Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

reading-writing-Myhill

Full Text:

Readers And Writers Reading

(with cuts)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

How do you get kids to love to read and write?

Eric Myhill of Sandy Hook School has developed a powerful new strategy that is

propelling his kids to do exceptionally well in both reading and writing.

His program, "Reading as a Reader/Reading as a Writer," won him the 1998

Weller Outstanding Teacher Award (which included a check for $1,000).

Two weeks ago he was honored at a banquet held at Sacred Heart University in

Fairfield.

With the program, Mr Myhill's students create the rules of good reading and

writing, based on their own analysis of novels and other reading samples.

Each student has a two-part notebook, one part where they write rules for

becoming a better reader, and one part for rules for becoming a better writer.

Akin to a scavenger hunt, the students hunt through what they are reading for

the most effective parts.

Next, they figure out what generalizations they can draw from well written

work, and then they form rules. When they have "something big" as Mr Myhill

puts it, they share it and apply it to their own reading and writing.

Mr Myhill has used this program in his fifth grade class for two years, and

has been amazed with the growth in the students.

To get them started, he read only the first sentence of each paragraph in a

chapter of Elizabeth George Speare's book, The Sign of the Beaver. To the

students amazement, the story still made sense.

He then tried reading the second sentence of each paragraph. The kids laughed

because it sounded so awkward and then they realized that there was a reading

rule they could make from it. "To quickly reread a chapter, read just the

first sentence in each paragraph."

They then wrote about why this works "authors usually write the main idea of a

paragraph in the first sentence of the paragraph."

From there, the kids came up with many new rules for both reading and writing.

Some figured out strategies for understanding long and complicated sentences.

Others analyzed foreshadowing connections in literature, and questioned how

much of a hint a writer should give to a reader before something big happens

in a story.

Others questioned how authors keep dialogue sounding authentic, yet still

manage to use it to move a story forward.

Since the students constructed their own rules, the learning was relevant to

each student's own level of reading.

The students naturally wanted good sources for their reading and writing

rules, so they gravitated toward good literature, books that are often

introduced at a much higher grade level.

Allison Hornak, fifth grader, just finished reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte

Bronte and The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

Allison was fascinated with the way the main characters were presented in

these books, and has formed a rule which she presented to the class.

Her rule is "Introduce a main character in an interesting way. It excites the

reader and makes them want to read on. It also helps the reader to relate to

the character better..."

In The Invisible Man , she selected the opening passage of the book: "The

stranger came early in February one day, through a biting wind and a driving

snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking as it seemed from

Bramblehurst railway station and carrying a little black portmanteau in his

thickly gloved hand."

She pointed out to the class that it is alright not to name your character

when you introduce them, both H.G. Wells and Charlotte Bronte do that.

She also said that the important thing was to make it interesting.

Extending her rule, Mr Myhill pointed out that the character is not only

presented in an interesting manner, but also a fitting one. H.G. Wells

described what the character did, but evaded any description of his

appearance, which is fitting, since he is the invisible man.

Allison went on with an example from Jane Eyre , and then answered questions

from classmates. Then she handed out a series of sentences she had prepared to

clarify her point.

Each student worked quietly, selecting the most interesting character

introductions that Allison had prepared, and then they made up their own.

Nancy Cerreta, educational assistant in language arts, who had attended many

of the presentations said "they all went so over the top. It's like a

professional presentation. And the activities afterwards were so much fun."

Mr Myhill agreed. He said "When Kendall did hers, I was astounded. The

confidence it gives them in their reading. I called her parents to tell them

what a tremendous job she did."

Donna Page, principal at Sandy Hook School, is also a strong proponent of

"Reading as a Reader/Reading as a Writer."

She said that this program, which is being implemented increasingly with upper

elementary classes, supports school improvement efforts as well as

facilitating student growth.

The program is expected to grow from the third grade up, as it also fits well

with other strategies to improve reading and writing, such as author studies

and writer's workshops.