Reading in the Wild

Just finished this educational handbook for reading teachers. It's so amazing to read a professional book and take five pages of great ideas before you even reach the mid-point!  I garnered ideas for summer reading, motivational gifts for reading teachers, holiday vacation reading, bulletin boards and how to build a community of readers.  I was inspired to create a survey that I plan to administer to all students to help me determine my "wild readers" from my "fake readers". 

I was also pleased that I was able to apply many of her theories about reading to the programs I already have implemented in my library.  Book selection criteria, book breakfasts, rapport with readers, etc...  I am working in the right direction to help my students become life-long readers. 

I also appreciated her comments about reading habits.  Although I am an avid reader, I sometimes take breaks.  This was the first author/educator I've read that admitted that all readers do that.  There's lots of common sense in this book.  And to be perfectly honest, that's rare in a professional book for educators. 

I learned from Donalyn Miller that "wild readers"
    1.  dedicate time to read
    2.  self-select reading material
    3.  share books and read with other readers
    4.  have reading plans
    5.  show preferences for genres, authors and topics

An educational website I learned about from this book is "Wonderopolis".  It's good for informational reading.  I've already written a lesson plan for my 6th graders that incorporates this new resource.

For those students who don't always know how to talk about where they are in a book, I have a new column to add to their reading record... "I am at the part where...".

For those who aren't confident about book selection, I've created several posters to hang in the library that list all the great reasons to choose a book..."It's a Keeper". 

I've also created a list that helps me reply to the complaint, "I don't have time to read outside of school!"  It's called a "Hidden Moments" list. 

I smiled when I read the author's suggestion for our students to create a "to be read" list.  Several of my teachers do this already.  :) 

And I've made a copy of Appendix E to use with my students who can never find anything on their own!  It's a list of the best books for students, created by students!  I sat during lunch today with a highlighter and marked the books we already own...over 75% of them!  Yay! 

I know this is not the kind of blog post my students enjoy reading, but I want them to know that building and maintaining a middle school library is tough and takes much time, energy and money.  I'm doing the very best I can to make sure my students have access to the best reading material available!  :)

And it's my pleasure to do so.
Happy Reading!
RC