Literacy Engagement, Classroom Talk, and College and Career Preparedness Gay Ivey University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Literacy Engagement, Classroom Talk, and College and Career Preparedness

Gay IveyUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

The state of school engagement

• Steady decline over the school years, with particular road bumps during transitions to middle and high school (Dotterer et al. 2009).

• Strongest decline among racial minorities, boys, and low socioeconomic groups (Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis- Kean, 2006).

The state of reading engagement:

• Reading engagement is identified as a tool for improving reading achievement

• Disengagement in reading is a persistent problem nationally

• U.S. ranks 38th out of 40 nations in terms of reading interest and engagement (PIRLS)

• Current reform efforts focus on cognitive skill and strategy instruction and increasing text complexity to boost achievement (CCSS)

Linked to school engagement:

• Academic achievement• Cognitive strategy use• Attendance• Graduation• Academic resilience• Expanded social regulation• Social competence • Protective factors against problematic social behaviors

(drug and alcohol abuse; risky sexual behaviors)

Some ways people think about reading and engagement

• Engagement begets more reading which begets greater fluency which begets greater comprehension (e.g. Hank et al., 2010)

• Engagement is created through a combination of interest, self-efficacy, and cognitive strategy use (Guthrie et al., 1996)

• Engagement is about the individual experience• Engagement is a tool for improving reading

achievement (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000)

Another way to think about reading and engagement

• Reading is a dialogic, relational activity (Langer, 1995; Lysaker, 2011; Rosenblatt, 1938/1983)

• Reading is a tool for constructing self and sense of others

• Engagement is social• Engagement is related to the development of the

whole person

A shift to engaging books

• Daily self-selected, self-paced reading• No strings attached (e.g., projects, reports,

response journals)• Beginning-of-the-year BOOKFEST• Rotating collections• Edgy young adult literature (difficult topics,

moral uncertainties)

Consequences

Shifts/Expansion of:

• Identity• Agency/autonomy• Social imagination• Self-regulation• Expanded knowledge• Engagement• Happiness

• Intellectual stance• Moral stance• Response• Talk about books• Relationship• Community• Test scores

A cascade of effects (Ivey & Johnston, 2012):

Engagement and the things we worry about….

• Academic language/vocabulary (e.g., limitation, benefit, process)

• Reading “dense” texts• Writing• Research

The status quo is limiting

• Individual achievement• Cognitive achievement