This year I have a few students who never seem to finish books! I have tried so many different things to get them to read just one book from start to finish and made very little progress. I have helped them pick out books, read parts of those books together, given them time to read on their own, and the next thing I know they have returned the book and started a new one without finishing. Grr.
I am all for allowing students to abandon books if they don't like them because...well...that's what real readers do! I want them to enjoy reading and I know that forcing them to read books that they don't like isn't going to help with that. But when a student abandons every single book I offer them and hasn't actually read a whole book by the middle of the school year I start to question everything.
I decided that I needed to make a change and, after doing some research, ordered myself a copy of Donalyn Miller's book The Book Whisperer. If you haven't read this book I highly recommend it! (I liked it so much that it took me about two days to get through the entire thing!)
If I had to describe this book in three words they would be: Relatable, Helpful, and Inspirational.
Relatable: Donalyn talks about how difficult it is to get our students excited about reading and to provide them with enough time to read independently during class time with all of the standards we are expected to cover and the testing that we have to do and the lack of emphasis on actually getting kids to like reading. Can I get an AMEN?!
Helpful: Donalyn has figured out a system that takes some of the pressure off of teachers but still keeps readers accountable. (See Reader's Notebooks below)
Inspirational: This book truly made me rethink the way I teach reading. It reminded me that the most important thing we can teach our kids is that reading is fun and enjoyable! No matter how well they do on their standardized tests or how many reading skills and strategies they are able to apply, they will not become better readers and they will not enjoy reading if we don't help them find books that they can get excited about and give them time to actually read them.
One thing that Donalyn recommends in her book is to have students use Reader's Notebooks in which they:
-Keep a tally of books that they have completed
-Write down information about books that they start (whether they finish them or not)
-Keep a list of books that they would like to read in the future
-Write responses about the books that they are reading
So, I created my own version of the Reader's Notebook and got my kids started on using them as soon as we returned from winter break. I have already seen a huge difference in their motivation to read and I am loving the response letters that they write to me. This system helps me keep track of what each kid is reading and provide them with the help that they may need whether that be branching out to read a different genre, choosing more challenging books, or selecting books that they find interesting.
-Keep a tally of books that they have completed
-Write down information about books that they start (whether they finish them or not)
-Keep a list of books that they would like to read in the future
-Write responses about the books that they are reading
So, I created my own version of the Reader's Notebook and got my kids started on using them as soon as we returned from winter break. I have already seen a huge difference in their motivation to read and I am loving the response letters that they write to me. This system helps me keep track of what each kid is reading and provide them with the help that they may need whether that be branching out to read a different genre, choosing more challenging books, or selecting books that they find interesting.
If you are interested in trying out my version of the Reader's Notebook you can purchase it from my TPT store here.
