Teaching the next generation to think about what they read

Fishers resident and former elementary school teacher turned educational consultant Ciera Harris has written a book to help teachers and parents teach children critical reasoning skills from a very young age.

“Now, in easiest terms, I teach teachers,” Harris told The Reporter. “I support teachers now in their approach to teaching literacy in the classroom.”

Harris’s book, The Thinking Reader, is about teaching young students to think about the content of whatever they are reading.

“The book focuses on teaching students to become critical thinkers while they read,” Harris said. “I think there’s a big piece that’s missing in education right now where we teach our students all of the black and white concepts. We teach them how to spell words and decode words and read fluently, but we’re not really teaching them how to think and really step outside or away from the text and apply what they know and learn to their own world.”

Harris said she believes the world needs more people in the next generation who possess those skills.

“In today’s world, especially in this political climate, we need critical thinkers,” Harris said. “The book is research-based. I’m actually a doctoral student at St. John University, which is in New York. I use a lot of that research in the book to really showcase that we need to be teaching our kids – as we’re teaching them to read – to also think while they read.”

According to Harris, there is no age that is too early to teach critical thinking as a part of reading, even as early as preschool.

“Just having a conversation with them – sitting with my child before school even starts when I’m reading with them – I can show them that reading means I read the words, but it also means I’m thinking in my brain,” Harris said. “There are two parts to it. I call it a give and take relationship between the author and the reader. If that relationship isn’t there then it’s all just one-sided and it’s very surface-level. So we can be showing even our three-year-olds that this is what I do when I read. I read the words and then I think about the words. It doesn’t have to be extremely complicated.”

Later in the learning process, Harris says her book is even more applicable.

“When we get into fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade – which the book is applicable for as well – then we need to teach them more concrete strategies and things, but thinking needs to be taking place at all levels,” Harris said. “This is also a great book for homeschool parents. Parents who just want to help support their kids at home or who have a struggling reader who just wants to know more without overwhelming them with all the nitty-gritty of teaching phonics. This is going to be a great book for all of the above.”

The Thinking Reader is currently available for pre-order in both physical and electronic formats. You can find links to buy a copy and learn more about the book online at cieraharristeaching.com/the-thinking-reader.