The Reading Teacher Vol. 66 Issue 8 pp. 632641 DOI:10.1002/TRTR.

1171 2013 International Reading Association

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R T
LEARNI NG TO
UNDERSTAND
OTHERS THROUGH
RELATIONALLY
ORI ENTED
READI N
G
Judith Lysaker

Clare Tonge
The author describes how, through purposeful use of picture books as
relational resources, teachers can help children develop social imagination,
enhancing their understanding of others.
Dear Mom,
I miss you and dad misses you. We are homeless.
From, Missy
W
hen this letter was written, Missy
was a second grader participating
in Relationally Oriented Reading
Instruction (RORI) in her urban
elementary school. She has written from the
perspective of the boy in Fly Away Home (Bunting,
1991). Personal responses such as these demonstrate
childrens abilities to personally, though vicariously,
connect to other people by imagining the thoughts
and feelings of characters in picture books as part
of making sense of and responding to stories.
Understanding people and understanding story have
overlapped.
This ability to imagine the thoughts, feelings,
and intentions of others is known as social
imagination (Johnston, 1993), social understanding
Judith Lysaker is an associate professor at Purdue University,
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; e-mail jlysaker@purdue.edu.
Clare Tonge teaches year 2 students in the Sawley infant school in
Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
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(Carpendale & Lewis, 2002), or theory
of mind (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright,
Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001) and is
thought to be central to forming and
sustaining positive relationships. In
fact, to use social imagination is to
connect to the reality of others by
imagining their inner worlds or mental
states. Children are believed to develop
this relational capacity within social
interaction (Carpendale & Lewis,
2002), particularly with caring others
to whom they are attached. Within
these secure relationships, they can
both see and hear what happens when
people try to understand each other.
The development of social imagination
is considered critical to childrens social
and emotional well-being.
Although this example may seem
unremarkable, Missy is a student who
often has trouble getting along with her
peers and who experiences considerable
difficulty understanding what she
reads. She is not alone. Children who
struggle with reading often have other
difficulties both in and out of school.
Indeed, some suggest that as many
as 75% of children who have learning
difficulties also have less developed
social skills than their classroom
counterparts (Wanzek, Vaughn, Kim &
Cavanaugh, 2006). In addition, children
with reading difficulties have been
found to demonstrate socio-emotional
difficulties including greater feelings of
loneliness than their more accomplished
peers (Al-Yagon & Margalit, 2006).
These social realities make it important
to examine existing school practices
to see how they might help children
make connections to others and build
relational capacities such as social
imagination.
As faculty and graduate students
interested in reading theory and
reading instruction, we designed
RORI, an approach to interactive
reading that pays particular attention to
relationships, especially those between
readers and book characters. RORI
was implemented with 22 second and
third graders identified by teachers
as experiencing difficulties with
interpersonal interactions and reading
comprehension. Graduate students in
education taught the groups, supervised
by the principal investigator.
Comprehension and social
imagination were assessed before
and after the intervention. To assess
comprehension, we first administered
the reading comprehension section of
an Informal Reading Inventory (Roe
& Burns, 2002) as a listening task to
remove the obstacles of decoding.
Second, participants read a wordless
picture book that was scored for
narrative competence (Paris & Paris,
2003). Both listening comprehension
and narrative competence are
considered important indicators of
developing reading comprehension.
Social imagination was assessed
by measuring the ability of children to
recognize emotion in the eyes of other
people represented in photographs
(Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), perceive
when peoples feelings are being
hurt in a short story (Baron-Cohen
& ORiordan, 1999), and imagine the
thoughts, feelings, and intentions of
others during wordless book reading.
As shown in Table 1, children made
statistically significant gains on these
measures after eight weeks of RORI
(Lysaker, Tonge, Gauson, & Miller,
2011). The purpose of this article is to
describe the approach and the rationale
for RORI and discuss what we learned
from its implementation.
Fiction Reading and Social
Imagination
It is widely believed that fiction
reading has the ability to promote
understandings of the human condition
(Gregory, 2009), particularly those
aspects that deal with personal and
moral dimensions of life (Clare,
Gallimore, & Patthey-Chavez, 1996;
Koc & Buzzelli, 2004). In fact, stories
are thought to be especially powerful
influences on the ability to understand
Pause and Ponder

What purposes do you have now for
reading books to children? How might
these purposes be broadened to support
the childrens development of social
imagination?

