The Importance of Print-Rich Classrooms

 

With over eight years of experience teaching middle school students, I have made it my personal mission to foster a classroom environment where each student finds value in reading and as a result, every single student sees themselves as a reader. Books give students the world at their fingertips. They can find themselves, understand others, and build their dreams through books. My hope is that you find this series, titled Engaging Middle Schools: Teachings Strategies for Boosting Independent Reading Motivation in Middle School, beneficial and refreshing. 

Have you ever wondered what it means to have a print-rich classroom? Not exactly sure where to start? Look no further! Here you will find simple ideas to implement right away in your middle school classroom.

Oxford Languages and Google - English, (2021)

Current literature and studies show that when students have environments that are filled with books, the motivation to read is high. This means not only do you need to have a classroom library, but your walls need to scream READING IS FUN. regardless of the content area you teach, you are a reading teacher. Students apply their reading skills and strategies in every single content area. All middle school classrooms must show students how important reading truly is. So let's get to the nitty-gritty.

Classroom Design and Layout

Being intentional about how you layout your classroom is an effective way to promote reading. Neuman (2004) points out intentionally creating spaces where students see them, people in their communities, and of the world will communicate the importance of literacy. Middle school students need easy access to materials, centers, and learning areas to have an opportunity to make deeper meaning of what's available.

Print needs to be EVERYWHERE

...and I mean everywhere! You can do this by labeling materials, placing student work on the walls, having books readily available for students, classroom anchor charts, and weekly vocabulary words placed in a designated area. Wolfersberger and colleagues (2004) reviewed research that focused on early literacy development that revealed the powerful impact of access to literacy tools and environmental influences, both internal and external to the classroom on children's literacy acquisition (p. 212).

What are Anchor Charts?

Anchor charts are organized mentor texts typically co-created with students. Charts are displayed in the classroom where they can be easily seen and accessed.

Images provided by Hannah Schrempp

Images provided by Elizabeth Moklestad

Benefits and Purpose of Anchor Charts

Effective anchor charts foster the development of the task at hand. The co-creating makings the content engaging and ensures that all students think and work with challenging content. Moses and Lee (2014) shared that charting with students promotes critical thinking. Students have the ability to:

• Make connections
• Perceive patterns and relationships
• Understand diverse perspectives
• Develop and critique their reasoning skills
• Provide evidence of inference and conclusion
• Generalize big ideas

The focus should not be on cute teacher-created visuals but rather the acquisition and organization of student-created visual materials. Anchor charts provide:

• Visuals to help clarify thinking, making connections, and support comprehension of learned content
• Exemplar model of mentor text
• Magnifies what needs to be known in order to be proficient
• Opportunities for students to communicate complex academic vocabulary
• Promotes comprehension and synthesis of ideas and information

Types of Anchor Charts

Remember, it is critical that all content area teachers are using this method. Not only will it help your students, but it will contribute to the goal of fostering a space where students see reading as a way to better understand the world. Different types of anchor charts include:

1. Content and examples
2. Steps and Strategies
3. Classroom management and procedures

Use this guideline checklist while constructing your next anchor chart.

Designated Reading/Writing Areas

When designing your middle school classroom, I know that designing spaces for reading and writing don't necessarily come first hand. Typically, we think of these areas as being needed in primary classrooms. However, Reading Rockets synthesized the work of Fountas and Pinnell (1996, 2000) and Morrow (1997) which stated that the integration of literacy centers, no matter the discipline area, improves students' reading comprehension, language, positive social experiences, and writing development, all of which are important in adolescent development.

Literacy centers are designated areas or parts of your classroom designed for specific learning purposes. They provide students an opportunity to work independently or collaboratively to meet content goals.

Literacy centers are qualitatively different from primary literacy centers. Pennington (2017) states that recognizing this will foster initial success when implementing literacy centers in a middle school classroom Here are some tips that will leave you and your students feeling successful right away.

1. Start small and introduce centers slowly. Make sure procedures are known and practiced often
2. Minimize set up and tear down. Simple is where it's at!
3. Model model model and model some more. If things feel messy, don't be afraid to drop it
4. Assign roles. Middle school students work best when they know exactly what is expected and can have some kind of independence in their learning process
5. Centers are collaborative, not independent. Out middle schoolers are social creatures. They like working with their peers. Allow this and set boundaries to make sure all are doing equal work
6. Limit fluff. Rigorous, collaborative learning will bring in the fun. Keep the directions simple and to the point

Tips and Questions to Ask Yourself when Designing Centers

• What is the center's purpose? Are students practicing a skill? Introducing a new topic? Reviewing? Or are they meant for differentiating?
• What materials can be repurposed to meet the learning goal?
• How many stations are needed to reach the learning goal?
• How can you diversify the activities?
• Technology
• Creativity
• Texts used in centers

Types of Literacy Stations

• Vocabulary
• Writing process
• Discussions
• Mentor text/Sentence analysis
• Skill/Strategy application
• Introduce a new unit
• Unit preview
• Teacher conference
• Guided practice

Abby Gross from Write on with Ms. G is a resource I refer to often when designing my learning stations. She is a great secondary educator full of great ideas!

