I have a reluctant reader at home. He enjoyed the same reading experiences as his older brother and twin sister, had reading and writing models at home and had access to plenty of books. But, as much as it pains me to admit it, he is still a reluctant reader. A reluctant reader that has taught his mother plenty of lessons on what it means to truly feel like a reader. I have reminded my son that books are like presents, just waiting to be opened. That books are patient and the right one is still waiting for him. That one day, books will help change his life, if he lets them. In my quest to open the door to a love of reading, I have found the power in using QR codes to make his reading experience interactive, involved and engaging and I imagine this can help other students find reading a more interactive and personal experience as well.

I am a great proponent of using technology and digital tools to connect readers together, share conversations about books and build a community of readers. My son has helped me reimagine how those same tools can make reading a more interactive and ‘real’ experience during reading as well. Enter QR (Quick Response) codes. I use QR codes for many instructional reasons: as listening stations, as writing celebrations, as methods for accessing resources quickly and even connecting and communicating with parents. But I had not yet tapped into the power of using QR codes to help bring a book to life. That is, until my son gave me the idea to do so.

When my son does read, he enjoys the I Survived Series by Lauren Tarshis. He was getting ready to read his next book in the series, The Joplin Tornado, 2011. I asked if he would share his book with me so I could add a surprise to it. After reading the text myself, I gathered multimedia resources that I knew would enhance his understanding of the book and make the reading come alive. Here are the resources I collected:

Wonder of the Day: Where is Tornado Valley?

Joplin, MO on the Map

Navy Seal Trident Insignia

Path of the Joplin Tornado

Storyworks Behind the Scenes: The Evil Swirling Darkness

Tripline: The Path of the Joplin Tornado

Video of Joplin Tornado Damage From View of Helicopter

Tornado Weather Pods

Picture of Joplin Tornado Aftermath

One Year Anniversary News Video

Each resource was chosen to help him visualize the book in his mind, actually ‘see’ the events unfold and help him go above and beyond the book to connect to his own personal interests. I linked these resources to QR codes, taped them to sticky notes and then strategically placed them throughout the book for him to scan as he read.

His interest was real. We downloaded the QR scanner onto his device and he scanned the links as we came upon them in the book. He gained a clear understanding of where the book took place, truly understood the kind of devastation the characters were dealing with and became more engaged in his reading. When he asked to keep reading and if all books could come this way, I knew I was on to something.

Now, I know that I cannot add QR codes to every book he reads to increase engagement and understanding, but I can teach him how to seek out these multimedia resources on his own to support his own interests and strategic actions as a reader. Many adults read with a device nearby to look up locations, Google a concept they had not heard about or to simply see something in action. Why shouldn’t our students have the same luxury? We want students to know that books come alive in our head and in our heart simply by reading them, but by reading with a curious mind and technology by our side, we have the power to turn reading into and a more engaging and personalized experience.

Anyone want to join me for a collaborative venture? Send me the titles your reluctant readers are reading and I will create a text set linked to QR codes to support engagement and interaction with the book. Together, we can create and share these text sets to benefit other students and increase reading engagement! 

I am a literacy teacher educator. I work with preservice, new and practicing teachers to strengthen their understanding of effective literacy instruction and classroom practices. Students deserve teachers who have a clear and solid understanding of how literacy develops and the expertise to differentiate instruction to meet their needs. So, when I hear stories about teachers who are forced to use a scripted curriculum, I cringe. When I hear stories about teachers who do not have the power to create their own lessons or materials, I cringe. When I hear teachers sing the praises of teacher entrepreneurial websites, I cringe too. This past week alone, I heard from three different teachers who were using products from these sites as their “close reading curriculum” and even their literacy intervention.

I imagine these sites were created by well-meaning educators who wanted to harness the power of teachers sharing their ideas with others and provide compensation for those willing to do so. The idea is appealing to many teachers who work incredibly hard in their classrooms and deserve recognition. Even I was hooked into the promise of the site early on as I shared materials that I had created. But as I learned more about the materials that were posted, I was frustrated. They were pretty, yes, but not always based on sound literacy practices and were certainly not tailored to the needs of individual students. I realized that charging other teachers for these kinds of products was not something I could stand behind.

As a literacy teacher educator, I have a responsibility to advocate for teachers and their students. I build teacher expertise as the best form of literacy instruction and intervention and engage teachers in conversations that challenge their use of prepackaged materials for instruction. And I am not alone. Many others have written on this topic and generated lively discussion: Dr. Mary Howard’s Facebook post, Matt Gomez’s blog post, SpinEducation’s post and even cautionary guidance provided by the National Math TeachersCouncil. Inspired by these posts, I want to share how I have challenged teachers’ assumptions about sites such as these.

In the beginning of the semester during my literacy graduate classes, I ask teachers to share their favorite literacy activity with the class. They describe the activity and post a link to it. Inevitably, many of these activities are from paid teacher resource sites. Over the course of the semester, teachers learn about effective literacy instruction, develop their expertise on the sequence of skills development and explore principles of early literacy intervention. At the end of the semester, I ask them to return to their chosen activity and evaluate it based on their new learning. They are typically quite surprised at what they find: the activity typically looks pretty on the outside, but may not be based on best practices, it may teach early literacy skills in a sequence that actually makes it harder for students to learn and the font and embellishments may distract our most vulnerable learners away from the content we are trying to teach, among other revelations. It is typically an eye-opening activity for most. We share our results and conclude together that these activities, and the sites they are posted on, should be evaluated carefully before using them in the classroom, just like any other published curriculum. There may be good resources for teaching shared online, but we should privilege our own expertise and abilities to create instructional opportunities for students.

Rather than using technology to purchased prepackaged curriculum or teaching activities, we must use technology to carefully and thoughtfully grow our own professional learning network and collaborate with like-minded teachers who can fuel our goals and support our work. Let's arm teachers with knowledge of effective literacy instruction and support them as they develop their own expertise to create effective, authentic and responsive instruction for students. Join me on November 14th at the New York State Reading Association's Annual Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY to explore how to use technology to boost your professional learning network and re-imagine literacy and literacy instruction for yourself and for your students.