Causal Chain - Reading for Enjoyment
This year my teaching partner Robyn Anderson embarked on a crusade (which I jumped on board) to get our students to increase their reading. The inquiry was not just to focus on reading but getting the students to read for enjoyment. We wanted to find out if a focus on Reading for Enjoyment increase student self efficacy and capability in Reading? The first step was creating a causal chain which helps you to stay focused on the purpose of your teacher inquiry. It is so easy to lose focus along the way so having a causal chain to look back on helps to keep you on track. After RA had done some research along with our shared discussions on how we could increase our classes reading practices or lack thereof, we noted that to develop reading for pleasure habits in students we need a collective and collaborative approach that allows our tamariki to see role models at school and at home who value reading.
Looking back at my causal chain I realise my students are seen as readers through our Leaders in the Library initiative, through sharing reading tips at our school assemblies and by actively reading for enjoyment in the classroom. It is important that our learners see themselves as readers too so we have made a point of capturing all of this in photos which are clearly displayed in our classroom. However when I look back at my causal chain I can see that because Robyn or myself is always taking photos I have not been allowing my learners to consistently see me as a reader. As we approach Term 3 I know exactly what my goal is... make sure my learners see me as a reader too.
