READING BUDDIES: Pairing older elementary students with younger ones

Source: www.communityreadingbuddies.org

Guest Blogger Ryan Wheeler, Edutopia. Originally published 8/8/18 © Edutopia.org; George Lucas Educational Foundation. All rights reserved.

Peer mentoring is a powerful, underused tool in schools. One study suggests that partnering with higher achieving peers can have a positive influence on a student’s learning, and students who are older, more capable readers can be these peers for young students. With this in mind, I have used a practice called Reading Buddies in elementary schools to great effect.

Reading Buddies is a concept that pairs different grade-level classrooms for community reading time—an upper-grade classroom connects with a lower-grade one, and students partner for time with books.

Establishing a Reading Buddies Program

The structure is simple: Pair upper-grade classes with lower-grade ones. Ideally, in a pre-K through fifth grade elementary school, third graders pair with prekindergartners or kindergartners, fourth graders with first graders, and fifth graders with second graders. It’s best to have students work in pairs, but groups of three are fine as well. Set aside at least one 30-minute session per month for the students to read together.

Gather the students in a classroom, the library, the cafeteria, or even outside on a sunny afternoon. Let the younger students pick the books at first so they get hooked with an interesting read. Later you can have the older students share some of their favorites. As the year progresses and the skills of the younger readers increase, you can have the students take turns reading to each other, giving everyone a chance to show off.

Source: Bolton County School District

The benefits are profound. Reading Buddies allows younger readers to see what being fluent looks like as they have a peer model demonstrating reading skills; they can also acquire a positive role model with some intentional pairing. The older students develop social and emotional skills like patience and empathy as they work with their littler buddies.

Additionally, for upper elementary students who are struggling with grade-level reading, the opportunity to access easier reading material without stigma or shame while sharing with a novice reader can create a positive experience with an activity that may otherwise be less than enjoyable. And the roots of the school community deepen as classes across campus work and share together.

Social and Emotional Benefits

You might be worried about the reading level or the behavior of the older students, for good reason. But this opportunity could be just what they need: When students are given the freedom to be better, to work for something bigger than themselves, and to mentor others, they can thrive. Those who are not reading on grade level will have a chance to practice with picture books that they wouldn’t otherwise pick up and to increase their confidence as they read to a mesmerized kindergartner.

I’ve seen this success for students with behavior difficulties. Let me tell you about a student I’ll call Marcus, a fifth grader with attention issues who read at a first-grade level and was often in trouble, but who had an amazing heart. His teacher, who was justifiably worried about his progress, partnered with a kindergarten class for Reading Buddies. Marcus was paired with Tony, a little guy with his own set of difficulties, such as defiance, use of profanity, and physical aggression.

They got on fine, but the relationship didn’t blossom until after a few sessions. While walking to meet the kinder class, Marcus saw Tony talking to his teacher outside the classroom and being less than respectful. When Tony belatedly made it to Reading Buddies, Marcus put his arm around him and began to mentor him. Marcus gave him the old “Don’t be like me, kid” speech. Tony looked at Marcus with an expression of embarrassment and respect for someone who had had similar difficulties through the years.

Over time, the teachers worked out an intervention where Marcus could go spend time with Tony outside of Reading Buddies both as a reward and as an intervention when Tony’s day started getting hard. As part of a token reward system, Tony could request that Marcus join him for lunch or recess. For the intervention, Marcus would sometimes come down to the kinder classroom to give Tony a pep talk. This was a positive relationship for both students as Tony had a role model and Marcus had someone to mentor, which helped him grow.

Source: Bolton County School District

This program of cooperative learning is a great way to build community in the school and to promote reading, which are goals for nearly every school. Both sets of students get excited about Reading Buddies time because it’s a chance to get out of class, have fun, and make a friend. I’ve seen kindergarten and first grade classes deliver letters of encouragement to their partners before the scary state assessments.

With thoughtfulness, the relationships can extend beyond just one school year and carry over beyond reading books. Powerful moments of connection can happen, and social and emotional lessons are inevitable. These are some wonderful outcomes, all from just sharing a book.

To learn more about Reading Buddies, check out our latest briefing paper entitled, Reading Buddies: Promoting Literacy and Community Engagement.

MORE ABOUT...

Ryan Wheeler

Ryan Wheeler is a Behavior Specialist in Houston, Texas. He is a progressive educator, positive thinker, playful and engaged dad. He is also a contributing author for Edutopia.

Edutopia is an operating foundation and educational website created by filmmaker George Lucas in 1991. It operates as an initiative of the George Lucas Educational Foundation to shine a spotlight on evidence-based teaching strategies and real-world innovations in pre-K–12 education. The Edutopia Foundation is dedicated to transforming pre-K-12 education so that all students can acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives. 

4 Ways PE Teachers and Coaches Can Advance Social Emotional Learning

Source: Coaching Corps

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.” [1] – Nelson Mandela 

Research has shown that the involvement in organized sports can be an excellent way to promote social emotional learning and the building of character. However, this is dependent on coaches who do their work in a developmental way, often coming from good training. 

“School sports are widely recognized as having a positive developmental influence on children. Not only do those students get exercise, have a chance to make new friends, and learn about teamwork, but also they improve their self-confidence as they achieve their goals.” [2] 

Below is an excerpt from The Benefits of a Written Curriculum for Physical Education and School Sports. The original article can be found on Edutopia.org.

