Image credit: Shawna Coppola via Canva design
By The Educator Collaborative Fellow Dr. Cindy Gerwin
The school bell rings and kids begin entering the classroom. They check morning work on the monitor along with a Friday’s Mystery Reader CLUE: Someone who brings history to life through oral storytelling.
Several days during the week, students receive a Mystery Reader Clue and can ask five clarifying questions that require only a yes or no response.
- Does the reader work in this school? NO
- Does the reader work in the district? NO
- Is the reader a parent of one of the kids in this class? SORT OF, YES
- Is the reader a grandparent? YES
Now they are not sure what question to ask next, but they definitely want to make the last question count. They huddle together to try to agree on what question will yield the greatest amount of useable information. A student outside of the huddle asks,
- Is the reader a unicorn?
UGH!!! There is always one kid in the class who thinks it is funny to waste a perfectly good question. This student is never allowed to ask a question again (kidding)!
Then I ask for their predictions. “Who do you think is our Mystery Reader this week?” I never respond to their guesses, but they are always fun to hear.
By Friday morning, when our classroom Executive Assistant has gone to the office to escort our Mystery Reader to the classroom, the kids are thinking of every excuse possible to leave their seat so they can sneak a peak in the hallway to get the first glimpse of our reader for the week. This week it was the great grandmother of one of my students who grew up in Mississippi–and the Jim Crow South–around the time Emmett Till was murdered. She wanted to talk to us about what it was like for Black children like herself to hear the story of his death in school. This was just one of many powerful Mystery Reader learning experiences for the students in my class!
Mystery Readers: Evolution, Justification, Practical Tips, and Authenticity
Evolution
About ten years ago, I made the decision to follow the lead of two literacy friends who encouraged folks to read “a book a day.” #classroombookaday was started by Librarian and Media Specialist Jillian Heise, who was inspired by Donalyn Miller’s #bookaday challenge. #classroombookaday encourages educators to set a goal to read aloud a picture book every day of the school year to students at any grade level. These daily shared read alouds provide opportunities for “joyful & thoughtful engagement, to support identity, develop empathy, and build community” (Heise, 2024). Reading a picture book a day, and sometimes more than one, became a non-negotiable for me.
About three years after I made the commitment to read a least one picture book a day, I accidentally happened to invite a Mystery Reader into my classroom. I thought it would be fun to have the principal come into my classroom the first week of school to read a picture book but didn’t explicitly tell students that the principal was coming, opting instead to just give clues for this ‘mystery person’. The excitement this process generated was noteworthy.
It did not take long for me to realize that this process would also help me accomplish another non-negotiable goal—to create a curious, joyful, and inclusive classroom community where families and children felt welcomed. I had been doing home visits for several years, but this was a great way to invite parents/caregivers into the classroom to enjoy a positive experience (other than Parent/Teacher Conferences). And so, the tradition of having a weekly Mystery Reader began, and this experience has morphed and grown over the years.
Justification
Sadly, many teachers reading this blog post many need to justify their decision to read a picture book a day and/or incorporate a Mystery Reader into the weekly schedule. In his book In Defense of Read Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice, Dr. Steven L. Layne highlights the following benefits of reading aloud to students at ALL grade levels. Read alouds, he argues,
- Heighten engagement
- Stimulate language development
- Increase vocabulary acquisition (CCSS: Reading Foundational Skills – 3; Speaking and Listening – 1)
- Improve fluency (CCSS: Reading Foundational Skills – 4)
- Deepen comprehension
- Apply critical thinking skills
- Build inclusive communities—(CCSS: Reading Foundational Skills – 3; Speaking and Listening – 1)
- Teach students to use reading strategies like infer, predict, and question
It’s been interesting to watch how the questions the kids ask in the beginning of the year are somewhat random and don’t really help them make an inference or prediction. However, they slowly become very adept at refining and ordering their questions to make an effective inference/prediction.
Practical Tips
I keep a Mystery Reader calendar in the front of my lesson planner to help me see an overview of the year as well as details like: (1) who is coming; (2) what date and time they are coming to read (I try to be flexible to meet the needs of the reader’s schedule whenever possible); (3) what book they are reading, and (4) what, if anything, they might want to discuss with students. Once I create the overview calendar in the front of my lesson planner, I follow this process:
- I send a letter at the beginning of the year to all parents and caregivers explaining the Mystery Reader experience and asking for some preliminary information including their interest level, their availability, etc.
- I extend invitations at the beginning of each month with several options for dates and inquire if the reader needs help selecting a favorite/appropriate book. (It helps to be flexible, offering to adjust the day of the week or time to meet the Mystery Reader’s schedule.)
- I send a gentle reminder the week they are scheduled to read.
- I make them feel like royalty when they visit—I have a student escort meet them in the school office and show them the #classroombookaday bulletin board outside our classroom, take pictures during the visit, prep kids to ask questions (when appropriate), etc.
- I email a thank you note with pictures from their visit attached and follow-up with a signed written thank you note (including something specific and special about their visit).
- I post the book cover and group picture on the #classroombookaday bulletin board.
- I seek feedback from stakeholders (families, office staff, administrators, etc.) about how to improve the process/experience.
Creating an Authentically Inclusive Classroom Literacy Community
One of the greatest benefits of having a Mystery Reader is the development of an inclusive classroom literacy community. Despite the effort it takes to plan for this weekly experience, it is the MOST JOYFUL part of my week! Here are just a few community members who might be willing and able to participate:
- Parents/caregivers/family members of students in the class. (Note: some parents are hesitant to read aloud in front of an audience because of confidence level or first language, so I either partner read with them or I offer to read and invite them to share afterward.)
- Some just read a fun (or favorite) story.
- Others want to share some aspect of their culture–for example, a student whose mother was from Japan shared the significance of a kimono dress while her daughter modeled one.
- Some wish to share a religious tradition: a student’s mother (alongside the student’s sister) explained the Muslim tradition of wearing a hijab and drew henna designs on students’ hands like the ones seen during Eid al-Fitr.
- Some choose to share about interesting jobs like being a veterinarian technician.
- One student’s father shared what it was like to be a Black man in America during Black History Month–the kids asked amazing questions–but this would make for an important conversation at any time of the year.
- Teachers and administrators from our school and throughout the district.
- The custodian and I co-read a book that was written in two languages (English and Spanish).
- The Director of Food and Nutrition read a book about apples and brought a variety of apples for us to taste (we voted the Honey Crisp variety as being the best tasting).
- The art teacher discussed visual literacy during our Mock Caldecott selection.
- The music teacher demonstrated how background music can affect the mood/tone of a story.
- The Director of Communication and Public Relations talked to several students about how to market a business for their Passion Project.
- Members of the local community
- Public librarians–some opt to come in before break to share what is happening at the public library and to book talk titles that the kids can check out over break.
- Local leaders–the mayor of our town came to talk about how students can become more active citizens in our community.
Creating a curious, joyful, and inclusive classroom community where families, as well as kids, feel welcome is no ‘mystery’–in fact, it offers a great opportunity to share and celebrate differences TOGETHER!
