Reading for the Love of it?I've been listening regularly to Jennifer Gonzalez's incredible podast, The Cult of Pedagogy a lot recently. This, in conjunction with my own beliefs on reading programs and the many ways to run an engaging one, is the reason for me writing this blog post. When I was in elementary school, my perception of a reading program was based solely on a text my teacher chose for me. We had no choice in the matter, we read novels like The Outsiders or To Kill a Mockingbird and answered corresponding questions that had to do with these novels. Now, this is not to say that I didn't have some pretty incredible English teachers that still drove that love of reading into my brain. They did this by engaging us in conversations, by being passionate about the novels we were reading, and by stressing the importance that these texts still hold today by connecting them to our world and the issues we still face on the daily. They made connections between history and the stories in these texts, forcing us to ask questions about the times that these novels were set in. The important thing to take from this is: even though I may not teach my class all one text now, because I like to incorporate voice and choice into their reading programs, what I remember about reading as a child is the passion of my teachers, the discussions we had, and the connections we made - not the times I had to answer questions on each chapter, or write an essay about what symbolism the author included in the novel. This is what I try to include in my own reading program now: choice, passion for novels, great discussions, connections, and all the natural things that adults do when they read. This is what we should be encouraging in students. But how do we do that? Let me explain a few ways that I try... 1. Demonstrating a Passion for ReadingI know that life gets busy. I know that sometimes our own love of reading can take a back seat to the many other commitments in our lives. It happens. One thing I feel is important for students though is to have adults in their lives that demonstrates a love of reading. We simply need to practice what we preach. Right now my goal for 2019 is to read 25 new novels. I'm tracking them on a sheet at the front of my classroom for students to witness my progress. Some of these novels will be ones I can recommend to students and add to my classroom library. Others will be professional development texts, or novels that will stay in my home library. I invite you to try carving out some time for students to witness you reading, and to witness your joy of it. Could you read sometimes while they do, during a quiet library period? Could you share an article with them that had you captivated the night before? Lately when I finish a book that I'm adding to the library, I try to do a quick book talk to students about the novel. I did one today, in fact, and had several students raising their hands fighting over the book I sold. I believe this is because of it being a great story, but also because of them witnessing me flying through the novel and telling them how the narration made me laugh, and the story really made me think. 2. Offering Student Voice and ChoiceThere are times in a student's life where they will be required to read what their teacher wants them to, and this is a skill that is valuable for them. However, I do believe that it is our responsibility to foster a student's love of reading, and forcing them to read something that they really wouldn't be interested in isn't a great place to start. Offering choice can look like running a book club, or offering multiple articles/short stories when running a minilesson. Right now my students are engaged in a top news stories of 2018 learning cycle. They are running the show. They are choosing articles on topics that interest them and running small or large discussion groups on these articles. The fact of the matter is that when students are engaged in what they are reading, this often can supersede their "level" or abilities in some capacity. When students are interested, they will find out the answers. They are from an information overload generation. If they want the answers, they'll find them. 3. Read Alouds (Sometimes an Unpopular Opinion)It is my belief that students listening to reading is an important factor, and sometimes a gateway, to get them to love reading independently. When they hear a story told with passion, and are guided in their thoughts and understanding of this text, it can help to allow students a safe space to connect to a novel. I tend to use read alouds to model good reading strategies with the texts we read. A read aloud doesn't always have to be a novel, as I know this is a lot of time to dedicate (though I tend to do at least one at the beginning of the year to model reading strategies and connections). It can be an article, or better yet, a picture book. Leading to my next statement... 4. Never Assume Children Are "Too Old" For Picture BooksOftentimes people believe that picture books are for small children. After all, that's the original perception of a picture book - it having pictures to help guide a young reader to understanding, or to engage their attention. There are many picture books that serve as incredible mentor texts for intermediate and high school students. In fact, there are many narratives that are specifically targeted towards older students. These texts are great to use to help model specific comprehension strategies, or analyze theme, or teach a specific lesson. This year, we have used picture books including The Promise by Nicola Davies, and What Do You Do With an Idea by Kobi Yamada to launch our genius hour project. 6. Putting an End to Chapter Questions + Summarizing to DeathWhen was the last time you had to read a story, a book, or an article and answer comprehension questions? These questions can be important when they engage students in reflecting on the meaning of a text, or analyzing the author's intentions in writing, but they aren't necessarily engaging when summarizing specific details of the text. Asking a student, "Who went to the store in chapter 4?" is a question that simply tests whether the read the book, not whether they really understand its message or the author's intentions, or how the characters may feel, or why the author created the characters in this way and what they may represent. It doesn't test for their true comprehension of the text. Students should be encouraged to create open-ended critical questions as they read, and work through answering these questions for themselves or their peers. There are so many incredible ways to assess reading today, and quizzes or tests aren't necessarily the best way of doing this (in my humble opinion.) Some of the ways I tend to assess student reading is by engaging them in small group discussions, or having them track their thoughts through think marks in their novels. They can lead a socratic seminar on an article, engaging their peers in discussing the content of current events or famous speeches. They can journal, or write letters to one another about their own perceptions and connections with their novel. They can create a graffiti journal, or a sketchnote as they work through their novels. The options for assessing reading are limitless, and we don't want to consistently inundate students with the same monotonous assessments that will make them resent their novels. We want them to connect. We want them to discover, to question, to inquire, and to really dig into these texts. To Summarize...I'm not sure if this all make sense, as it's essentially me blurting my own thoughts and opinions into my blog. After listening to different educators discuss their own reading programs, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own practice and I simply had the desire to write about it. As teachers we are always growing. After all, how can we expect growth out of our students if we refuse to demonstrate it ourselves? I can assure you, my perception on my reading program will constantly change, and I hope it always does, so that I can teach the students I have and hopefully encourage them to read for the love it.
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AuthorHi! I'm Mrs. MP and I teach grade seven English! I'm so excited for you to learn along with me Archives
January 2022
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