What if you could transform how high school students perceive and engage in reading? Evan Craig joins Dr. Carrie Hepburn to discuss the journey of transforming a high school English classroom full of reluctant readers, and the results were nothing short of remarkable. This episode is a vibrant discussion of our shared experiences around creating a successful reading elective for high schoolers. They talk about the challenges encountered, the strategies applied, and the amazing outcomes witnessed.
Listen in as they delve into the concept of a reading workshop and the tools necessary to teach reading effectively. They discuss the crucial role of a conducive learning environment and the impact of trust and openness to change within the system. Evan's personal stories of student growth and engagement are inspiring and serve as a testament to her dedication as an educator. Be prepared to be inspired, gain new insights, and join Compass PD as they aim to impact the learning of 1 million students. Compass PD is here for you if you have any questions. Come, let's transform education together!
What if you could transform how high school students perceive and engage in reading? Evan Craig joins Dr. Carrie Hepburn to discuss the journey of transforming a high school English classroom full of reluctant readers, and the results were nothing short of remarkable. This episode is a vibrant discussion of our shared experiences around creating a successful reading elective for high schoolers. They talk about the challenges encountered, the strategies applied, and the amazing outcomes witnessed.
Listen in as they delve into the concept of a reading workshop and the tools necessary to teach reading effectively. They discuss the crucial role of a conducive learning environment and the impact of trust and openness to change within the system. Evan's personal stories of student growth and engagement are inspiring and serve as a testament to her dedication as an educator. Be prepared to be inspired, gain new insights, and join Compass PD as they aim to impact the learning of 1 million students. Compass PD is here for you if you have any questions. Come, let's transform education together!
Hello, hello, hello. Dr Carrie Hepburn here from Compass PD and today is a really special day for me. I have my good friend, evan Craig joining me. Welcome, evan Hi. Thank you for having me. I am really excited to have you here because I got to know Evan last year and she is a high school English teacher and one of the most amazing teachers that I've gotten to spend time with.
Speaker 1:I would walk out of her class just inspired because of the relationships that she built with her kids and the excitement that the kids would have in coming into her class and being able to spend time with her.
Speaker 1:You could tell that her class was the place that when something was difficult in their lives, they like to come there, and she was what I would call a warm demandor when it came to working with her students, which is a tough balance.
Speaker 1:I think, especially in high school, as being a warm demandor, but you could totally feel that in your classroom. For those of you that have been listening to the podcast lately, you're going to notice for being really hard to create opportunities to support the education system and have different people talking, different stakeholders talking throughout the school year and what's happening. But our additional layer that Evan's joining us for is that guests that are outside of our organization but that have worked with us, and we get the opportunity to hear her story and hear about the obstacles that maybe she was facing and then the successes, which are many, when it comes to talking with Evan. In the end, evan's going to talk with us today about some of the work we did last year and our hope for you is that you walk away with helpful information that you can apply in your situation. So, evan, I just love for you to kind of give them the backstory, like, take them back to the beginning. What was happening, what was the current reality, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I have been teaching this particular reading elective for about three years and I started working with Dr Hepburn and the Compass PD team last fall, really intensively more towards the end of October, beginning of November. At that point I had experience in the class, but the only goal that I was really ever introduced to for that class was get kids to choose books that they're interested in and read them. Sounds ideal to an avid reader, right? Just pick a book, read it, love it, tell me you love it and move on. The reality of that was quite the opposite. I was dealing with very reluctant readers, struggling learners and bilingual students, a lot of students where English was their second language, so where you may be able to walk into an honors class and say, hey, find a book, read it, that's it.
Speaker 2:This was very different and I didn't realize until I started working with Dr Hepburn that I had the box. I was missing the tools. I needed a lot of guidance in regards to kind of adjusting the goals of the class. What I wanted the students to be able to walk away with, which was a lot more than just reading a book. I wanted them to be able to take a text and look for things that maybe they never thought of or different strategies to be able to take out that information.