Analyze the books in your school or
districts reading program. Do the
depictions of characters prompt
investigation of their inner worlds?

Gather 1530 picture books from your
classrooms. Reread them and talk with
others about the complexity of
characters, range of emotions, and
presentation of the human condition.
Create a text set of those that seem
most promising as resources for
relational instruction.
In fact, stories are thought to be powerful
influences on the ability to understand or
imagine the thoughts and feelings of others.
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or imagine the thoughts and feelings
of others. Bruner (1986) suggested that
stories offer children the opportunity
to learn about what he calls the
landscape of consciousness, the
inner world of thinking and feeling,
and the landscape of action, the
outer world of doing (p. 14). Indeed,
picture books in particular present
short, appealing views of how these
landscapes intertwine, illustrating the
ways in which characters thoughts,
feelings, and intentions influence the
action of the story (Szarkowicz, 2000)
and providing information about the
minds of other people (Dyer, Shatz, &
Wellman, 2000).
One way to explain these
connections between reading and the
development of social imagination is
to examine what happens during the
comprehension of stories. As children
engage in understanding stories, we say
they make personal connections and
relate to characters. These connections
begin as literary response when children
imagine characters thoughts, feelings,
and intentions, as well as how they are
like and unlike their own. Connections
grow into relationships as children learn
more about characters, particularly the
ways in which characters thoughts,
feelings, and intentions are linked
to actions. This is an important part
of making sense of the plot line of
narrative and the story as a whole. In
this way, social imagination is integral
to the comprehending process itself.
This is consistent with Rosenblatts
(1938/1983) idea that readers make
personal responses to stories that
contribute to meaning construction
during the reader/text transaction.
According to Rosenblatt (1978), this
transaction results in the transformation
of the reader. We suggest that this
could be, in part, because readers form
relationships with fictional others
through the use of social imagination
as part of the meaning-making process.
Fictive relationships, though vicarious,
shape the person reading much like
real ones. This assertion is supported
by research suggesting that the same
neurological regions of the brain are
stimulated whether our connections
with others occur in real or fictional
contexts (Mar, Oatley, Hirsh, dela Paz,
& Peterson, 2006).
Bakhtins (1935/1981) notion of
dialogism helps to explicate how these
fictional relationships lead to changes in
the reader. From a dialogic perspective,
the self is theorized as a multivocal
conversation, a set of fluid, flexible
voices. When reading, the voices of the
self engage in a dialogic exchange with
the voices of the text, creating a lived,
relational experience with characters.
This dialogic exchange is dependent on
the readers use of social imagination to
envision some aspect of the characters
inner world that can then be engaged in
conversation.
In this way, the person reading
transacts with the text by imagining
the inner worlds of characters and
appropriating some of the voices
present there, which are later
internalized (Fernyhough, 2008). This
results in a transformative mingling
of self and other, what we often call
character identification. Ricoeur (1991)
put it this way: the appropriation of
the identity of a fictional character by
the reader is a form of mediation of the
self (p. 77). This dialogic relational
view of the reader/text transaction helps
to explain the integral role of social
imagination in the comprehending
process, as well as the transformational
power of fiction reading.
RORI
Our theoretical perspective on reading,
the role of social imagination in
comprehending, and the formative
role of language and social interaction
in fostering social imagination
informed our development of RORI.
As a result, we created a model of
reading instruction that emphasizes
Table 1 Pre/Post Assessments of RORI
Assessment % Increase from pre to post Significance level
Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test 21 p < .001
Faux Pas Test 124 p < .001
WBR: Social Imagination 41 p < .001
WBR: Narrative Competence 27 p < .002
Listening Comprehension 39 p < .001
Note. WBR = wordless book reading.
When reading, the voices of the self
engage inadialogic exchange with the
voices of thetext,creating a lived relational
experiencewith characters.
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relationships, particularly those between
readers and book characters.
