Reading with a Granny

Reading with a Granny (RwG) is a two-phase reading event in which a) the 3rd and 4th grade students read their favourite books with a reading granny for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, four to five times in total (for one month time), and after that b) the students produced book reviews both in written and video forms which were documented on the Internet pages prepared for this project.

The Reading Sessions: The reading sessions contained reading aloud (the student reads and the granny listens, and sometimes also by taking turns), discussing the plot and main characters, analyzing the content and meaning of words, and the students receive encouraging feedback from the grannies. The reading grannies are six retired teachers, and the project was carried out remotely with rural schools in 2022 and 2023 (spring) in Somero, Finland. Two rural schools Kirkonmäki (24 students/3rd grade) and Oinasjärvi (15 students/3rd and 4th grade) participated in the project. There were two projects in both schools, i.e. in total, four reading projects. At the end of each project the class teacher organized a special event where the reading grannies met with the students and discussed the project. We have had a picnic, a special social gathering at school, and a couple of excursions with the classes. 

The Book Reviews: The second part of the project was the book reviews. The students designed and produced book reviews in two ways: a) written reviews and drawing pictures about the books they had read with the reading grannies, and b) book videos with iPads. All presentations have been shown via CleverTouch smart board. The device made it easy to mirror presentations from the iPad to the smart board, and many presentations were able to be shown at the same time. 

The RwG Internet Pages: Together with the class teachers we produced an Internet page for the project by using Google Sites program (Google Workspace for Education). All reviews and videos are documented here (in Finnish) https://sites.google.com/edu.somero.fi/lukumummit/etusivu  See also English Summary of the project https://sites.google.com/edu.somero.fi/lukumummit/english

The RwG Reading Goals
Our aim in the RwG project is to inspire children and young people to read and encourage communities to support literacy. 

Since the school days are often busy, active, and intense, and teachers have their curriculums to run 
-    we have invited the third sector, voluntary senior teachers to work with us by sharing and implementing their long experience, support, and tacit knowledge with the elementary school students. 
-    we wanted to make the project time efficient for both the schools and the grannies. Hence, we decided to carry the RwG project out via the digital devices. 

ICT Skills Practice
In the RwG project the 3rd and 4th grade students practiced their ICT skills in three ways: 
-    improving their video negotiation skills (Chromebooks, Google Meet)
-    learning and practicing methods for creating book videos (iPads, iMovie)
-    learning and practicing digital drawing skills (iPad, Apple Pencil, Procreate)

ICT Training
We had three training courses for the students, teachers, and grannies. 
-    2x2h Chromebook training. 
-    2x2h iPad training (iMovie, Apple Pencil, Procreate)
-    Additionally, for the teachers and grannies we also had smart board training 2h (CleverTouch) 

Video Negotiation via Google Meet
Our point of approach included the methods and tools of distance teaching. For remote reading we have used Google Meet video meetings (Chromebooks). The grannies were gathered in the local library which provided them a tranquil place for listening and having a dialogue with the student, and the students were located in their own schools. The schools rarely have extra (tranquil) places for these kinds of projects, so the students were reading in quite imaginative spots in order to read unbrokenly for 20 minutes with the granny. 
Since the project is held remotely, it could easily be scaled anywhere, both locally and globally. 

Book Videos and Reviews
The students prepared reviews (with drawings) and videos of the books they had read with the grannies. For the book videos we used iPads and iMovie program. The students were also introduced to digital drawing methods. They practiced digital drawing with iPads and Apple Pencils and learned to use the Procreate application. You can find them on the pages (in Finnish) https://sites.google.com/edu.somero.fi/lukumummit/etusivu.  

Rural School Innovation Strategies
The RwG Project was carried on as a hybrid model (reading books remotely and live meetings at the end of the project), hence it is suitable for rural schools which often are not located in the city centers for extra services. In the RwG case, due to transportation challenges it would have been difficult for the reading grannies to attend the event in live if they had to travel to the rural schools. Furthermore, this way we could offer equal opportunities for rural school students to improve their reading skills despite the distance. The RwG project model is possible to scale both locally and even globally, since the distance is not a problem. 

Impact on students
The book video studies begun quite a boom amongst the students, and after our book project they have prepared quite a few new videos, too, e.g. from their spring forest excursion. The parents have told us that the project has boosted the students’ interest in working with iMovie program, and quite a few of them would like to have an Apple Pencil of their own for digital drawing practice.

The RwG Project Media Articles 
Now the children read fairy tales and the grannies listen (in Finnish)
https://www.somerolehti.fi/2022/11/nyt-satuja-lukevat-lapset-ja-mummit-kuuntelevat/   
The undivided attention of the reading granny encourages reading aloud (in Finnish)
https://www.sss.fi/2022/11/lukumummin-jakamaton-huomio-kannustaa-lukemaan-aaneen-ei-mikaan-voi-olla-tarkeampaa-kuin-tama/  

Social gatherings with the class
At the end of each project, after the remote reading sessions, we met in live with the students in a special event organized by the class teacher. The photos below are from one excursion at a lake near the school (spring 2023). We cooked sausages over a campfire, discussed the books with the students, and the students had even prepared a special program for us: questions for the reading grannies which they read one by one. It was a perfect closing for an inspiring project.