen an increase of participation in our book club.
00:18:51.039 --> 00:19:00.160
We have uh every high school in the school district has a book club where students can come to the library once a month and they get to keep their own copy of the book, which is so fun.
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.640
And I've seen that just explode.
00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:03.200
Okay.
00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:14.960
And from the educational data end back when we still were doing things with like the Lexile score testing, we did see bumps with the map testing for ninth and tenth grade.
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:24.160
We have seen like at the beginning of the year one to the mid-year one, where after they've done a quarter of the student choice reading, the Lexile and the reading comprehension parts have bumped a bit.
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:36.640
Uh I'm also in charge of Aspire, and I was actually just looking at our aspire scores, and our reading aspire scores for ninth and tenth grade were well above the the state average and that type of thing.
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:55.519
So I do think it is having an impact, but uh it's also having an impact on student grades because once again, once they're learning that they don't hate reading and they're being able to pick out these skills with analysis and inference and all of those, when we take it and translate it to okay, now read night, they already know they can do it.
00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:59.759
So it helps in the overall daily class like success as well.
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:00.400
Sure.
00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:01.519
That's amazing.
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:12.480
And I would argue too, I feel like it is such it when you take 20 minutes where all you have to do is read, it almost feels like a vacation for your brain.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:19.519
And it's one of those things where I feel like if we're talking about how do we build reading stamina, how can we have students be able to focus?
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:28.079
How can we help them just focus on one thing rather than be moving through multiple tabs or being distracted or being able to start a project and finish a project?
00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.839
Reading helps with that too.
00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:32.640
And then there's so much research behind that, right?
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:33.200
Yeah.
00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:37.039
And research behind actually student choice reading, I've seen some stuff.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:43.200
So it's it attracts that you're seeing uh an increase in student achievement, grades, and engagement.
00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.039
Like it's that's what we've seen elsewhere.
00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:46.160
Yeah, there's 30.
00:20:46.240 --> 00:21:03.119
When we started doing research on this, because we presented on it at a couple different conferences, and when we started doing research for those presentations, there's 30 plus years of research that so that this style of student choice reading, which is slightly different than like literature circles with independent reading, um, is not new.
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:10.240
And it's been something that has almost always, according to the research, shown like these positive outcomes.
00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:19.039
So it it's it's very research-backed, which always helps with trying to convince people who are a little less like who are skeptical of it.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.440
And showing, like, hey, we have all this research that supports that this is a good data-driven decision.
00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:38.160
And I would I would just guess that some of the initial hesitance it has to do with maybe this feeling that like, well, it's not, you know, they're gonna choose a book that's less rigorous or that doesn't help them stretch as readers, but you haven't seen that.
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:46.480
Well, and I would argue that I can make the cat in the hat rigorous if you look at it through the right analysis questions.
00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:56.400
And again, sometimes we focus so hard on Riker we forget that we have to get them in the door before we can make things rigorous.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.839
So if you throw Dostoevsky at them, but they hate Rader.
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:05.039
They're that's a rigorous book, but they're going to struggle because they don't like reading.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:15.119
If I can get them to read like a young adult fiction novel first and teach them the skills and the strategies that they need through reading that, then yeah, I can throw a harder novel at them.
00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:15.759
Like Othello.
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:16.960
Yeah, like Othello.
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.240
And like make they will get it and love it.
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.400
And I that there is that.
00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:34.160
And when you were talking about that, like it's almost like a 20-minute vacation, there have been a couple times where the kids I can clearly see are so engrossed in their books, I like slowly add five minutes back on the timer.
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.599
And they don't even notice.
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:38.079
They will just keep reading.
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:43.759
And I know I have friends who are college professors and they talk about the stamina that students do not have for reading.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.880
So I think just doing that and sometimes tricking them and adding a few more minutes, like it helps them without knowing.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:51.359
And they don't quite understand that that's gonna happen.
00:22:51.519 --> 00:23:03.279
And why that might not be an immediate academic or something's hard data set I can look at, I can know that I have tried my part to help improve their stamina for the next step.
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:05.599
So I would hope that makes a difference.
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:12.079
Yeah, well, and I would also argue there's a lot of research that shows that humans learn through stories.
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:21.039
And when we give students the opportunity to choose the stories that they want to dive into, it opens them up into other new stories, right?
00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:24.960
We talk all the time in English about how reading is both a mirror and a window.
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:36.240
It's a mirror because we can look into a book and see ourselves and better understand our own experiences, but it's a window too because we can look out into the world and better understand someone else's experience that wouldn't match our own.
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:38.079
One of my favorite quotes is by E.
00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:38.319
B.
00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.079
White, who wrote Charlotte's Web.
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:40.559
And E.
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:40.799
B.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.960
White once said that all that I ever hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say is that I love the world.
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.880
And ultimately, isn't that what we're trying to do in education?
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:56.480
We're trying to be able to open up windows and be able to provide those mirrors so students understand themselves.
00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:02.799
We're trying to help them see that the world is a beautiful place and one that we hope they might be able to love a little bit more.
00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:15.599
And this kind of project is something that anecdotally we've seen happen quite often where students fall in love with stories and want to come back and read more, or they're able to connect with other people in their group where they're like, hey, have you read this book?
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:16.319
No, I haven't.