RORI is a variation of the interactive
read-aloud and shares some of the
central assumptions and practices of that
genre of reading instruction (Barrentine,
1996; Fisher, Flood, Lapp, & Frey, 2004).
RORI teachers and children read picture
books in an interactive style in which
both teacher and student actively engage
in thinking about the text. Informed by
other reading interventions (Doyle &
Bramwell, 2006; Wanzek et al., 2006),
we used small-group repeated readings
of picture books. However, unlike
other kinds of interactive reading,
we had a specific relational purpose:
to demonstrate and foster childrens
abilities to understand the thoughts,
feelings, and intentions of others by
focusing on picture book characters.
Consistent with other kinds of
pedagogy that have a relational focus
(Skidmore, 2006), we set out to create a
sense of care and responsiveness within
RORI groups. We thought that such
caring relationships would serve as both
contexts and models for learning how
one goes about imagining the thoughts,
feelings, and intentions of others.
Indeed, positive interactions around
book reading are promoted by childrens
sense of secure attachment to caregivers
(Bus, Belsky, Ijzendoorn, & Crnik, 1997),
and childrens perceptions of the teacher
as a secure base, someone accessible
and responsive, may be important
for children with reading difficulties
(Al-Yagon & Margalit, 2006). Children
met in book groups of 35 participants
twice a week for 45 minutes over a
period of 8 weeks, with one graduate
student per group as the teacher. Each
week the same picture book was used
for both sessions, promoting repeated
reading and revisiting of characters.
Given the purposes of RORI, we
chose six picture books that provided
readers with opportunities for forming
vicarious relationships with characters
by imagining their thoughts, feelings,
and intentions. These books have high
emotional content, illustrations that
prompt consideration of the inner world
of characters, and problems that involve
human challenge.
We began with Thank You, Mr. Falker
(Polacco, 1998) because we thought that
RORI participants would easily relate
to the main character who struggles
with learning to read. This similarity to
their own experiences would facilitate
imagining characters thoughts, feelings,
and intentions. Polaccos illustrations
portray a range of emotions, inviting
exploration of characters inner worlds.
Next we used Shrinking Violet
(Best, 2001), which takes place in a
contemporary classroom and explores
what it is like to be a shy girl who deals
with a classroom bully. The classroom
context of the story, as well as depictions
of dealing with social and emotional
challenges of school in the illustrations,
encourage relationships with characters
and invite children to imagine their
realities.
The third book used in RORI was The
Story of Ruby Bridges (Coles, 1995), the
well-known account of the first black
girl in an all-white New Orleans school.
The representation of strong human
emotions such as anger, loneliness, and
courage pulls readers into prompt talk
about characters inner worlds.
Martins Big Words: The Life of
Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. (Rappaport,
2001), chronicles important events in
Martin Luther Kings life and includes
reflections from his actual writings
that serve as an invitation to the storys
landscape of consciousness. In the
first pages, Martin is portrayed as a
young boy who feels badly when he sees
the signs in his neighborhood that say
white only, providing an early and
important entry point for constructing a
relationship with the character.
We chose Ians Walk: A Story
About Autism (Lears, 1998) because
it illuminates the difficult realities
of a young boy with autism and the
relational challenges experienced by his
sister. Both illustrations and language
paint a picture of the ways in which Ian
perceives and experiences the world,
inviting children to imagine the reality
of someone who is likely different from
themselves.
The last book used in RORI was
Fly Away Home (Bunting, 1991), a
well-known story of a boy and his
father living in an airport. Like the
other books, Fly Away Home has
high emotional content and depicts
characters in tough circumstances. The
illustrations show complex emotional
states, hinting at multifaceted inner
worlds.
The Relational Framework
Relationships Between RORI
Teachers and Children
After selecting appropriate picture
books, our next concern was the
relationships between RORI teachers
We thought that such caring relationships
would serve as both contexts and models
forimagining the thoughts, feelings, and
intentionsof others.
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and children, as well as those between
and among children. During the first
week of RORI, teachers and children
shared food, talked about favorite books,
and invented group names and logos.
Children were given reader response
journals and reading folders that they
decorated with these symbols of their
group identities. In addition, group
guidelines setting common purposes
were jointly constructed.
