Last summer, I attended a workshop on the 40 book classroom and read Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. Consequently, my approach to teaching reading changed. My personal reading habits also changed, by necessity. Reading was no longer a hobby just for myself, but a critical part of my job as an English Language Arts teacher. Throughout the school year, I no longer concerned myself with trying to direct what my students were reading, and instead focused on making sure they were actually reading. To do this, I had to read YA literature widely and constantly. My classroom talk became a veritable barrage of, "What are you reading? You don't like it? Try this one!" and "Oh! You should try this one next!" The results were incredible.
Fast forward to this summer and Donalyn Miller's #bookaday challenge. The gist of it is to challenge oneself to read a book every day. It sounds crazy, and truthfully, it feels intense at first, but it has renewed and invigorated my reading life, forcing me to stretch outside of my typical genres, mediums, and reading habits. #Bookaday is, for me, about the challenge of reading more than I think I can... which is what I ask my students to do at the beginning of the school year. Most of my students who read 20-40 books between September and June did not say, "Yes, that will be easy!" on the first day of school.
Fast forward to this summer and Donalyn Miller's #bookaday challenge. The gist of it is to challenge oneself to read a book every day. It sounds crazy, and truthfully, it feels intense at first, but it has renewed and invigorated my reading life, forcing me to stretch outside of my typical genres, mediums, and reading habits. #Bookaday is, for me, about the challenge of reading more than I think I can... which is what I ask my students to do at the beginning of the school year. Most of my students who read 20-40 books between September and June did not say, "Yes, that will be easy!" on the first day of school.
During my almost 2 weeks of #bookaday so far, I have read professional development books, YA books, graphic novels, listened to audiobooks, and also still found time to read complex, "adult" literature that I don't often broach during the school year. My stack of "to be read" keeps growing, and it is both exciting and overwhelming, a combination of emotions in which I try to live my entire life. It reminds me of the fervor with which I approached reading when I was a middle school student- the thrill of starting a new book, and the satisfactory agony of finishing a great novel and leaving the characters and world of it behind.
I plan to heavily document my summer reading. In fact, part of the reason I am starting this blog is to review books from the perspective of an ELA teacher. When I read YA, I read with my students in mind. Would this work for the kid who ONLY likes Percy Jackson? Could I recommend this one to the girl who has read Looking for Alaska 17 times this year? If I read this part out loud, would that get students to race to my classroom to check out the book at the end of the day? My hope is that I can document those answers for myself to look back on during the school year, and also to share with fellow teachers to help spread love and enthusiasm for reading to all of our students.
I plan to heavily document my summer reading. In fact, part of the reason I am starting this blog is to review books from the perspective of an ELA teacher. When I read YA, I read with my students in mind. Would this work for the kid who ONLY likes Percy Jackson? Could I recommend this one to the girl who has read Looking for Alaska 17 times this year? If I read this part out loud, would that get students to race to my classroom to check out the book at the end of the day? My hope is that I can document those answers for myself to look back on during the school year, and also to share with fellow teachers to help spread love and enthusiasm for reading to all of our students.