Reading Identity in Three Questions

Identity goes beyond titles we use to describe parts of who we are.? “I am a dancer,” is an example.? What being a dancer means ranges from being a beginning jazz or tap dancer to an expert in several dances. Therefore, labels attached to maturing readers can range from titles to explicit actions and behaviors a reader engages in. For instance, “I am a non-fiction reader” is ambiguous.? I read books from Steve Sheinken and books about the Holocaust are more descriptive.

How identity is formed is more complicated. Identity is not a wellspring that bursts like a geyser saying, “This is who I am!”? It’s a combination of factors and an understanding of self. While I am not a physiologist, I am a reading teacher who helps students create an identity by understanding themselves within the broad meaning of what reading constitutes. Developing a reading identity is ignored or marginalized in schools because identity is not measurable or within standards.

However, there is a continuum in which a student forms a reading identity. It’s analogous to many phases of human development.? From my view as a literacy specialist, remaining as a classroom teacher, three main questions influence or define the reader's identity from their primary years into middle school. Initially, students gauge what people say about them as readers. An example might be, “My teacher thinks I am a good reader.”? Next, the student considers what they’ve learned in conjunction with feedback from others, namely, parents, teachers, and peers. “How do I know I’m a good reader?” Finally, dive deep inside exploring themselves, perhaps within the context they exist. The question is along the lines of “Am I a reader?”

During the foundational skills years, the phonics period, and years of reading decodable texts, transitioning into “lighter” chapter book reading, a maturing reader is taking in a ton of information about who they are as readers. Teacher feedback influences readers, assessments influence readers, and more importantly, comparisons to peers, influence our maturing readers. On the Reader Self-Perception Scale, there are three key questions. Each end in “… thinks I am a good reader,” be it parents, teachers, or peers. It happens that identity development across the primary grades into the intermediate grades, influence is a primary factor in a person’s identity. It’s no wonder then, reading being an aspect of one’s identity follows suit.?

Let’s consider things a bit differently now. If a student is told they are good readers because they read one fantasy book after another, the student will believe they are good readers, even if they don’t acknowledge for themselves they are good readers. The downfall of this, however, is the limited definition of a good reader. In this case, the student is noted for reading a genre. Not multiple genres. There’s no feedback on their surface-level comprehension, deeper comprehension, or connections between other fantasy books. Thus, the reader might deal with some hard truths about themselves internally that contradict what favored adults are telling them. Such an instance could induce shame. It could also mean the students forsake their search for who they could be as readers to live up to the image favored adults created for them.

At the start of the school year, I ask students to develop a Reading Autobiography. One of the prompts is “What I’ve learned about reading.” What students learn about reading influences what they know and think about themselves as readers. The problem is students commonly tell me they don’t know what they’ve learned about reading. It should be no surprise then that maturing readers don’t have much of an identity other than to say, “I only like to read books I am interested in,” likely a comment picked up from a teacher along the, meaning students are parroting a correct answer, more so than an authentic representation of themselves.

As I’ve written in previous blogs and I Hate Reading, a reading level is not an identity either. It’s the assignment of a label students use to gauge themselves against peers.? “I am a level 40 reader” is superior to students who are not yet at grade level have struggled with language disabilities dyslexia or are new to English. It disempowers such students, making reading an entitlement, when students cannot define themselves beyond a reading level.

There are students, as they move through grades, who begin to recognize how they’ve become readers.? They are exploring the breadth of reading across genres.? They see how reading strategies are effective tools to gain more from a reading experience.? They can describe how they clarify by using syllables to determine a word that links to their oral lexicons, breaking apart morphemes and finding base words, or connecting words they’ve seen in one book to another.? These are moments of celebration when maturing readers come to share this news with us – the people they still seek affirmation from (because we never really grow out of seeing approval from others to validate our identities).

The final question students contend with is “Am I a reader?”? However shame in reading is often confined to the impediment of dyslexia or the suffering from illiteracy. There is shame in aliteracy too.? Some students know how to read and choose not to, cannot, or are impaired by the exceptional reading and praise peers receive.? Conversely, some students are able to say they are readers because they make the time to read, persevere through challenging text, and they are self-motivated to read even in non-supportive reading environments.? I think of a case last school year, where a self-proclaimed standard-meeting, non-reader said to me, “There is no way I can read that many books. I'm too busy after school.” It could be said the student didn’t want to fail me. I could be the student who began to believe in himself.? I could be the student who realized there is more than one way to become a reader, be it the breadth and depth of books he read or the fluidity of authentic reading outside of school.? Whatever the case, he left school knowing he was a reader, because he read things he never had before, he moved beyond “What I am interested in.” He didn’t read some nights, but never made excuses.? The student said to his parents, “I actually want to read.” He wouldn’t say it was because he knew how to the previous questions posed in this peice, but always attested to finding reading easier because he was shown how to make a reading experience beneficial. The shame he felt inside at the start of the year because he didn’t see himself as a reader in a reading environment, changed to owning his identity and dispelling any level of me. Indeed, he is a reader.

What and how a student internalizes as a reader carries significant weight.? Maturing readers begin hearing feedback about their abilities before school begins.? As their school career unfolds, feedback comes from teachers and teachers. At this time, feedback from various sources might be in agreement or conflict leaving the student to sort things out. Some try to sort things out internally, others have a support network if you will.? And that’s if students receive feedback at all. It’s always important to note that no feedback registers negatively in humans as a response to ancient natural defense systems. With that said, students who receive negative feedback can develop negative self-perceptions, but at least they know where they stand. Being ignored is one of the most painful interactions a human can face. That’s why we are so essential in the lives of maturing readers.? We influence their image of being a good reader. We are the ones that set up the context for students to say, “This is how I know I am a reader.”? We also have the power to create a classroom culture that invites students to explore the depth and breadth of their reading identity to say, “I am a good reader! – and I’m quite proud of myself!