Sara Margaret West-December Blog-Routman Ch. 3-Share Your Reading Life

As a classroom teacher we cannot make reading be another thing students add to their to-do list.  We need to encourage them to be "real-world" readers and to show them what reading looks like. We can do this by sharing with them what our reading life looks like.

As adults, we read what we want to, when we want to, for as long as we want to do so.  Realistically speaking, we cannot let them read for as long as they want. (although I admit, I sometimes let independent reading last a little longer that needed). In the school world we have other things we have to do, other things we have to teach and cannot spend all day on literacy (although how nice would that be).   We can; however, model for students what our reading like looks like.

Each year I try and read as many "kid" books as possible.  The school year is the time I put my reading list to the side and focus on reading books I believe my students would enjoy.  I do this for two reasons: 1) I can make knowledgeable book recommendations 2) I can prove to my students that reading can be fun.  I try to do book talks with my students by pulling up Amazon and sharing with them some books that I have read.  I want students to know that I read for pleasure and read things that I am excited to share with them.

A few years ago I read The Book Whisper by Donalyn Miller.  She talked about how you need to encourage the love of reading in your students.  There are many things from her book that impacted me as a teacher and many things that I have implemented into my own classroom.  My favorite thing was The Book Lover's Book (BLB).  Each year I make it a  priority for me and my students to create their own BLB.  In this notebook, we keep track of mini-lessons, vocabulary, Book Club information, books we have read, and books we want to read.  Unfortunately, there are some years I do not do a great job with using this notebook, but there are other years, my students leave and it is packed full.  The one part I do emphasize is the list of books we have read.  This is our reading log where we can keep track of what we have read, refer back to it when people need recommendations, and use it to being book talks.  The BLB allows me to share reading life and encourages me to keep reading those books!