By Angela Baez
Helping a child build a reading life is an honor… and a major undertaking. As teachers, we value the home-school connection for all aspects of learning, but perhaps most especially when it comes to reading. Research shows that inviting caregivers to establish or deepen reading relationships with their children has benefits that go far beyond the academic, from enhancing empathy to strengthening familial bonds. And because the work of learning to read involves a complex matrix of skills, increased practice outside the classroom is always a plus.
It pushes us to ask, how can educators best engage families to support their readers?
Recognize Caregivers’ Unique Gifts
Many teachers devote their entire careers to studying reading development. When caregivers (who may not have a degree in literacy education) read with children at home, it will rarely look and sound exactly as it does inside the classroom. It doesn’t need to. Family involvement itself holds power, and we must recognize families’ funds of knowledge. As teachers, it is important to take time to learn the ways families engage in literacy–the languages they speak, the books they love, the digital media they consume, the games they play, the topics they talk about. Affirming these shared experiences is an important way to strengthen home-school relationships.
Amplifying the importance of talk as literacy can be a revelation for those caregivers who assume that reading books with their children is the only way to contribute to their reading lives. Discussing bits of their own reading and viewing, whether it’s books, articles, memes, videos, can mentor young readers. A simple conversation starter for caregivers that kids can replicate is, “Today I read/saw…”
Keep Families in the Loop
That said, sharing snapshots of reading instruction from the classroom and inviting caregivers to try it out can offer children continuity and extended support. You might decide to send information about your units of study to keep families abreast of your current instructional focus. This might include a summary of the major reading skills you’re supporting in any given unit, as well as coaching prompts caregivers can share while students read, and questions families can ask after a child finishes reading.
You might also share lists of the titles students are reading in class, as well as suggestions for related books and series kids might love. Prioritize sending these communications home in all of the languages in which families read.
Other schools offer regular workshops for families, during which teachers and school leaders will offer workshops for families in a variety of languages. These workshops can boost parent engagement. Some might focus on early literacy skills and phonics, while others might focus on reading comprehension or ways to build regular reading routines into the day.
Ensure Access
Remember, always, that if we expect particular literacy work to happen at home, access must be top of mind. Resources are a potential obstacle, and two that may be in short supply are materials and time. Be sure to provide books, especially if you are asking beginning readers to practice while their grownups coach them. This might mean ensuring students bring their book baggies and reading books home with them each night, as their just-right books aren’t often available outside of school.
Caregivers are juggling many responsibilities, so keep expectations for reading time meaningful, replicable, and short. If you are sharing adult-facing tools for helping readers, lean toward ones that can be used again and again. For instance, you might share a chart listing three transferable strategies that families could use to coach children who get stuck on a tricky word, regardless of genre, or a simple chart that might guide conversations between parents and children about books.
Encourage Choice and Conversation
In addition to sending books from the classroom home, teachers can encourage trips to the library for families to select books together. You might reach out to your local library and invite the librarians to attend parent-teacher conference nights, offering information about the public library and signing families up for library cards. Local librarians are often incredibly eager to collaborate with schools in their community and can be tremendous resources for families.
As we work toward more inclusive classroom libraries where all of our students can see themselves in the books, caregivers can also be mindful of how books can be windows and mirrors for their families. Seeking out books that foster conversations about our various identity markers is a step toward a more just world (check out the book list recommendations at the end!).
Once children can read independently, many caregivers feel obligated to stop reading to them. As it turns out, kids are never too oldto be read to. Feel very free to encourage caregivers to read aloud to their children, no matter the grade. Caregivers can draw on varied reading material, from chapter books to short newspaper articles, poems, and song lyrics. Families might also consider playing audiobooks when traveling together or when playing at home, many of which are accessible for free through the local library.
Read for the Sake of Reading
One final note. Sometimes we are compelled to assign additional tasks for students to complete at home to prove that reading happened. If these tasks are driven by accountability for accountability’s sake and to ensure compliance, reading at home can become a turn-off rather than a joyful bonding experience. If our goal is to grow and sustain engaged readers, we might need to release the “proof of reading” in favor of trusting readers and their caregivers. Instead, we can hold fast to the idea that the act of reading itself is both the means and the end.
For more suggestions of how to support families, we encourage you to RSVP now for our FREE virtual Saturday Reunion, which will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024. This free day of online workshops will include ways to support caregivers, in addition to a host of other topics.