Relationships Between RORI
Teachers and Book Characters
In addition to promoting good
relationships between RORI
teachers and children, we developed
instructional practices that emphasized
the demonstration of teachers
relationships with book characters.
Teachers voicing of authentic
responses to book characters was of
central importance. These responses
represented a kind of social interaction
between teachers and the characters
in which children could see and hear
what it is like to try to understand
others (characters) during reading,
hence promoting the development of
social imagination. Of course, teachers
authentic responses also provided
demonstrations of how readers connect
with characters, which children could
later draw on during RORI sessions.
To achieve authentic relationships
with characters, book group teachers
prepared for RORI sessions by
responding to picture books as readers.
Using a set of connection stems
(McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004), they
constructed responses and questions
about the thoughts, feelings, and
intentions of characters that occurred to
them as they read. Connection stems are
phrases that use metacognitive language
to help teachers guide students
responses to text.
For example, the connection stem
I wonder points out the thinking
of the teacher and suggests a process
children can also use. When I wonder
is followed by how Ruby is feeling right
now, it provides a demonstration of
thinking about the thoughts or feelings
of others, the kind of resource likely
to support the development of social
imagination. These responses were
recorded on sticky notes and applied to
the appropriate book pages. Examples
are shown in Table 2.
After the sticky-note preparation,
RORI teachers began the first session
of each week by introducing the
picture book for that week, linking
it to what had come before either
in terms of similarity between
protagonists or in response to
childrens reactions to an earlier book.
They then read the new book, stopping
to talk about what they had written on
their sticky notes. As RORI teachers
read their comments, they also pointed
to the pictures that had prompted
them, asking children to look at the
illustrations with them to establish
shared understandings.
For example, as a response to Fly
Away Home, one RORI teacher, Candace
(all names are pseudonyms), made the
following comments on sticky notes
and shared them with her book group
during the first RORI session of week 7:
If I were that boy and his dad I would
feel scared and a bit lost not having
Table 2 RORI Framework, Examples Across Books
Book title Connection stem
Session 1
Authentic response
Session 2
Question or elicitation
Thank You, Mr. Falker This is making me
feel nervous
because I remember I
didnt like having to
read out loud in school.
Does this story remind
you of anything in your own life?
Shrinking Violet Wow that never
happened to me!
Having to hide under the
desk that way.
Why do you think he
decides to do that to her?
The Story of Ruby
Bridges
The look on her face reminds me of when I wanted to do
things but wasnt allowed because I
am a girl.
If you were Ruby how would you be
feeling right now?
Martins Big
Words
This is making me feel glad that he is saying these words. Why do you think the author is telling this
story?
Ians Walk I wonder what it feels like to have autism? If you were his sister, what would you be
thinking now?
Fly Away Home That seems
hard
to have to make yourself look like
nobody at all.
What do you imagine the dad is feeling as he
goes off to work?
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a home, and I wonder what he is
thinking when his dad leaves for work?
Candace used the connection stems If I
were and I wonder and then followed
them with true personal responses,
showing the children in the group what
it looks and sounds like to use social
imagination to connect to characters.
In this way, children were observing
real human responses to text and to
the people represented in those texts,
providing a potentially powerful
context for the development of social
imagination. At the end of each weeks
first session, teachers and children wrote
in their reader response journals. This
writing gave another demonstration
of how to connect to text and made
childrens own connections to the
inner worlds of characters visible to
themselves.
Relationships Between
Children and Book Characters
The focus of each weeks second session
was the relationship between children
and book characters. During this
second reading of the picture book,
RORI teachers used questioning to
engage children in actively imagining
the thoughts, feelings, and intentions
of others. For example, one question
constructed by a RORI teacher was,
If you were Ruby, what would you be
thinking now? Childrens responses
to these questions were first affirmed
by RORI teachers and then extended
in ways that were relevant to children
and consistent with the purposes of
RORI. This was done to further develop
the relationships between teachers and
children as well as between children
and book characters. For example, RORI
teachers said things like, Thats right.
How would you feel if someone was
bullying you?
