Promoting Reading

Sharon Seely contributed today's thinking.

A recent question I received from a middle school teacher:

Based on what you know and have heard about AR and reading logs, what is your opinion of them?

I would like students to read daily outside of class, but I don't really want to penalize them if they don't either. I don't want them to see reading as a chore. Any thoughts or ideas? 

Thanks, A Concerned Teacher

-------------------------------------------------

Hello,

I looked at your question as 'how can I promote reading?'.

I like reading logs, conferencing, journaling, projects, and discussions.

The reading log is just the beginning of the conversation. It is students taking the responsibility of logging what and for how long they have read. Noticing what they are reading, when they are reading, opportunities to read, and becoming life long readers, reading a variety of texts for a variety of purposes.

When I taught 6th grade reading, my students logged their reading: in my class, in other classrooms, in directed study, during free time in other classes, at home, and anywhere/anytime else they read (in the car, at their brother's football game, in the lunchroom, standing by their locker, etc.). Students could log minutes just about anywhere, reading a textbook, library book, magazine, or newspaper. Parents, myself, and other teachers signed student logs when they observed student's reading. I really appreciated the other teachers' support. Several teachers told me that when students would say they had nothing to do, they would say to students, "where's your book? I know you have reading log minutes to work on".

My goal was for students to see that reading doesn't just happen in reading class. They could take their adventure, mystery, true story, etc. (book) anywhere.

An idea would be for students to set reading minute goals throughout the year...with growth in number of minutes read a priority. Conferencing with students on a regular basis about what they are reading, listening to them read, and talking about their reading goals is important. Actually graphing student's growth with them...visuals are always better - amazing!

Weekly journaling...once a week, I took each class to the building library to check out, return, and/or renew books. When we returned to class, students read and journaled. Journaling consisted of students choosing an "I wonder..." prompt, answering it, and posing questions. I would then take the over 100 journals home each Friday, read them, and respond (looking at connections - deeper thinking skills, not grammar or spelling). I really got to know my students. I'm not saying you need to do like I did and take them home every Friday night - you could possibly have a rotating schedule so every day you read five journals from each class. Another idea may be to have students respond to each other's journals and you respond every other week.

Project Ideas:

• Bookmercials are commercials students create to promote a book that they want to share (not every book they read). They can do their bookmercials in person, using the ipad, or video-taping them.
• Book Reviews: students write a summary or review of a book they've read and actually tape it to the book's jacket after you've approved it.
• Café - set up your room like a European café with punch and snacks. Students sit and chat about their latest and greatest reads (books they've read). One time, I set up a café during our study of biographies. Students dressed like and carried on a conversation as if they were who they had read about. I invited the principal and other teachers in to join us when they had a chance. It was a great learning opportunity and so much fun!

Discussions:

Opportunities for students to justify, clarify, explain, engage in open discussions about books, topics, etc. where there are no right or wrong answers. It is a platform welcoming to all students.  I want students to read because they see value in it and want to be part of/join in the conversation.

Sharing my thoughts,

Sharon :-)