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:17.599
You should absolutely read this.
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:25.599
And so we're seeing this development of community that I wasn't necessarily anticipating when we started, but it's just been something that's been beautiful to watch.
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:26.559
Oh, that's lovely.
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:31.359
And also helping students see not just that the it the world is a beautiful place, but that they have a place in it, right?
00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:32.480
Well said, yeah.
00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:32.880
Yeah.
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:33.839
That's so neat.
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.359
Well, I don't imagine that you'll ever go back to doing things the old way then.
00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.720
I mean, do you feel I mean I know you still do a sign reading as well, but do you ever see yourself not doing student choice reading?
00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:49.680
No, I just I love it so much, and I'm sad I can't do it more with my AP students, not gonna lie.
00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:50.079
Yeah.
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:59.759
It just the anecdotal evidence just and the surveys I do at the end of the year, just for my students, just tell me that, like, hey, this is a this is a right teacher move to do.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000
And it just exposes kids so much to the world and reading builds empathy.
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:24.640
And even if it is a young adult book that maybe isn't the most rigorous thing, if they can see a part of themselves or relate to a story or see somebody else's story, and it helps them understand something in the world just a little bit more and develop a little bit more empathy for themselves or for the world, then yeah, no, I don't I don't see myself ever changing it.
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:32.480
Well, and I just have to give a huge shout out to Peggy because she was the one who when when she first approached me with this idea, I remember thinking, oh, this is brilliant.
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.240
Yes, we actually should be doing this.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:41.119
But then to see it go throughout the English department and to see the impact that it's had within our English curriculum at Alta High School.
00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:44.000
Like I I just love that Peggy has spearheaded this.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:44.319
Yeah.
00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:44.799
That's great.
00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:48.160
Wish I could remember the person on social media that I saw.
00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.440
I would love to give them all the credit because I was like, I didn't come up with this.
00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.039
I saw it on I saw it on a reel.
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:53.359
Yeah.
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:54.160
Shout out to them.
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:55.279
Shout out to them.
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:57.519
Shout out to whichever teacher creator that was.
00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.319
Yes.
00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:04.640
I know that you've been doing a lot of training with teachers, like as part of our internal training, right?
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.079
Professional development for teachers.
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:07.920
And are you doing it again this year at the next one?
00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:09.440
Or isn't there one?
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:10.640
Is there one in the fall?
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:13.359
We're working on actually a different project.
00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:13.839
Yes.
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:14.640
Are you okay?
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:15.039
Yeah.
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:15.440
Okay.
00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:18.400
Oh, a new one that we can we can bring you back to talk about, maybe.
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:18.880
Sure.
00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:19.519
Sure.
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.319
We're always we're always happy to chat about what's going on.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:22.799
Yeah.
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:23.279
Awesome.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.759
Well, anything else you want to add before we wrap up?
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:33.519
I was thinking about how beneficial it is when teachers model the reading with their students.
00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:40.799
But even if I it's one of those things too where I feel like we can't as teachers teach writing well if we're not writing ourselves.
00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:44.559
And I feel like we can't really teach a love of reading if we're not reading ourselves.
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:52.079
And so one of the one of the things that I would recommend for any teacher who's considering this is to find your own love of reading again.
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:55.119
And maybe that's through finding a new favorite audiobook.
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.119
Come chat with me if you want recommendations.
00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:58.160
I have a bunch.
00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:02.319
Or if that's finding a time in your own day to read, it's just so beneficial.
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:07.039
Like it's so much easier to be having these conversations with students when you yourself are reading.
00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:07.519
Sure.
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:08.960
No, that's great advice.
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:13.920
I think the thing I would leave people with is be willing to give this a try.
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:18.960
You don't have to sacrifice that class novel that you absolutely love.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.039
It can be done in tandem.
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:25.680
And it really will help you with that class novel that you absolutely love.
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:29.119
Because again, the kids are gonna be like, okay, I can read this and I can definitely read this.
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:34.400
So it just again, building the sanamana and the confidence within the student is just so important.
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:51.920
And honestly, getting to read for 20 minutes myself a day or multiple times a day if I've got multiple senior classes in a day, it's really nice for my brain to and like shout out to Amanda and knowing that I could not at all have done this and have it been a successful program without her help.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.319
So reach out to your librarians.
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:59.279
I know, I know a lot of them actually, and they will be very willing to help.
00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.200
So the resources are there.
00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:04.559
You want to reach out to us for ideas, we totally can.
00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.079
I teach co-tats as well.
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:13.839
I've learned how to scaffold this and how audiobooks can work in and graphic novels can work in, and we are resources to be available.
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:17.279
And like Amanda said, you're not alone in this, and we would love to help you out.
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:18.160
Awesome.
00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:19.119
Thank you both.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.920
Thank you for both for spending your time and your joy of reading.
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:22.480
Thank you.
00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:23.599
Thank you for having us.
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:25.440
Thank you for letting us come in and talk about it.
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:27.279
You've been listening to Connect Canyons.
00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:28.960
I'm your host, Kirsten Stewart.
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:30.400
Thank you for joining us today.
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:37.519
Don't forget to like us or share if you've enjoyed what you've been listening to and follow us on your favorite podcast reader.
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:41.359
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons.
00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:50.160
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