This article made me think about myself when I was in school
growing up. Reading was one of my least
favorite things to do. Now, I spend a
lot of time in book stores looking for my next book. I want my students to share the same love
that I have for reading. I have talked
to my students about my love for reading and how I chose what I read. I think it is important to be an example of a
good reader for our students. I am
currently a part of a book club with a few friends. We meet about once a month to talk about what
we are reading and share books with each other.
I never thought to tell my students about this or about my home
library. My students are very curious
about my personal life and always ask a lot of questions. I plan on telling my students about my book
club and how I talk and share with my friends.
Even at a young age, I can see some of my students talking to their
friends and sharing books with each other.
Even with my love for reading, I do not keep a reading
record. I have my books organized in my
home library by books I have read and books I plan to read. I think it would be a great idea for students
to keep a record of what they read. I
can see some of my competitive students comparing their list to others to see
who has read more. With the population
of students at our school, reading at home is a difficult thing to
monitor. We have many students whose
parents do not speak English or who do not have the resources at home to spend
time reading. A reading log kept by a
student would show us so much more when it comes to what our students are
reading.
Our students look up to us and learn so much from what they
see us do. Sharing about ourselves as
readers will only improve our students’ reading and develop their love for
reading. I plan on sharing more about my
reading with my students.
Katie, you've pulled some great ideas from this reading. Sharing your reading habits is a wonderful way to help students see reading as a real world activity that doesn't stop when they graduate. Maybe if you share about your book club, it will encourage some of them to form their own groups centered around a book of choice. I'm also glad you picked up on the weaknesses behind sending home a reading log to have families complete. One thing we've discussed in some of my meetings is having kids develop their own plans for how to record their reading. This will make their records more meaningful and hopefully lend itself to more honest reporting.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
ReplyDeleteYou are right - our students do look up to us and watch what we do and our example is more powerful many times than our words. I am thankful that your students have a teacher who reads and reads because she enjoys it. That is a powerful model!