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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Context:

The idea of "Spotlight Reader" came to me when I was working with my inquiry group. Once a year, my school provides teachers with the opportunity to work with one another, in hopes to research and target an area of need. My group decided to focus on identifying ways to increase independent focus during reading in our classroom. From Kindergarten to Fourth grade, we all struggled to get our students to keep their eyes in their texts. We tried high interest books, challenges, and other research-based methods, but it didn't seem to get our kids reading. We knew we needed to come up with something inovative to get our students engaged and excited about reading. 

 

Explanation:

During one our our first meetings, I proposed the idea of having a "Spotlight Reader". Depending on the classroom, each teacher could select a Spotlight Reader based on their engagement and focus during independent reading time. Before presenting this idea to the school, myself and four other teachers pioleted this activity in our classrooms. As soon as I presented this activity to the class, I noticed an immediate shift in their ability to stay sustained in their reading. They instantly became more engaged in their books and were excited about the idea of sharing what they've been reading with the entire class. The other teachers in my inquiry group found the same excitment and joy around reading in their classrooms. Above I've attached two artifacts. One is the visual for "Spotlight Reader", which provides students prompts they can use to share about their book. The other is a video of one of my students as "Spotlight Reader". 

 

Reflection:

In the video, you can visibly see how excited this student is to share about the book he's been reading. As he was sharing about his favorite part, the rest of the class was silently listening to his reflection. The other students also had the opportunity to ask the "Spotlight Reader" thoughtful questions about his books. This challenges the reader to think critically about their book in a way that's low pressure and fun. After presenting this idea to the school, several classrooms frm grades K-4 used this weekly or daily to keep their students engaged and excited about reading. In our classroom, my co-teacher and I gave our "Spotlight Reader" and microphone if they were the one to present to the class. Other classrooms used things like crowns to make that student feel good about being wrapped up in their favorite story during independent reading. This is an activity that I will continue to use, as I think it's important to not only motivate students, but to also get them excited to talk and share about what they read. 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.