“As teachers we need to examine what we do as a reader and make
our thinking and practices visible to our students. Our students emulate us and
seek to emulate us. When we make our reading lives explicit to our students,
their reading lives expand in many directions.” I think this quote pretty much
sums up the whole chapter about sharing our reading lives with our students.
What better way to help our students than to show how and what and why we as
teachers read.
I like that Routman introduces herself as a reader to her
students and shares books that she has read or is currently reading. I love to
read especially during the summer, but I do find it hard to read during the
school year since it is always such a busy time. I know right now I can say am
reading for this class, but it is hard to find the time to read for myself. I
guess I can always share though what I read at home for fun with my son
William. He is signed up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and I love
reading and discovering new books that I get to share with him at home, too. I
know this is something I could easily share with my students.
I like her idea of photocopying the cover of a book for each
student and then possibly having each student rate that book in some way as a
way to maintain a reading log for kindergarten students. I noticed that she
mentioned there are examples included in the appendices H, J, and I, but I also
really like the one included in appendix G. It’s more for SSR time, but I think
it would be easy to create something similar for my kindergarten students as a
way to share books with others by using a smiley face, sad face, or a maybe/not
sure face to rate their book and could be used as a way to recommend a book to
other students as well.
Amy, you hit on a problem we all have during the school year: no time to read books aside from professional texts. Your solution to share books you read with William is perfect. You can also discuss how you read online. We read blogs, Facebook, Instagram and many other online sources. It's a great opportunity to show students that reading doesn't always have to happen in a book.
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad you found a way to incorporate the reading logs in the book to your own classroom. I think it's a great idea to have your students rate the books they're reading.
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI love how you are making time to read with your own son, William and bringing in your knowledge and enjoyment of the books you read with him into your own classroom. I agree with Routman's point in this chapter that our students need to see us model not just how to read, but why we read and the intrinsic enjoyment that comes from reading about a topic or an author or a genre that you love. Your book review possibility that Routman suggested is one of my favorite ways to integrate reading and writing workshop. Thanks, Dawn