What were reading teachers, the reading coach, and the FLaRE coordinator doing on a Saturday at St Cloud High School? The answer is simple, they were working on creating text sets to engage reluctant readers. According to Reading Coach Brenda Harmon, the work was driven by a searing need to find interesting ways to engage high school non-readers who have been trampled by failure. Every reading teacher at St. Cloud High School is designing a text set on a high interest topic such as Response to Teen Violence. The text sets are being created to facilitate student inquiry, thus creating a classroom situation where reading skill instruction and practice will be embedded in the quest for answers to student-generated questions. Each text set includes a variety of fiction and informational sources for student investigation. The students will engage in real life applications of literacy skills such as reading blogs and determining the purpose and validity of the communication.

Creating the text sets is a time intensive endeavor. To support his teachers, Principal Scott Muri gave the teachers comp time for their Saturday work. He also was very inventive and carved out time for them during finals week. In order to find extra time to work on the text sets, the school’s reading teachers gave their finals early, then were able to use the rest of the time during finals week to work on the text sets. Creating text sets with broad instructional units is difficult while teaching reading all day. Thanks to the creative scheduling by Mr. Muri, the reading teachers have had days to dedicate to the new work of the text sets.