At the end of the second session,
children wrote letters to, or from,
characters they encountered in the
story (Brill, 2004), requiring children
to engage in imagining the thoughts
and feelings of others yet again, this
time through written language. During
this writing, RORI group teachers
circulated among children, supporting
spelling and mechanics to alleviate
childrens concerns with encoding and
punctuation.
A Snapshot of RORI
The following vignette provides a
snapshot of RORI as one RORI teacher,
Candace, uses Shrinking Violet with
five second graders. In the first session,
Candace shared her own responses as
a reader, using connection stems. Using
comments such as, Wow that never
happened to me, or having to hide
under the desk that way would make me
feel..., she invited children to consider
the ways their lives were similar and
different to the characters in the story, a
first step to imagining their inner worlds.
In this second session, Candace
began using questions to help children
connect with the text by imagining
characters thoughts, feelings, and
intentions. The illustration they are
focused on here depicts the bully,
Irwin, jumping out from behind a bush,
shouting You have hairy arms! His
face has a mean, taunting smile.
Candace: What do you think is going
on with the characters in this
picture?
Chandra: They was mad because
Byron: He was being mean.
Candace: Yeah, he was kind of being
mean in the picture.
Jamie: She was feeling terrified
because he jumped out of the
bushes.
Chandra: He was being a bully.
Candace: Thats right, and how would
you feel if someone was
bullying you?
Lyle: Terrified.
Shelly: Id be mad.
Jamie: Id be like pam pam [makes
punching movements].
Candace: What did she do?
Jamie: She twirled her hair.
Candace: So she did something
different. Why do you think
she twirled her hair instead
Children were observing real human
responses to text, providing a potentially
powerful context for the development of
social imagination.
This writing gave another demonstration of
how to connect to text and made childrens own
connections to the inner worlds of characters
visible to themselves.
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of doing some of the things
youd do?
Shelly: Because shes not that kind
of girl. She doesnt fight. She
doesnt get in trouble. She
always does the right thing. I
dont care. Shes just not like
us.
Candace: So maybe just because shes
different
Shelly: She doesnt care.
Candace: I like how you are thinking
about how she might be
thinking and feeling. What
do we see on these next
pages when she is talking to
her friend?
Jamie: Her friend makes her feel
good.
Candace: OK, her friend makes her feel
good. Tell me more.
Jamie: Like when someone is doing
something to her, her friend
is always being kind, shes
faithful.
Shelly: She makes her happy.
In this snapshot during the second
week of instruction, we see children
working out understandings about
characters feelings and how they are
linked to the plot. With Candaces
guidance, they compared their own
feelings with those of the character
(being terrified) and vicariously explored
the moral decisions they would make
(punching the bully) in comparison
to the character (twirling her hair)
as if they were also characters in the
story. This identification with fictional
characters allowed them to safely
examine aspects of themselves as they
played out in the social context of the
story.
Toward the end of the vignette, the
group considered what it means to be
a friend as they thought about why the
character of Opal sides with her bullied
friend Violet. It is Candaces emphasis on
the illustration of the two friends talking
togethernot the linguistically rendered
textthat generates this conversation
about the inner worlds of the characters
and the nature of friendship. The
illustrators depiction of human
relationships helped children build
understandings about themselves and
others while simultaneously working
toward deep comprehension of the story.
Childrens Use of Social
Imagination in Writing
Childrens relationally oriented
thinking was also observed in
the writing activities of RORI. To
gain insight into this thinking, we
analyzed the set of letters produced by
RORI participants. Using a constant
comparison approach, we read and
discussed the letters with our relational
frame in mind. We identified a range
of responses that we organized into a
typology reflecting their progressive
complexity in the use of social
imagination, from simple personal
response to a broader sense of caring
for others (Lysaker et al., 2011).
In fact, personal response was
most common in childrens letters.
For example, after reading Ians Walk,
RORI participants wrote, I feel sorry
because you are different, and I feel
sad because your sister is mean to
you. These expressions of emotion in
response to the characters situation
demonstrate relational connections with
the character. The first example might
be considered sympathetic; the reader
feels sorry for Ian because of how his
autism makes him different. The second
might be considered empathetica
sharing of emotion, perhaps prompted
by the common situation of hurt feelings
between siblings.
