Reading Nancie Atwell’s article, The Pleasure Principle,
makes me excited about reading. Teaching
reading has never been my favorite but the freedom that she allows sounds
wonderful. It’s what I would enjoy as a
reader, so why wouldn’t my students? Giving
student’s time to simply read books of their choice sounds fantastic but, at
the same time, immediately makes me nervous.
It sounds like it goes against most of the things I’ve been taught. Don’t students need to “show their
understanding” through some type of worksheet as they read? Shouldn’t their books be appropriately
leveled? How do I get grades? And of
course, what about my reading test scores? It’s funny that Atwell anticipates most of my
concerns and responds with “we need to get over it” because the best way to
grow students as readers is to let them read. This year, I’ve tried to allow my
students more control over what they read. One student in particular has shown
me that I need to continue to allow them that control. This student is a low reader and I honestly
have a hard time getting him to focus on anything for too long. He is about 2-3
levels below grade level in reading so my first thought is that he should be
reading book around his reading level.
Well, he has chosen a series of books that are in the upper 5th
grade reading level. And he is loving
them. He can’t put them down. I have had to call him out more than once for
reading them while I’m teaching math.
While that is a problem, I love seeing him so engrossed in these
books. It’s so clear that allowing him
to find books that he really loves and allowing him time to read them is going
to do so much more than having him fill out worksheets or work on vocabulary. This has me thinking about my upcoming
reading units. I need to focus more on
talking about books, using minilessions, and then allowing them time to just
read. I also need to decide which of the
novel sets I have are worthwhile, and which I should replace with independent
choice.
I'm thrilled to hear that you have personal experience with what allowing choice can do in the classroom. Sometimes we as teachers get so focused on controlling our environment that we fear letting students drive instruction. I'm guilty of that too! I'm so happy that your student has shown that allowing choice in book and in level has paid off. It's also great that you're taking this understanding and attempting to apply it to future units. Our goal in this course is to show how using reading workshop and allowing students time to read independently can grow them as readers. It's evident that you're instruction is headed this way!
ReplyDeleteHi Stevie,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your journey of teaching reading and how this year you are intentionally providing your students with more choices over what they are reading. You shared how you have seen positive results with one of your struggling readers who you provided some choice with. I smiled when I pictured him engrossed in his books. I want to encourage you to continue working on integrating what you are learning with your upcoming reading units. Taking time to consider this year's group of students and their unique needs and interests and strengths can help you make modifications to your units to ensure that they will be effective. Sincerely, Dawn