Speaker 2:And up until that point I was really kind of just begging the kids to read and giving them basic comprehension assignments to show that they were quote unquote reading, where afterwards that reality was able to shift for that class. But when we actually initially started working I was relatively lost and a little discouraged when it came to that class because I wanted to love it so much, because I love reading so much, and I knew I wasn't going about it the right way. It was a breath of fresh air when Compass came in to kind of save the day and help me really just readjust that entire course.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think it's. I think a predictable problem that we face in secondary is that we're English teachers and we're being asked to teach kids how to read who are sometimes five years or more below grade level, and the system feeds them down. So not only are you trying to encourage them and get them to fall in love with reading because you love that, and at the same time, you have to fill in gaps so that they can read, and without those tools for that toolbox, for that box, it can be really difficult. And I think your story is a story that a lot of secondary teachers face is that it's like hey, we're going to put this, build this class, we want to put a teacher that really loves reading and really loves kids in that class teaching them. But we're, they'll just figure it out.
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah, it's very different and I realized that quickly that just because I love reading and I can exude that passion all I want, you're still going to have their reluctant readers. So I needed to kind of just weave my way in somehow to get to them, and the strategies, honestly, were able to help me do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So can we kind of talk about, like, what did we start doing when we were working together? Let's, let's start there. Like, so then we came in. What did that look like?
Speaker 2:There were a lot of post-its. I will say it was really great because when you first started coming into my class, you modeled it for me. I had never had someone come into my classroom and model the mini lesson and what readers workshop looked like, how to conference with the students. I was able to kind of take a backseat and become the learner again, which was monumental in me understanding that model and how to help the kids, because as much as I would have liked to have you in my pocket all year, it was only a couple of days, so I really was able to see how it was done and then try it and got your feedback on it.
Speaker 2:That is the type of learning that can be intimidating trying to mirror an expert's idea. But and don't shake your head Trying to mirror that can be intimidating. But the rapport that we had and the rapport that you had with the kids only being there a couple of days really just made it in a completely welcoming and really valuable learning environment and we got down to the nitty gritty with the books and the post-its and the markings and everything like that. The in-class modeling that you gave me was something that really just helps take me from A to B.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't anything that was overly difficult, you know, it was just like, oh okay, let's just sometimes strip some of the stuff away, all that extra stuff, and get really simple and it really does work, I think when I think about, well, you're like a sponge oven and you fully embraced it, you're like, oh my gosh, and you were bought in, so like I was there one day and the next day you had your own post-its and I'm getting pictures like text messages, so it was awesome.
Speaker 1:Not everyone feels that as comfortable, but you're very comfortable in your space and you're very comfortable trying new things out. I think the biggest obstacle when I think about your particular classroom was books having books that kids because once you started seeing it, you started trying it and once I was like, hey, this is a great tool I use or this is a great tool I use. Next thing, I know like you've got all the tools, you've got all these different things, but the biggest obstacle I think that we faced in your class was having books that kids could read and feel successful in.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, I had hundreds of titles. The vast majority of them were well above their reading level. So, with your help and your knowledge of those different leveled books, we were able to incorporate more, and those were the ones that flew off the shelves, the ones that got had a lot of wear and tear by the end of this school year because the kids read them, they recommended them to their friend, they took them out.
Speaker 2:So it really made a huge difference where I'm trying to push these 300 page novels on them all year and then you come in with maybe 150 page graphic novel or something like that and it just it was life changing, because the excitement on their faces when they were able to finish a book was just indescribable. It's something that every single educator wants to see in their students.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know, I think I was talking about you the other day with a fellow educator and just saying I remember the day we did the text lineage in your class and so we were doing the text lineage and we were talking with kids that are reluctant readers.
Speaker 1:They do struggle with reading, it's hard and so you don't want to read.
Speaker 1:And so when we were doing the text lineage and we were like, tell us about some of your favorite books, your favorite experiences For those of you that are listening, like we heard things like the Pigeon on the Bus yes, we heard kids talking about, like the diary of the Wimpy Kid, which all great books, very fun books, but that's the last positive experience they had had with a book.
