by Maria Nichols

In a world addicted to speed, slowness is a superpower.

~ Carl Honoré

Summertime means fiction time, and my summer has launched with Abraham Verghese‘s The Covenant of Water. My pacing is delightfully unhurried as I linger over gorgeous prose, reread long passages, and take time-outs to talk with friends about perplexing characters in an unfamiliar world.  Page by page, I feel myself balancing delight and despair, beauty and horror. I’m reveling in slow reading, taking to heart Thomas Newkirk’s invitation; “Take your time. Pay attention. Touch the words and tell me how they touch you.” (2011).    

In reflection, I realize that I tend to reserve certain reading, particularly rich fiction, for stretches of time when I’m able to sink in and pay attention.  Conversations with my colleague, Adria Klein, lets me know I’m not alone here. Newkirk himself seems to offer insight into this preference through his definition of slow reading, citing it as a thoughtfulness, a “… deliberate effort to maintain an intimate relationship with what we read, the quality of our attention to ideas” (2011).  Jacqueline Woodson eloquently elevates this coveting of protected space and time for reading, recalling:

As a child, I knew that stories were meant to be savored, that stories wanted to be slow, and that some author had spent months, maybe years, writing them, and my job as the reader, especially as the reader who wanted to one day to become a writer, was to respect that narrative (2019).

Stories are meant to be savored.  If we live this joy as readers, shouldn’t we then make space for this joy with our students? What might happen if we slow to savor texts by thinking and talking during read alouds, and offer extended independent reading time for partners or small groups to read, think, talk, and savor their own reading? And, how might time siting alongside our readers, reveling in ideas, offer insight into their process, language learning, and meaning-making (Klein & Brisceño, 2019)?  These questions are the perfect segue into a fourth grade classroom, and a year-long study guided by a single compilation of these ideas: How do we invite students to savor texts?  

Let’s begin with an end of year scenario from students’ independent reading.  The teacher and I were wrapping up a reading conference when Isla, Alona and Francisco caught our eye.  The three were comfortably occupying prime carpet real estate, a picture book open in front of them.  As we watched, they shifted from excitedly talking and flipping pages to a long, contemplative pause over a single two page spread.  Isla said something, and Alona and Francisco rose to their knees, swiveling their bodies towards the class library. Then the two hopped up and, deftly navigating the maze of classmates, raced for the shelves.

Curiosity peaked, we made our way over to Isla, who had shifted her gaze back to a book I recognized as Monika Vaicenavičienė’s What Is a River?. This text launches with a  young girl’s simple question: “Grandma, what is a river?”.  Grandma’s response immerses readers in a multi-faceted exploration of rivers across time, and around the world. 

As the teacher and I settled beside Isla, she matter-of-factly shared, “We’re talking about the magic.” The look on our faces must have begged explanation, as she nudged, “Remember?  The forest book – the one we read?  Maybe the girl and the grandma – ”

Isla’s thought was interrupted by Alona and Francisco, who plopped back down, Maria Dek’s A Walk In the Forest in hand. Dek’s gentle story carries readers alongside a young boy on his daylong foray into the forest’s wonders. The story ends as night sets in, Dek’s sparse but lyrical prose and illustrations capturing the awe of the enveloping darkness: “When night falls, it’s magical.” Isla eagerly grabbed the book and flipped to this very two-page spread.

Isla: Here! But remember how everybody thought the whole thing [forest] is magical?  Now I think maybe it’s like, the magical – it could be in him. Because I think it’s getting in them [the characters in What Is a River?]too.

Francisco: What? 

Isla:  Remember, the grandma? She tells about the river, and at the end, they’re all feeling really – like [sigh of exasperation] I don’t know how to say it.  

The three sit in quiet contemplation, thumbing through the pages of both books as they think.  

Francisco: So maybe the river and a forest – they’re both magical?

Alona: Oh – I get it!  maybe people go there, to the river or whatever, and when they’re in it –

Isla: Yeah, they’re in it, and maybe the magical gets inside them.  

The three pause again, Isla’s theory nudging at them.  Then Francisco flipped both texts back to the beginning, and said, “Let’s read them again, O.K.?”  And, with unspoken consensus, the three stretched out on their stomachs, chins resting in hands, ready to dig in … to take their time, to pay attention.

So, what’s happening here, and how is it connected to our focus on savoring texts?  An early September visit to this same classroom revealed reading that was anything but slow.  Students raced through books, hopping up and down to the library to switch out titles.  Meaning making was surface level at best.  We quickly realized the need to slow and deepen student’s reading, and began designing instruction around three overarching elements: compelling text, thoughtful use of time, and broad and deep meaning making.  Let’s explore each a bit more.  

Compelling Text

Isla, Alona and Francisco were coaxed into an exploration of the beauty and complexity of our shared earth by two gorgeous picture books.  Each text was the work of a single author/illustrator who entices readers with both evocative illustrations and words that flow between poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction. Texts that are crafted to be slowly sipped and savored.