“1. Promote a positive team climate and essential virtues. Sport psychology and SEL show that teams and individuals who value safe, supportive, encouraging, and inclusive team climates perform better and learn faster. Having a positive team climate includes athletes possessing the psychological safety that allows them to be more collaborative and creative without fear.

2. Develop skills through thought recognition and relationship building. When adolescents are intentionally taught emotion regulation and focus skills, they are helped when shooting a foul shot with 0.1 seconds left on the clock. Learning how to problem-solve and learning how to make decisions are valuable skills when analyzing one’s own performance and looking to make improvements. Empathy and communication are essential when picking up your teammate when they miss a catch. Knowing and identifying these skills is the first step in having them take root within students’ and athletes’ lives....Students who are trained in thinking about what they are thinking about are more likely to be the best version of themselves in any athletic contest.

Source: Coaching Corps

3. Build student investment and responsibility through student voice. In 21st-century businesses, employee voice is valued because it increases their engagement and empowerment to ask questions, seek help, and try out new skills while providing valuable feedback, decreasing stress, and increasing morale. The employees feel ownership in the business because they contributed to its success.

4. Have the coach serve as a facilitator. Of course, for the above to happen, PE teachers and coaches must take on the role of guiding facilitator, mostly by asking pertinent questions of players and giving them the freedom to offer their answers without fear of being judged harshly. Ideally, it means establishing a written problem-solving protocol that is used regularly when difficulties or challenges exist—whether in a PE class or a game context, in preparation as well as in action.

This requires the coach to give up some power, but certainly not during games where split-second decisions must be made by only one person. When students are aware of this new role embraced by their coaches, their relationship changes, and students’ accountability and responsibilities are increased.

Teachers and coaches truly are guides, helping students get to a range of destinations, some expected, some not, in a systematic way. A written curriculum provides a map that allows many to follow it, not just those gifted with a good sense of direction. 

END NOTES

[1] Slamkobe, The power of sports, the language understood by all!!

[2] Maurice J. Elias & Mitch Lyons, The Benefits of a Written Curriculum for Physical Education and School Sports

A Brief History of the Social Emotional Learning Movement and the Challenges for Teens

By Sam Piha

The ideas around social emotional learning (SEL) are not new. The importance of social emotional learning is built into many early and more recent youth development program frameworks. However, few know the history of the SEL movement. 

According to Edutopia, “The roots of SEL are as old as ancient Greece. When Plato wrote about education in The Republic, he proposed a holistic curriculum that requires a balance of training in physical education, the arts, math, science, character, and moral judgment. ‘By maintaining a sound system of education and upbringing, you produce citizens of good character,’ he explained.

Preparing children to be responsible, productive, caring, and engaged citizens is a timeless pursuit that continues to be the goal of education today. How best to do this in our modern school system, however, is a relatively recent and still evolving area of study and practice, and it's the main question the SEL movement seeks to answer.

The concept of SEL was propelled into the popular culture in 1995 with a book by New York Times science reporter, Daniel Goleman. With support from Fetzer, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, in which he argued that character matters and, more significantly, the skills that build character can be taught.”

“The history of the social and emotional learning (SEL) movement is the story of a simple, but powerful idea: What if education fully supported the social, emotional, and academic development of all children? Beginning in 1994, to address this question, CASEL was formed, growing from a small conference in New Haven to partnerships across the country and an audience around the globe. Since then, CASEL has served as a leader of the global movement and a trusted voice in the rapidly growing SEL field to make SEL an integral part of education.” - The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

THE CHALLENGE OF SEL FOR TEENS

“Social and emotional learning approaches used with young children are unlikely to be effective with teens. As part of their natural urge to become independent, teenagers often will disengage from programs that directly teach skills. Using SEL programs that make teens feel valued. How can an SEL solution instill these feelings among a discerning teenage audience.” - Professor David Yeager, University of Texas,  Austin

In Why High School SEL Programs Feel ‘Lame'—and How to Fix Them, author Stephen Sawchuk writes “The big problem, researchers and practitioners say, is that too much of what constitutes SEL learning feels patronizing to teenagers and fails to address their core psychological needs and motivations.

Programs that explicitly teach SEL skills generally have a good track record for younger children. But for older students, the paradigm looks different. It’s less explicit and requires creating leadership opportunities—formal and informal—where students will have to exercise their relationship and self-regulation muscles.” 

Source: A World Fit For Kids

According to Professor David Yeager, a developmental psychology researcher at the University of Texas in Austin, “as part of their natural urge to become independent, teenagers often will disengage from programs that directly teach skills.” He suggests using SEL programs that make teens feel competent, autonomous, and valued. 

Integrating mindfulness activities into youth programs to benefit young people and educators has been a very popular educational concept. It appears in the literature on emotional regulation, trauma-informed practice, social emotional learning, grief-responsive teaching, and other leading topics. Youth who engaged in mindfulness activities report a greater sense of optimism and well-being, and a reduction in depression, anxiety, stress, and anger. They also benefit academically. Mindfulness activities are also a valuable “self-care” strategy for teachers and afterschool staff, and these activities can be tailored to be used in staff meetings.

Integrating Mindfulness into Afterschool Youth Programs: A Mini-Course (2 hours) will teach the basics of mindfulness and provide multiple opportunities to experience its benefits through practice. It will provide attendees with hands-on training to support the integration of mindfulness activities in afterschool, curriculum, teaching tips and other tools. This mini-course will also include implementation examples as well as the challenges and benefits of integrating mindfulness into afterschool programs.

To learn more and register, click here.