Last April I attended a Bryce Hedstrom workshop and it was nothing short of mind-blowing, as he presented one amazing comprehensible input strategy after another. When the day ended, my mind was pulsating with new ideas for my classroom, but there was one idea in particular that screamed at me to give it a try: Free Voluntary Reading.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Free Voluntary Reading, this is a daily strategy that allows students to spend designated class time reading books, magazines and newspapers written in the target language. It’s a great way to not only engage students in language learning but it exposes them to a variety of diverse subject matter revolving around the target culture that can be used as a springboard for further discussion in class.
Additionally, research finds that Free Voluntary Reading enhances the pace of language acquisition, a huge benefit that I think most language teachers would gladly welcome, and yet I had never really known it to be a strategy in World Language classrooms until now.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that I’m a legacy teacher evolving toward comprehensible input and proficiency practices, and it has become crystal clear to me that Free Voluntary Reading better suits these methodologies. In fact, despite our limited time with students, it’s imperative that we, as teachers, provide as many opportunities as possible for students to receive adequate comprehensible input in order to enable our students to move toward proficiency. After all, that’s how we acquired our first language; from endless input we received from our parents, books, television and the world around us.
So, after leaving Bryce’s workshop I diligently planned for the current school year. I gathered Spanish language books from my home library, which included illustrated children’s books, picture dictionaries, primary school readers, Spanish and Latin American novels from my undergraduate and graduate programs and magazines of all sorts from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries.
Additionally, I subscribed to the Spanish language print versions of National Geographic Magazine and People Magazine. I then purchased a subscription to National Geographic Viajes, which is only available in digital format. As such, I decided to print selected pages containing advertisements and infographics, which I then placed in plastic page protectors and housed in a three-ring binder.
These one-page resources are great for students who have language processing difficulties and for those students who just don’t like to read books. The pictures and charts take up the majority of space on the page, so they don’t overwhelm learners, and when paired with a few words or phrases, they help students to negotiate meaning.
Lastly, I ordered a variety of leveled readers and then subscribed to Martina Bex’s bi-monthly news publication, El Mundo En Tus Manos. I print copies of Bex’s bi-monthly articles and keep them in my library as well. Since she creates her publication for various levels, I use the simplest versions for guided reading activities with my Spanish 1 classes and the more challenging reading activities with my Spanish 4 Honors classes.
Speaking of printing, if you choose to print articles from magazines or internet sites be sure to print them in color as opposed to black and white. The color copies are more vibrant and richer with detail and for sure will get the attention of your students. Black and white copies just don’t stand out, as they get lost in the noise. And quite frankly, they just look boring and unappetizing.
Since some kids can’t yet read the titles, they will rely heavily on pictures to help them determine whether one resource is more interesting than another. I want to provide resources that jump off the page and grab my students and I want to make engaging in Free Voluntary Reading as easy as possible for them, so I start with color.
In addition to color, when I choose readers, I tend to gravitate toward books that have interesting cover art with lots of colors and modern graphics. Put yourself in the shoes of your students. Your books are competing with the daily bombardment of spectacular digital media that include vivid colors and crystal clear graphics. Make your Free Voluntary Reading library appealing and appetizing so your students will want to participate.
Also, provide a wide variety of books to suit a wide variety of interests. In my library, there are books containing sheet music with Spanish lyrics, magazines with art representing a variety of media, and authentic Latin American math books with lots of math problems written in Spanish. There are also a few Spanish language cookbooks for kids that contain lots of pictures along with recipes in Spanish and there’s another book that focuses on musical instruments. I even have a book that illustrates the human body. It’s kid-appropriate and it gets boys reading, which from a statistical perspective, has traditionally been challenging in education.
Now let’s be honest, lots of kids, especially in today’s world where cell phones, tablets and computers are overabundant, don’t like to read or don’t want to read because it’s just easier to watch a video. I personally can’t relate because I was that kid who read under the covers with the flashlight hours after my parents had tucked me into bed and whose thirst for stories has carried over into my adult life, as I am always reading or listening to audiobooks in my free time. So if you are going to have a Free Voluntary Reading library, make it stand out and talk it up…often, like every day!
The Importance of Reading
Reading has so many more benefits than just taking the reader on an exciting journey with unusual characters. It forces the mind to focus on the story, yet simultaneously be creatively imaginative. It serves as a workout for the brain, which may help it to stay healthier and sharper as we age, and yet it also serves as a form of relaxation. Reading makes us smarter, more empathetic and curious. Reading is…fundamental.