Characterization and point of view stations from Hannah Schrempp

Images provided by Abby Gross

Image provided by Emily Aierstok

Creating Experiences and Connecting with Literacy 

With a large emphasis on analyzing elements of a text and reading mainly to absorb information, middle school students disengage from reading voluntarily. In a new study by Martin-Chang and colleagues (2021), they found that a child's literacy experience in elementary school is far more positive and then starts to drop in middle school into high school. The nature of reading changes as students are expected to read a large amount of informational texts. During this transition, a love for reading seems to fade. The study suggests that middle school teachers can reverse a student's trajectory by "providing students with a rich and varied reading diet" by offering choice, modeling a love for reading, and expanding your classroom library. 

There are many opportunities to revamp or add activities that will foster a love for reading and create positive experiences around reading that students will remember for a lifetime. 

Classroom Book a Day

In Christina's middle school classroom, she carves out time to read a picture book every single day. This time is dedicated to expose her students to authentic discussions about the stories and illustrations, make personal connections with each other and the characters. Image provided by Christina Hanson

First Chapter Friday

First Chapter Friday is a simple and engaging activity to get books flying off your bookshelves. You can use this activity to bring modern voices into the English curriculum and encourage your student in their independent reading. Image provided by weareteachers.com

Book Tastings or Book Speed Dating

Book tastings/speed dating are two easy activities to set up, get middle schoolers to try new books, and get them excited about reading. Middle school students appreciate when teachers go a little above and beyond to make an activity a little more enjoyable. Images provided by Hannah Schrempp

The Great Debate

Image provided by Hannah Schrempp

As teachers, it is critical we bring in texts that share multiple perspectives of a topic. A way to spice up any unit or topic of focus is to have students participate in a debate. Students have three 3-minute discussions with a minute debate in between to convince their opponent their view is correct. I have used this technique when discussing Christopher Columbus and reading through The Giving Tree by Shel Shilverstein. 

Passion Projects

 

Images provided by Hannah Schrempp

Middle school students are some of the most intelligent, and creative people. Tapping into their interests and talents to enhance their reading experiences is another way to build positive reading experiences. In Emily’s middle school classroom, her students brainstormed passion projects that would highlight their favorite book they read during the school year. Using a standard-based rubric, students create their project outlines and execute based on focused learning. Students get to share with their peers their passions and show off their knowledge of an academic standard.

Educators, it is critical that we reflect on our classroom practices. After reading this post, consider the following:

• What two changes will you make to your classroom environment?
• What ideas do you have for literacy centers? How can you revamp an activity to get kids moving and working together?
• What activity do you want to try at the beginning of the school year? What do you need to prepare to ensure success?
• What were the 2 biggest takeaways from this post?

This post is a part of a four week summer series all focused on getting your middle school students to see the importance of reading. Head to the next in the series titled,

Connect with me!

mrssclassroomcraziness@gmail.com

@mrssclassroomcraziness

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Want to learn more? Check out these reads!

Imitate and Innovate Anchor Charts

How to Start Literacy Centers | Upper Elementary and Middle School

The Benefits of Reading for Fun for Middle and High School Students

Passion Projects for Independent Reading As teachers, we often feel like in order to get kids

Susan B Neuman. (2004). The effect of print-rich classroom environments on early literacy growth. The Reading Teacher, 58(1), 89–91.

Wolfersberger, M. E., Reutzel, D. R., Sudweeks, R., & Fawson, P. C. (2004). Developing and Validating the Classroom Literacy Environmental Profile (CLEP): A Tool for Examining the “Print Richness” of Early Childhood and Elementary Classrooms. Journal of Literacy Research, 36(2), 211–272. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15548430jlr3602_4

Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Oxford Languages and Google - English. Oxford Languages. https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/

Strickland, D., & Morrow, L. (1988). Emerging Readers & Writers: Creating a Print Rich Environment. The Reading Teacher, 42(2),156-157. Retrieved June 22, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20200044

Strickland, D. S., & Morrow, L. M. (1988). Creating a print rich environment. (teaching reading and writing). The Reading Teacher, 42(2), 156–157.