This chapter is about sharing the love of reading with your students. I have to admit, I do not really do this personally. I have talked to them about books I read as a child. I have talked to them about the love of several authors and how it is important to find something you are interested in and enjoy when you are reading for pleasure. I do not remember teachers ever sharing with me about books they like to read. I am not as much of a reader as I should be, especially during the school year. I do not read for enjoyment unless it is the newspaper. But as I read this book by Routman, I can even talk about the reading I do with emails and the newspaper.
I need to do a better job with just reading several different books and share those with the students. This year I tried to do something different than having them keep a reading log and having them write a summary or get parents to sign. We did book talks. I think it went really well, except I did not probably give them long enough to share. However, the students enjoyed it and we were doing well. But I did stop it because I was wanting them to do Accelerated Reader tests and they were not getting that done. Now that most of them are able to get some tests done, I need to think about going back to them doing the book talks. I would really like for them to do something like literature circles instead of the guided reading during reading centers. This way, a group of students would be reading them same book and really discuss and go into depth with it.
After reading the article, I think I am going to start having them make a list of their favorite books and share with each other. I do let them share the books they are reading during independent reading time and have found that a group will read the same book.
I want my students to enjoy reading and now that it is something that many people do not just to learn, but because they enjoy it. This is my goal for my students.
Leslie, you're right. Sharing that you read the newspaper and emails is just as important as sharing that you've read a novel. Students need to see the real world connection for reading. I loved your book talks in the mornings. I'm sure the kids enjoyed the opportunity to talk about what books they were reading. Have you noticed a difference in motivation between getting to talk and taking the AR tests? That would be an interesting study. I hope you get to go back to the book talks soon if you find that they were more helpful in creating book love.
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