Speaking of which, that reminds me of my preteen and teenage years. I clearly remember advertisements on television for RIF, Reading Is Fundamental, the national organization that was born in the 1980s charged with creating a culture of lifelong readers, especially amongst underprivileged children. Their slogan, which shares the same name as the organization, was embedded into young minds daily and the importance of reading books was regularly emphasized in school.
In fact, when I reflect on my days as an elementary student, which was nearly half a century ago, I recall taking weekly trips with my classmates to our school library where we scoured the massive bookshelves of crackly clear, film covered books, many of which, upon opening, revealed the guarded, musty aroma of years past deeply woven into the nicely preserved, delicate fibers of each page.
Occasionally I’d discover drably colored specks of mystery matter stuck to a page of my book. Paranoid that it would launch itself toward me and infect me with some fatal illness, I’d quickly…turn the page!
To this day, as a selective germaphobe, I buy my own books, brand new. I prefer virgin pages that reveal the fresh scent of ink and I absolutely melt to the soft crackle of a brand, spanking new bookbinding being opened for its very first time.
As I was saying, my chosen library book for the week would remain tucked inside my cluttered desk until I completed my classwork or finished an assessment. This was Free Voluntary Reading, was it not?
In junior high one of my Language Arts teachers assigned students a certain number of books to be read per quarter, each one representing a different genre. Ok…so this wasn’t so voluntary, but we were free to choose our own books and I always loved that.
The fact that we had to choose from different genres forced us out of our comfort zones to try stories that we otherwise wouldn’t have chosen. Back then, I was really into mysteries, in particular, Nancy Drew mysteries, but this exercise opened my world to nonfiction writing, which is still one of my favorite genres today.
Another teacher allowed us to read independently at the beginning of each class period. I always looked forward to those first fifteen minutes, curled up in a cozy corner of the classroom, losing myself in the story and accompanying the characters on their journey. I swear those were the fastest fifteen minutes of the entire day, and I cherished every single one of them.
I’m not sure why high school teachers have moved away from this practice of independent reading, but I’ll bet that the lack of time teachers have with their students and the immense curriculum they must cover during the school year plays a hefty role.
I will also venture to guess that there are many administrators who frown upon a teacher who is not actively teaching every minute of each class period. No teacher wants to be considered lazy or ineffective, especially during the dreaded classroom observations, which for many teachers determine their pay and their job security.
But ponder this, if you will. Reading just 10 minutes per day equates to 50 minutes of reading per week, which is way more than some students read in a year. Reading exposes our students to natural grammar structures, it expands their knowledge of vocabulary and it improves their writing and storytelling skills. So, allowing students just 10 minutes per day at the beginning or end of class would greatly benefit them.
Plus, I really like the idea of reading in class because students must participate. When teachers assign reading to be done outside of class, students generally won’t do it unless there’s a grade tied to it, and even then, some just won’t do it. As a teacher, you can’t monitor your students once they leave your classroom, so I think it’s a great idea to take advantage of your captive audience and turn reading into a group activity.
My FVR Classroom Setup
This year I’m teaching Spanish 1 Standard, Spanish 4 Honors and AP Spanish Language and Culture. I decided to introduce Free Voluntary Reading to all of my students during our first week of school.
Since I have limited space in my classroom, I placed four small tables against the walls in four different locations. I then placed bright pink baskets on each table and filled them with a variety of books, while magazines and other reading materials lay flat beside the baskets.
I wanted to showcase my reading materials as bookstores and libraries do in order to spark student interest, plus I wanted the books to be visible to students no matter where they might be seated. Just like in libraries and bookstores, I rotated the books weekly and whenever a new magazine issue arrived or I purchased a new book, I would take a few moments of class time to present it to students, trying to stir within them some enthusiasm and excitement.
My seating arrangement at the beginning of the school year consisted of six tables that contained six or seven desks each, but due to management issues, our table arrangement became rows during the second quarter of the school year.
Sparking Student Interest
During the first week of school, I presented something different to students each day. For example, on the first day, I presented the idea of Free Voluntary Reading to my classes and explained its awesome benefits, while the second day I introduced the library stations and how the books were organized.
The third day I explained the procedures of choosing a book and returning it, while also speaking to the class about expectations during our ten minute reading time.
The fourth day I highlighted specific books and magazines that I thought would be of interest to students and even thumbed through the pages of some to show off their beautiful illustrations and vivid photos.
Call it a rehearsal, but on the final day of introducing Free Voluntary Reading, I walked each class through the procedures of our new routine so we would be able to do FVR in an efficient and orderly manner.