In contrast to personal responses
and expression of their own emotions,
participants also recognized emotions in
characters. For example, in response to
Shrinking Violet, one participant wrote,
She felt like you was bullying her.
Here we see the reader imagining the
feelings of one character in response
to another characters actions. This
example also highlights the connection
between social imagination and
reading comprehension as the reader
demonstrates an understanding of the
consequences of plot on development
and what is happening in the inner
world of the character.
We also saw perspective taking
in the letters written during RORI
sessions. In one letter written from the
perspective of the older sister in Ians
Walk, a RORI participant wrote: When
we go out we will have fun. Make sure
you stay with me. You are the best
brother. This letter seems to indicate
an understanding of how the character
of the older sister changed after the
prior incident when she loses her
The illustrators depiction of human
relationships helped children build
understandings about themselves and others
while simultaneously working toward deep
comprehension of the story.
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brother Ian for a period of time. Once
resentful of having to take care of him,
the RORI participant (now speaking
as the older sibling) expresses concern,
affection, and a desire to be with him.
Finally, we identified instances
in which RORI participants moved
beyond simple emotional response or
imagining the thoughts of feelings of
others to grasping a broader sense of a
characters reality, which we coded as
caring. For example, in a letter written
to Ruby, You went through a lot of
hard experiences and Do you need a
friend? seemed to demonstrate a more
global understanding of what Rubys life
was like as depicted in the story. Taken
together, these written articulations,
made possible by social imagination,
gave material reality to the fictive
relationships children constructed as
part of their reading experience.
Reflections on RORI
asaTeaching Experience
In addition to childrens responses to
RORI, we identified features of teaching
and learning that occurred in RORI
sessions. RORI demanded that we
return to the familiar but challenging
idea of trusting the process. There
were times the childrens behavior
seemed to indicate that they were
not engaged; however, their writing
suggested otherwise. As Candace
reflected in her research journal:
Today felt like a pretty bad day. In
group, Josiah and Austin were extremely
unengaged in the read aloud. But Josiah
did produce a good piece of writing as
he has been doing consistently, despite
being apparently unengaged. I felt my
skills insufficient but I tried hard to keep
the session on track in the hope that the
unengaged were still absorbing some of
the dialogue.
Candaces hopefulness and tenacity
as a teacher, as well as her steady focus
on the purpose of instruction in the
face of apparent lack of engagement,
were critical. In addition to this
quality of teaching, these kinds of
experiences caused us to think about
the nature of engagement and the
role of social imagination in that
engagement. In some ways, imagining
the inner worlds of characters defines
engagement in fiction reading. Yet,
like other aspects of the reading
process, this use of social imagination
is not always visible. This lack of
visibility made childrens uses of social
imagination in written responses even
more important.
These sometimes challenging
instructional dynamics required
thoughtful, relationally focused
teaching responses. For example,
after initial excitement about being
part of the RORI group, Lyle became
alternately sullen and disruptive.
Candaces response was to continue
her instruction, allowing his moods,
but with regular quiet comments that
invited him to join the group, such as
I bet youve felt like that sometimes
or I wonder how you are feeling right
now hearing this story. Keeping
groups small allowed Candace to
attend to childrens thoughts and
feelings, demonstrating her own
use of social imagination to sustain
relationships.
Our experiences with RORI led us
to think about its particular teaching
demands and to conclude that successful
teachers of RORI will be:

Emotionally available and
responsive in ways that might not
seem to be always reciprocated

Able to accept the on-again, off-
again eagerness for attachment
from children

Personally committed to the
relational aspects of childrens lives
as an important, not ancillary, part
of teaching

Able to tolerate a certain level of
initial chaos as children begin
making connections to others,
talking about their thoughts and
feelings, and experiencing what
that feels like

Willing to be personally vulnerable
by sharing appropriate personal
connections to stories in authentic
and physically apparent ways

Able to resist the idea that because
things dont always seem to be
going smoothly, that children arent
learning
Candaces hopefulness and tenacityas well
as her steady focus on the purpose of instruction
in the face of apparent lack of engagement, were
critical.