If our goal is students who savor as they read, then we need – and they deserve – texts that compel.  Texts that are intellectually worthy, texts that are invitations to linger and explore. Instead of answering our questions, these texts should spark students’ own questions.  Instead of relying on false invitations to extend learning using teacher directed tasks, these texts should stir self-determined reflections and intentionality.

Thoughtful Use of Time

Isla, Alona and Francisco had ample time for independent reading, and were intentionally using that time to best serve their own purpose.  Without prompting, the three had slowed to notice, wonder, and pursue that wonder.  

This thoughtful self-crafting of an intellectual journey was the result of what Marie Clay calls “patient instruction” (1991) that focused on the flow from read aloud to independent reading.  Ways of savoring text (see below) were facilitated and made visible through reflection and discussion. These processes were then imagined into and supported during independent reading.

Broad and Deep Meaning Making

As the children talked about What Is a River?, Isla realized that immersion in nature touched character’s hearts in this and in A Walk In the Forest, and shared that tentative revelation. Alona and Francisco recognized this as an expression of curiosity (Engel 2015), which they interpreted as an invitation, and the three launched into self-designed inquiry.

Isla, Alona and Francisco’s decisions are the result of multilayered teaching intended to consistently strengthen children’s capacity to slow, sink into, and savor text, with an emphasis on deep meaning-making. As I reflected on this teaching with Adria, her noticing resonates:  Instruction was not scripted, over scaffolded, or narrowed towards isolated outcomes. Rather, teaching focused responsively on three broad meaning-making goals:

Thinking and talking to construct understanding:

• Talk was taught and facilitated with the goal of building ideas that are bigger and bolder than possible in a single mind alone (Nichols, 2019)
  • The process was made visible through reflection and feedback to help students develop the ability to think and talk well together on their own (Nichols, 2019)   

Finding depth in single texts:

• Read alouds modeled deliberate slowing to linger with beauty and complexity
• • Cognitive process work was supported through facilitation and feedback, developing students’ awareness of and strategies for attending to the quality of their ideasRereads were purposefully designed to re-engage readers in beauty and complexity, with time to reflect on the benefit

Broadening meaning making by thinking and talking between or among multiple texts:

• Read alouds included reflection on the ways ideas in one text might make us wonder more about the ideas in another text 
  • Teacher facilitation emphasized thinking and talking between or among texts to deepen and broaden meaning making 
• • Reread alouds modeled purposefully rereading to support this process

All of this teaching and learning was buoyed by feedback that made the process – and the result of that process – visible (Johnston, 2012).  The outcome was readers who are agentive and thoughtful, fully attending to the quality of their ideas.  So, where are Isla, Alona and Francisco going with their inquiry?  Will they continue to revel in the wonders of nature? Form theories about nature’s impact on the human spirit? Advocate for stewardship of our rivers and forests? Only time – time filled with filled with intentionally slow reading – will tell.  

References:

Clay, Marie.  1991.  Becoming Literate: The Construction of Inner Control.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Dek, Maria. 2017. A Walk In the Forest. Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

Engel, Susan. 2015.  The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Honoré, Carl. 2021. How To Make Slowness Your Superpower.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPpTmoZrK4E  

Klein, A. F., & Briceño, A. (2019). An Assets-Oriented, Formative Oral Language 

Assessment for Multilingual Students: The Oral Language Record in Handbook of Research on Assessment Practices and Pedagogical Models for Immigrant Students, Onchwari, G., and Keengwa, J. (eds.) Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Newkirk, Thomas.  2011.  The Art of Slow Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Johnston, Peter.  2012. Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives.  Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse.

Nichols, Maria.  2019.  Building Bigger Ideas: A Process for Teaching Purposeful Talk. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Nichols, Maria. 2009.  Expanding Comprehension With Multigenre Text Sets.  New York, NY: Scholastic.

Pearson, P. David & Tierney, Robert J.  2023. Fact-Checking the “Science of Reading”: Claims, Assumptions, and Consequences.  I.L.A.  

https://www.literacyworldwide.org/meetings-events/ila-digital-events/ila-webinars/fact-checking-the-science-of-reading-claims-assumptions-and-consequences

Vaicenavičienė, Monika. 2019. What Is a River? Brooklyn, NY: Enchanted Lion Books.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  “What Reading Slowly Taught Me About Writing.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.  Nov. 8, 2019. https://www.ted.com/talks/jacqueline_woodson_what_reading_slowly_taught_me_about_writing?language=en

Maria’s work as an educational leader includes 33 years with the San Diego Unified School District, where she served as a classroom teacher, demonstration teacher, literacy coach, and eventually as the Director of School Innovation. Now, her passion for transformational approaches to teaching and learning powered by the constructive, dynamic nature of talk fuels
her efforts with educators, districts and organizations across the U.S. and internationally. Maria honors the innovative capacity of teachers and students alike, and finds immense joy engaging alongside both.

Maria Nichols is the author of numerous texts and articles focused on engaging students through talk, including Comprehension Through Conversation: The Power of Purposeful Talk in the ReadingWorkshop (Heinemann, 2006),

“Real Talk, Real Teaching”
(Ed Leadership, November 2014), and most recently,

Building Bigger Ideas: A Process For Teaching Purposeful Talk (Heinemann, 2019).