Though I teach high school, my classes are large and there are always kids who, for a variety of reasons, will do their own thing, so taking the extra step to rehearse and practice classroom expectations is worth the time and effort.
Some of you may wonder why I don’t just introduce everything about Free Voluntary Reading all in one day.
For starters, it’s the beginning of the school year and pretty much every teacher spends the first few days explaining his/her syllabus, the classroom rules and student expectations.
Kids zone out!
Plain and simple. By the third or fourth period of the day, they’re not listening to you, they’re enduring the forty-five minutes that they need to be in your class before the bell rings and they can connect with friends in the hallway.
As a result, I have found that focusing on one or two things from my syllabus each day, embedded within a lesson plan of activities works really well. Plus, when I introduce new information, I’ll question them about the details from a previous lesson.
I have found that by the end of the first week, students better understand what is required of them in my class compared to years past when I used to dump everything on them during the first day of school.
The second reason I take a week to introduce Free Voluntary Reading is that I want to build anticipation and excitement. Those who know me personally would say that I’m quite animated when I speak, so I use this to my advantage in the classroom and I try very hard to make my enthusiasm and passion for books, FVR or for anything else I deem important, contagious.
Sometimes, you just need to exaggerate the energy in your classroom in order to get the attention of your students. Once you hook them, then you can lead them.
My FVR Classroom Guidelines
Here are some important things to mention to students before you begin Free Voluntary Reading in order to keep things running smoothly during your FVR time.
- Students may choose whatever book they want to read from the library.
- Once students choose a book, it’s theirs for the entire ten minutes. They are not allowed to roam around the classroom during our reading time.
- Students are not allowed to chat with their classmates during our ten minute FVR time. This is sacred reading time and we take it seriously.
- Students must respect the books. They are not to write in them nor bend or tear the pages. If they notice a problem with a book, they must report it to me immediately.
- The teacher, that would be me, must participate in the activity with students in order to model desired behavior.
- Students are not graded for reading, nor are they graded for behavior. This is supposed to be pleasure reading.
My FVR Classroom Procedures
Upon entering the classroom, students complete the bellwork activity that is projected on the board. This only takes a few minutes and once everyone has completed the task and attendance has been taken, I dismiss one or two tables or rows at a time to find their books. I remind students to quickly choose their books and then return to their seats.
Once all students are settled with their books, I begin the ten-minute timer, which I project on our whiteboard so it’s visible to everyone. I then grab my book, sit in my Special Person chair in front of the room and model good reading.
It’s so incredibly silent in my room during Free Voluntary Reading time, you can hear a pin drop…for real! Even my rowdiest kids are relatively quiet, which, to be honest, blows my mind.
Whenever I glance around the room, kids are doing one of several things: they are staring at one picture for the entire time, they are flipping the pages of their book pretending to be reading or they are actually reading and looking for meaning.
Before I start the timer, I usually remind students to be on the lookout for cognate words. When Spanish 1 students begin Free Voluntary Reading, they come to the table with zero background knowledge in Spanish, so the easiest task for them is to look for cognate words and try to make some sense of the story by combining them with the pictures.
When Free Voluntary Reading time ends, I once again dismiss kids by table or row so they could return their books to the library in an orderly fashion.
Over the course of the first few weeks, this process morphed into a more efficient one. Students at each table elected a point person to choose books for the entire group and when the time was up, the students seated closest to the FVR library would return them.
Likewise, when the seating arrangement changed to rows, the first person in each row grabbed and returned books for each student in their row.
Results
During the first quarter, I was diligent about Free Voluntary Reading in my Spanish 1 classes. This wasn’t the case with Spanish 4 Honors or AP Spanish since the curricula for their classes already require them to do a heavy amount of reading.
I thought it would be best to bundle their daily ten minutes and exchange them for one workday per week when they could have an entire class period to read and complete related assignments. I know this isn’t true FVR, but in the case of my Spanish 4 Honors students, they at least get to choose their readings, as long as they stay within the confines of the theme we are covering at that time.
My AP Spanish Language and Culture course is more structured and follows a book, which is loaded with readings that I usually assign to them.
Offering students a workday turned out well and I, therefore, anticipate continuing this practice during the second semester. Students really liked the idea of having me available to answer any questions that they might have about their particular reading.
Regarding my Spanish 1 classes, I found that we were falling behind in the curriculum, not just because we were losing ten minutes per day to Free Voluntary Reading, but also because I was using other comprehensible input and proficiency-based activities in my classroom, and tend to be extremely time-consuming since the pace is rather slow with new learners.
