The Book Whisperer is amazing! Donalyn Miller synthesizes years of research along with what she has tried in her own sixth-grade classroom to motivate students to become life-long, passionate readers.
She starts by stealing every available moment for students to read their independent books. Donalyn references Stephen Krashen when she states "no single literacy activity has a more positive effect on students' comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, spelling, writing ability, and overall academic achievement than free voluntary reading. Students enter Donalyn's classroom, get out their books, and start reading. If the phone rings during the middle of a lesson, students know to start reading their books. If they finish early, they read. Donalyn admits, kids are busy. "If I don't make time for them to read in school, why should they make time for it in their life?"
Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year. -Horace Mann
Students in her class are expected to read 40 books a year. They are given some guidelines about genres, otherwise they are free to make choices about what books to read.
Donalyn teaches content lessons. Students practice in pairs with mentor texts and then they practice individually using their independent reading materials. The results for her have been positive. Students are engaged, behavior problems are minimal and test scores are up.
This book makes me wonder what giving up time at the front end of my class and having high expectations for book reading would look like in my classroom. Do I have enough books in the different genres to support this approach? Should I reorganize my classroom library by genre? What is the best way to ensure that each student is engaged and reaching their potential while reading independent books? How could technology support this mind shift? I think I will read Visible Learning for Literacy before deciding.
I like the questions you pose? Are there enoug online resources and books with Kelly and others through the school? Sounds like an interesting book. Were students conferenced with during this time. I love giving students choice in the class and setting the high expectations for learning.
ReplyDeleteBonus - with every student having their own iPad, they are never without an independent reading book! Friedell's library has an excellent eBook collection to support you with this "stealing every available moment for students to read" endeavor Dena!
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