Speaker 1:And so Evan really did have, like she had quite a load to lift and she did it beautifully. And it's amazing because we did start October, november and by the end of the year, books are flying. Like she said, books are flying off the shelf. We didn't care if it was on grade level, we just cared that kids were moving them and they were crossing grade levels for sure, absolutely, but they were reading and built off of. Okay, this is where they were for some of them, the text lineage in that Pigeon books or the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and we're like if you like this book, here's another one we think that you'll like as well, and that was a really interesting and beautiful process like that, like.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. It was definitely worth the kind of the revamping of that entire course because, I mean, within a couple of weeks of us starting together, kids were coming up to me bragging that they finished the book and it was covered in post-its and they just wanted to talk to me about it or if something exciting happened in their book. They're explaining it to me, thinking I have all of the knowledge of the book, but me just nodding along and then just being so happy to just talk about the book. And it really was infectious, like when someone finished a book, another kid was like oh, but I'm close to finishing too. It really was encouraging for them to just see other kids reading.
Speaker 1:That moves us towards, like the end, like the impact. It really did become a community of learners, like a community of readers. So, just like in a class that you would be talking with your friends about your books, the most reluctant readers had that same experience, that same feeling with you.
Speaker 2:Right and I liked to celebrate them, to not just say, hey, good job, you finished a book. I wanted to embarrass them with how proud I was of them, so I was able to get together like those sticker reward charts. So every time they finished a book they got to pick a sticker and put it next to their name. I created a certificate for them and I eliminated it. And as I handed it to them, I had someone use their phone to sound an air horn and I gave them a piece of candy and celebrated that, the fact that they read it. And at first the kids are like, oh, miss, what are you doing?
Speaker 1:And then by the end.
Speaker 2:There was one time I forgot the air horn and I was recommended for it Like air horn, miss. So it really was even in that aspect. Maybe they had never been celebrated like that, but it was something that I was just so proud of them for and they needed to know, and I think that walking out of my room. They knew that I was proud of the growth that they had from October, november to June.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was. Well, there's. No, you don't even have to think. They know how proud Like you don't know, that was a fact how proud you were of them. I was there one day and was able to see the kids a couple of kids get their sticker, their lamination, and some of them told us they hadn't actually read a book on their own independently in years and that was the first time that they had actually read a full book and it was really important to be celebrated. Well, when we did get the data back, that there were significant growth in those students with reading, which was really exciting. What else can you tell us, like? What lessons do you think we learned throughout this process?
Speaker 2:Well, I know for me as an educator it can be very hard to accept change, especially a couple of months into the school year. I know that there were times where I was like I can't, it's November, I can't switch my entire course, it's gonna have to be what it is right now. For me, it was a lot of trust. I just had to trust that you knew what you were doing and become vulnerable to it, and really just that's why I committed myself immediately getting the post-its, getting the books, getting the anything I needed, because I wanted to go big or go home, and I really did completely change that entire course in the matter of a couple of months and it was worth every single second. To other teachers that are maybe saying, oh well, this is a lady from Missouri, what does she know about the students in my district? You have to trust the process and for me it was something that I would do 100 times over. It was just indescribable time to see my kids really enjoy reading as much as I would like them to.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you. So that's so sweet. Thank you so much. We had such a fun, just such a fun time together and to see the growth in the kids and to see I do have to brag on you for a second Like one time I had written like this unit. So I'd written a unit just to kind of get Evan started. So I'm like just trust me, try this out. So she's like all right. And then next time I see her she wrote a unit after that. It's like she's like taking over and I was like that's awesome. It was just really fun to see how we just built off of each other and how the kids benefited from that. So it was a really nice collaboration. Super online for me, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I love it. Is there anything you want to wrap up with or any final thoughts as you think about this?
Speaker 2:I'm just excited because I'm no longer teaching that particular course but moving forward. I've already started planning for this school year and prior to this meeting I was just telling Dr Hepburn that I'm using the lessons that she showed me to be able to kickstart the year with my kids so that they can really become the readers that hopefully they're, that we know that they're capable of. So, again, just trust in the process and what they're bringing you, because I know change is scary and teachers can be territorial, but in situations like this it's definitely worth every single minute.
Speaker 1:Aw, thanks, thank you. Well, I just want to say thank you, evan, because our journey's been fun. It's not over. We're definitely staying in touch and I'm super excited about this. We hope that this experience, like this conversation, was helpful for someone. If you didn't know, we have a big goal of impacting the learning of 1 million students at Compass PD. One way you can help us is by sharing this podcast with a fellow educator and hit that subscribe button, and then, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to reach out to us at Compass PD. You can find the contact us button on our website and we would love to just chat with you about what's happening in your school. Have a great day.