It’s difficult to do proficiency correctly if you have a lofty curriculum that requires all teachers to be in the same place by midterms, as we do in my school. The Spanish teachers in my department give common midterm assessments, so I needed to abandon my comprehensible input and proficiency activities in order to prepare my students for their midyear exam.
In addition, I was noticing that my kids were burning out so when I paused FVR, I began focusing on guided reading once per week. More on how I use guided reading below.
Takeaways
1. While I think that practicing Free Voluntary Reading daily is great, I think it’s best to ease kids into it. For the upcoming school year, I’m thinking that I won’t do a full-on FVR with kids until the second semester when they’ve had two full quarters to acquire some foundational language that includes a variety of vocabulary along with power verbs and transition words.
While I really enjoy the idea of introducing Free Voluntary Reading to them early on, I believe that they first need some scaffolding, some guided reading, and this leads me to Marina Bex. Martina Bex’s resource, El Mundo En Tus Manos, is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! And by the way, I don’t get paid to say that!
In Spanish 1 I give my kids a page of Bex’s headlines, each one accompanied by a photo, and I ask them to highlight all of the cognate words that they could find. Then I ask them to look at those cognates, along with the photos and determine what they think the story is about. Finally, they write a one-sentence summary in English for each headline. They have ten minutes to complete this task.
Once the time elapses, I illustrate how to break down the information. We list all of the cognates on the board and try to make connections between them. We then look at the photos together and tie those into connections we’ve made with the cognates in order to infer meaning.
When we complete this task, I read the headlines in English. My kids are so proud of themselves when their predictions match what the headline actually says. It boosts their confidence in trying to learn a second language and it eases their fears.
Given my results, I believe that this would be a great exercise to do with students during the first half of the year, always raising the bar of course, and challenging them, but really guiding them until they can feel confident opening one of my library books and despite the vocabulary that they don’t know, getting the gist of the overall story.
I truly believe that this guided reading preparation in conjunction with exposure to a fair amount of vocabulary and verbs will result in a more successful FVR experience.
2. Free Voluntary Reading is great for creating a calm tone in class. Surprisingly, my two toughest classes are relatively calm and quiet during FVR time. When the ten minutes pass, they transition nicely into the next part of our lesson. I can easily say that on the days when we don’t do FVR, I have to be more assertive with them in order for them to stay on task and complete their work.
3. I’m not gonna lie, I love Free Voluntary Reading time because I love to read. It gives me time to read some articles or books that I want to use with my classes without taking time out of my personal schedule to do it at home.
As I mentioned earlier, just ten minutes per day multiplied by 5 days is 50 minutes of reading per week that I can do in class. Multiply that by three classes and I can get nearly 3 hours of reading each week done in class; reading that I would normally take home and do on evenings and weekends in place of family and personal time.
So, if you’ve been searching for a way to cut down on the amount of work you take home with you, offering Free Voluntary Reading in your classes will definitely help.
4. Magazines were a big hit in my FVR library, so be sure to include plenty of them in yours. I believe that my students gravitate more toward the magazines than any books, mostly because they’re really easy to follow since there are lots of glossy pictures accompanied by short articles.
I’m ok with this because students are still being exposed to images that represent a variety of cultural norms, historical venues and geographical locations. Some of these images will spark interest in your students and they’ll try to read the headlines and articles in order to learn more. For your ambitious students, this spark of interest may motivate them to do some research outside of your classroom. Mission accomplished!
Final Thoughts
Free Voluntary Reading is a win-win with me and my students. When I surveyed them at the end of the semester about their experiences with FVR, most really enjoyed it but suggested not doing it every day. I firmly believe that if they had more foundation going into Free Voluntary Reading, they would not have experienced any burnout.
Looking ahead to the second semester, I will reintroduce Free Voluntary Reading to my Spanish 1 classes, but cut it down to only two or three days per week so we may continue with guided reading.
With regard to guided reading, I intend to focus on verbs, in addition to transition words, and whatever else may appear pertinent as the semester progresses. Furthermore, I’ll gradually present larger chunks of text to students, easing them into short chapter-length passages.
If you’ve been experimenting with Free Voluntary Reading in your classes, or if you’ve been implementing it successfully for years, please share your experiences below so we can learn from one another and improve our classroom experiences for students.
mobile legend dj says
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this post!
It is the little changes that will make the greatest changes.
Thanks for sharing!
Rebecca Ford says
Glad to have been able to help!