Lynsey Burkins

“Whole-class reading instruction has the power to harness the collective knowledge of the reading community that will foster independent readers and thinkers as they move through their literate lives.”What is the true purpose of whole-group reading instruction? Is it possible to teach standards and skills while also creating a community in which students are free to bring their whole selves into the work of reading? And how do we make this vision an everyday reality in our grades 3-6 classrooms? Elementary educators Lynsey Burkins and Franki Sibberson answer these questions and more in In Community With Readers: Transforming Reading Instruction with Read-Alouds and Minilessons. Burkins and Sibberson invite us into their classrooms as they redesign read-alouds and minilessons to support readers in whole-group reading instruction. Inside this book you’ll find:? Ideas for co-creating a community aligned to standards and grounded in readers’ identity, independence, and agency? A day-by-day look into what read-alouds and minilessons look like across a reading unit? Practical and meaningful routines for helping students co-construct an understanding of the standards, the books they read, and one another’s ideas? Planning and note-taking templates designed to center both the standards we teach and the ideas our students bring to these standards? An illustrated step-by-step guide to the first eight weeks of whole-group reading instructionIn this book, Burkins and Sibberson push back on the idea that whole-group reading instruction must be teacher-centered skill and drill, and instead offer us a way to create a truly meaningful whole-group reading community.

Classrooms should be spaces where every child feels safe to bring their whole self to school. This book shows how to set up preK-grade 6 classrooms that support student agency, independence, and choice. The results of classrooms designed with these goals in mind include: Greater student engagement with curriculum Students who know themselves and are empowered as learners Students who feel valued and care about their learning as well as the learning of others A more cohesive, authentic, and accepting community of learners Opportunities for choice and decision-making by all learnersWith examples drawn from real classrooms, the authors demonstrate how to make choices in seating, materials used, books read, and more. Special attention is paid to the design of classroom libraries in which a variety of diverse, quality books anchor so much of the work in helping young readers and writers grow and learn.The book is richly illustrated with photos and samples to provide an inside look at classrooms in which children are centered and the teacher is responsive to creating spaces with student agency in mind. 172 pp. 2023. Grades PreK-6