Reading As A Love Story!

One of the many things that I thought about this past summer was teaching! I was wondering why are we leaving so many children of color behind? Why are so many children reading below grade level? I spent a lot of time thinking about what could I do differently to be more inclusive of all students, even those who are many grade levels behind.

One of my dear friends talked to me about allowing students to read books on their grade level, and I completely rejected that idea; I just could not understand how that would work in a classroom. She went on to say that they could read on their level and be taught reading skills using whatever book they were reading. You just don’t know how my mind could not wrap around this idea, and I rejected the idea completely. However, I thought about what she said for a long time after the conversation ended.

For the past two years, I have been doing a unit the last quarter of the year where I allowed students to read any book under the sun and do presentations where they talked about the theme, literary devices etc. I can not even explain how incredibly awesome these units were for the students and I, but I still could not wrap my mind around doing this for the entire year.

After much thought, I found a blog by a lady named Dr. Kim Parker, who lives in Boston, and in one of her blog post, she talked about giving children choice. I sent her a random message and asked her to call me, and she did. She told me about how giving children choice has changed her teaching for the best, and she gave me titles of a few books that I should read, one being The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I read that book and a few others, and the rest is history.

Finally met Dr. Kim at the National Council of Teachers
of English Conference in Atlanta

In The Book Whispers, Donalyn talked about teachers taking their love for literature to the classroom. I thought, I definitely could do a better job with that and decided to give this idea a try.

I decided to ask, not thinking it was possible, to have round tables in my classroom instead of desk, because based on another book that I read over the summer, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond Smith, many people of color are communal and thrive when we work together, and I wanted to try this in my classroom. Well, I am fortunate to work in a school where the very next day after I asked, I had tables in my classroom.

I started the year off by talking about books and the importance of reading every single day. If you did not know, there are book trailers, much like movie trailers, for just about every book under the sun. I have been showing tons of books trailers. I take them to the school's library often for the librarians to give books talks, and we even took a walking trip to the public library and everyone got library cards, and My People, the rest is history.

The students are reading, reading reading....This is so much more enjoyable for them and me than reading one book at a time, trying to keep the whole class together, completing questions at the end of each chapter, and literally begging students to read books that I love and many did not care to read.

Instead of reading four books a school year that were selected by me, I have challenged them and myself to read between 10 and 40 books between September and June, and they are well on their way to achieving their reading goals that was set by them. For my reluctant readers, I gave suggestions such as The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and I spent a lot of time with students who had a harder time than others finding books that they wanted to read.

Every single day, we talk about books with love. I do mini-lessons where we analyze passages from the books that they are reading, and we talk about writing styles, writing techniques, and literary devices etc; I am teaching them to fall in love with words.

Many are excited to be the celebrity reader of the day where they talk about the book that they are reading with the class, take a picture with me, the principal tweets the picture, and the picture appears on the front page of the school’s website.

Now, many of my students are minority students, English as a Second Language students, have Individualized Educational Plans, are below grade level, and they are reading and reading and reading. My people, I realized that the students were not reading because they did not like to read; they were not reading because they did not like the books that I selected.

Now, I know there are people out there who think that they must read the classics: Catcher in the Rye, all of Shakespeare, Walden, Huckleberry Finn, BUT who said that these books, which are not typically inclusive of a whole lot of people, are the books that all students should read. We MUST rethink teaching and what we teach if we want full inclusion in the classroom.

My people, reading with the students and reading books that they love has caused me to fall madly in love with books, and teaching, and reading, and helping students to fall in love with reading all over again....

We can’t continue to do the same things over and over and expect different outcomes; schools must change with the times....

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

"Readers are made, not born!”

When I was in graduate school, one of my professors talked about the idea that we needed a goal as literature teachers.

After much thought, I decided that I wanted every student to love reading as much as I did. To this end, for the past eighteen years, I have been teaching literature with my whole heart with that goal in mind. I read and read and read always looking for books that I can introduce to my students. However, after reading this book, I have a new goal: to turn students into lifelong readers. People who don’t just read every now and then, but people who read to make sense out of life, to find the best deal on a car, for pleasure, and people who pass this love on to their children.

I can hear that same love that I have for reading in Donalyn’s book: The Book Whisperer. It comes across that Donalyn loves reading and was lucky enough to marry a man who loves reading as much as she does. I just love how Donalyn abandoned the idea of teaching one novel with tons of worksheets to talking to students about book, allowing students to be very honest about where they were as readers, doing authentic assessments, sharing some of her struggles with reading with her students, and basically fostering a classroom where students see the value of reading.

Nothing makes me happier than running into a former student, and she saying to me that she found her Teacake. Of course she is referring to Teacake from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. With this book, I would talk to the students about ideas such as a woman finding her voice and how the message of this book was revolutionary for the time in which it was written. Oh, the teaching of this novel would make me so happy, and I hope that it made my students happy and want to read.

After reading The Book Whisperer, I wonder how many of my students actually loved Their Eyes Were Watching? I am wondering if this book turned some kids off? What if I had given the students choice in what they read, would I have reached more students? Caught up in my own love for this novel, I never stopped to ponder these ideas. I would give the assessments and move on to the next book that I loved.

This book made me eager to go back to my classroom and share my blog with my students so that they can see how much I love books. I can’t wait to hear about their experiences with reading and hear about the books that they love to read. I am looking forward to working with the school’s librarian to ensure that students know exactly what is available for their pleasure. A whole lot of things will be done differently this coming up school year.

Now, I must admit that while reading this book,  I thought that Donalyn must be a White, middle class teacher who teaches students very similar to her. She never mentions the importance of culturally, diverse books. She also does not mention much about grading, and we all know that those report cards go out four times a year and a teacher is suppose to give grades. Also, she mostly talks about sixth graders, and there may need to be some modifications for a high school classroom. (Look for my book for high school teachers.)

My People, I love this book soooooo much: it made me reflect on my love of reading and how to make sure that I convey my love for reading with my students and hopefully that love will spill all over them.

If you are a teacher, read this book. If you work with children, read this book. If you love to read, read this book. If you have children, read this book.

READ THIS BOOK!