In some ways,
imagining the inner
worlds of characters
defines engagement in
fiction reading.
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Closing Thoughts
Overall, our experiences with RORI as
an instructional model, as well as the
positive outcome measures in childrens
listening comprehension, narrative
competence, and social imagination,
make us optimistic about what it can
offer children in terms of understanding
text and understanding others.
Although RORI was implemented as an
intervention with second- and third-
grade children experiencing difficulty
with reading comprehension and social
relationships, we expect that it could be
readily adapted across grade levels for
all readers.
In addition to childrens regular
participation in small-group interactive
read-alouds, childrens participation
in RORI could include their sharing
of picture book experiences with
peers through book talks or
dramatizations. This would give
them further experience voicing their
understandings of the inner worlds
of characters. This has the potential
to strengthen peer relationships, as
children learn to better interpret and
talk about the thoughts, feelings, and
intentions of others.
RORI could also be easily
integrated into readers workshop by
designing units of study and text sets
with a relational focus. This kind of
instructional organization would lead
children to think about relationships
and find patterns in human experience
across texts. This may be useful in
helping them think relationally and in
finding those patterns in everyday social
contexts. Such a unit of study could be
readily integrated with social studies
curriculum.
In sum, RORI creates a web
of relationships within which
understandings of self and other, in
and out of text, can occur. In RORI,
teachers carefully select picture
books depicting interesting, complex
characters in challenging situations;
create small, caring groups; and begin
reading instruction with their own
authentic responses to stories. These
responses are then purposefully
shared with children during the first
interactive reading session, providing
real, human demonstrations of the use
of social imagination during reading
as a means of better understanding the
inner worlds of characters and making
sense of the narrative plots that unfold.
These demonstrations prompt children
to use social imagination themselves
during their own reading, assist them
in establishing relationships with book
characters, and help them know their
teachers more fully as people and as
readers.
Returning to each picture book a
second time affords the exploration
of the landscape of consciousness
through character-focused dialogue and
writing. This allows children to respond
to, as well as voice, characters thoughts,
feelings, and intentions, promoting deep
comprehension of fictional texts. Such
an exploration of human consciousness
through fiction may help children of
1. Identify a group of learners in your
classroom who would benefit from having
the opportunity to practice imagining
the thoughts and feelings of other
people by focusing on characters.
2. Choose a set of picture books
that provide rich fictional contexts for
understanding others by portraying
complex characters in interesting,
challenging human circumstances.
3. Using a set of connection stems,
write short authentic personal responses
to the inner worlds of the characters on
sticky notes and place them directly on the
pages that prompted your response.
4. Read to children in a small group, showing
them your sticky note responses along the
way. Be sure to emphasize your relationships
to characters by thinking aloud about their
inner worlds. Invite their comment.
5. Provide multiple copies of the
book for independent reading and revisiting.
6. Gather the group together for a
second session during the same week.
7. Using questioning strategies, have
children revisit the characters and imagine
what is happening in their minds as you
read the book a second time. Affirm
approximate responses and extend
thinking, connecting the landscapes
of consciousness and action.
8. Provide a demonstration of letter
writing, and then have children write a
letter to a character in the book, allowing
them to notice and respond to the
reality of another, or have children write
a letter from a character in the story,
asking them to fully imagine and voice
what it is like to be that person.
TAKE ACTION!
In sum, RORI creates a web of relationships
within which understandings of self and other, in
and out of text, can occur.
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all ages and abilities develop relational
capacities like social imagination.
Although this approach to reading
may be part of what good teachers do
already, RORI takes this emphasis,
intensifies it, and carries it out over time
and texts.
Fiction reading has long been
thought to have the power to enrich
us, to transform our thinking, to renew
our spirits, and to alter our outlook.
What RORI does is to take that idea
to school through focused instruction.
Providing opportunities for children
to observe and practice the use of
social imagination during reading
is one way to address the relational
needs of all children in a vicarious,
and hence less risky, environment. We
hope this work adds to a conversation
about broadening the purposes and
consequences of reading in school,
as we face the challenge of helping
children develop deep and rich
understandings of both the texts and
the people in their lives.
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