User:KAGreene/Unison Reading

Unison Reading is a form of small-group reading instruction in which students read a text aloud in unison. As they are reading, students stop the group in order to raise questions, confusions, and insights about the text. Students develop strategies for reading and find answers to their questions with the help of other group members.

Unison Reading is based on the tenet that learning occurs on a social plane and that reading is a highly social process. The practice also draws upon the idea that student choice and agency are at the heart of motivation to learn. Unison Reading is the small-group reading component of the literacy pedagogy, Genre Practice.

Formation of Unison Reading Groups
Class lists are divided into groups of five to six students. Children in the first group begin the Unison Reading cycle as "group leaders." Group leaders select texts to read and are responsible for facilitating the Unison Reading process throughout the week. During each subsequent week the cycle begins anew as the leadership role rotates to a new group of students who select a new set of texts to read. This system insures that all children have equal opportunity to assume the role of group leader.

Each group leader selects a short passage, such as an article from a magazine, that he or she finds interesting. The text must be an appropriate length to sustain reading and discussion for the group which will meet four times during the week. During a typical week, a teacher will typically meet with a Unison Reading group for two 15-30 minute sessions; and the group will meet independently, without the teacher another two times.

Typically, the teacher displays the selected texts on the bulletin board. Each text is posted next to a sign-up form listing the title of the text, the group leader's name, and four blank lines. Students in remaining groups are called upon in sequential order to sign up for weekly reading groups based on personal interest in text offerings. Students browse text selections, identify a text they wish to read, and sign up for that group. As a result, groups are homogeneous in nature and are not dictated by reading ability or level.

A maximum of five students are permitted in each group. The combination of small groups and concrete process rules helps insure group cohesion. Groups gather to read in a close circle formation so students can hear one another and, when necessary, lean over to one another and point to specific references within a text.

Rules of Unison Reading
Students are held accountable to learning standards by a fixed set of rules and expectations in Unison Reading. First, all group members must read aloud in sync loudly enough so other members can hear them, but not so loud as to overpower the group. Second, all group members must demonstrate promotive behaviors with one another. Third, all students are accountable for speaking up, or "breaching" the group, when any aspect of the text brings about confusion or insights worthy of comment. These breaches are opportunities for group members to discuss confusions in order to find resolution. Sometimes group members are able to immediately address confusions; other times, the group must find a strategy to achieve mutual understanding. This process aligns with the Vygotskiian principle that new knowledge is often first learned in social practice before becoming integrated into personal understanding.

Student Roles in Unison Reading
A distinctive feature of the Unison Reading method is that students, not their teachers, facilitate Unison Reading groups. Authority for managing groups is distributed to students through the role of "group leader." The role of group leader rotates on a weekly basis to 5 or 6 students who are responsible for selecting a text of their choice that can be read in its entirety over the course of four, 15-30 minute meetings. The group leader convenes the group, distributes photocopies of the text selection, and initiates the reading process. Once the group decides where in the text to begin to read, the group leader typically prompts the group (e.g., "ready, set, go," or “1, 2, 3” or a similar prompt). All students are responsible for stopping, or "breaching," the group when they don't understand what they have read, when one of the group rules has been broken, when they have a questions to ask, or when they are unable to decode a word.

Kim: seems the following content shouldn't belong in 'student roles'?

These breaches are classified into the following four categories: social process, genre, decoding, and comprehension.

Teacher Roles in Unison Reading
The teacher follows in to students' multiple inquiries in the text. This is contrary to traditional small-group reading instruction, which requires children to follow into a teacher’s one instructional point for a given lesson. During Unison Reading, the teacher details breaches by keeping a record, deemed a Unison Reading Record, of the group. This assures that students are participating and holds the teacher accountable to city and state learning standards. Concurrently, the recording routine serves as a reminder for the teacher to take a backseat in the group.

Unison Reading Records also provide ample opportunity for teachers to choose topics for future instruction. Often, these lessons are "harvested" for "grass-roots mini-lessons" that begin the reading workshop in the Genre Practice framework.

About Genre Practice
Genre Practice is a progressive approach to literacy instruction. It is a student-centered pedagogy that strictly adheres to learning standards. Its foundation is built upon the belief that autonomy, choice, and engagement are essential to the learning process.

In Genre Practice classrooms, children have the freedom to choose the books they want to read and the texts they want to write. Genre Practice uses the traditional workshop methods of the mini-lesson, work time, and share. Genre Practice builds upon these routines, but places an emphasis on the social and emotional needs of learners, as well as students’ development of autonomy and responsibility. Genre Practice was developed by Dr. Cynthia McCallister, associate professor of Literacy Education, at New York University. The practice was first implemented in diverse New York City classrooms in 2008.