By: Travis Crowder
I am always entranced by the sounds of reading—the turning pages, the rhythmic breathing, the steady movements. These sounds, intoxicating and inviting, are part of the language of book love. There is no tension, no aggravation. Just kids engaged with books. My teaching philosophy rests on the belief that all students want to read and have the capacity to develop an authentic reading life. Not all students enter my classroom prepared to live and to think beside books, though. The act of joyful reading, where they have time to self-select books, talk with friends about their reading lives, exchange books recommendations, and write about their reading, has too often been absent from their experiences. Opportunities to fall in love with books, in many cases, have been scarce. But I believe a classroom rich with literacy can change that. When kids have access to books, and that access is founded on choice, they migrate from the arid land of non-reading and wade into an oasis of story.
Authentic reading instruction, the work of real readers, is powerful. Beyond the walls of my classroom, books speak to people, and those people, moved by story and language, share their reading lives with those around them. There are no cumbersome projects or dense worksheets that accompany that type of reading experience. Instead, people read and fall in love with books and invite others to engage in joyful reading. That’s the type of environment I work hard to create for my students. Readers are complex thinkers—they analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and critique. Although I want students to think critically and to use their awareness of structure and craft moves to interpret text, I want more than that for them. I want them to read because they love books.
In thinking about my own classroom and the practices that have helped students develop a love of reading, I notice that conversations, writing, and reading are the most effective methods. There are choices I make as an educator, both pedagogically and philosophically, that give kids a stronger foundation in adopting healthy reading habits. The following ideas and routines are several of many that have helped my kids fall in love with reading. I hope you find them useful.
Provide daily time for free choice independent reading.
Students need and deserve time to read every day. In my classroom, we begin each language arts period with 15-20 minutes of reading time. There are times when students are asked to pay attention to certain details in their reading, such as unfamiliar vocabulary or characterization, but mostly, I want them to read and to fall in love with their books. Providing a consistent time for reading establishes routine. With this time, I am telling students that reading matters, and I am willing to set time aside for this purpose. And there are no strings attached to the reading. Just enjoy.
Surround kids with lots of books.
We adopt the habits and qualities of the people and things around us. I want kids to become readers, so I surround them with books. The bookshelves, ledges, and countertops have books on them. A diverse classroom library, full of books that represent a wide range of interests, cultures, and genres, is essential. Students need to see themselves represented in books and they need to be exposed to books with characters who do not look and sound like them. Diversity matters. At the beginning of the year, students complete an interest inventory and from these, I learn a great deal about their lives, their hopes, and the things they love. The inventories, as well as conversations with students, help me stock the classroom library. Additionally, there is a poster at the front of my room where students write the titles of books they have finished as a visual display of our class reading life. I want books to be visible in my classroom, and when a child finishes a book, I want them to be surrounded with options to continue their reading habits.
A quick note on book talks: To engage kids with reading is to talk about books–a lot. Providing time to read is an essential part of a classroom, but moving kids to adopt authentic reading lives means finding books that will speak to them and sharing them. Give a brief summary, read a high-interest part, and pass it off to students. Let them hear the language of the story. This gifts them with a beautiful reason to read.
Allow time for writing about books.
Students need opportunities to write about their reading. Students keep reader’s notebook in my class, and often, we go into our notebooks (I write with them) and record our thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Readers will have visceral reactions to characters, and they will worry, hurt, and love alongside them. A notebook is a perfect place for those feelings to land. I have found that freewrites are powerful tools for students to examine their feelings and reactions to books. I also give students time to recommend through writing, either through adding an image and quick review on a Padlet or writing a note on a sticky and placing it in the front of a fascinating book. They solidify their reading and recommend a book to someone else. Simplicity is remarkable.
Encourage talk among students.
Reading is a social act. I ask students to write about their reading often; however, I want them to talk about their reading, too. After independent reading, I may ask kids to turn and talk to a neighbor about the section they just read, a character they are connecting with, or a word that stood out to them. Talk encourages rich thinking and deep comprehension, and it nudges us forward in our reading lives.
Discuss and share your personal reading life.
Reading and our reading lives are not static. Readers do not read with consistent vigor or engage in an academic close reading of every text they encounter. Students often assumed that was my reading life, and even when I confronted their bias with the truth (I read widely and intrepidly), they assumed that their judgment was the same. So I came up with a helpful solution—I decided to invite students into my personal reading life. And I was honest. I shared that there were books I did not like and books I abandoned because they did not speak to me. When I finished a book, I shared it with kids, even if it wasn’t one I felt they would pick up and read. I began listing my reading life on the door of my classroom so students could see that I participated in the process of reading alongside them. Sharing our reading lives with students humanizes the experience. It shows them that we do not read for school. We read read for life.
Encourage reflection.
All readers need time to think about their reading lives. Each week, I invite students to consider their reading lives and write their thinking inside their notebooks. Students are allowed to write about characters, big ideas, lessons they’ve learned, goals, and how they have grown and changed as readers. I also invite students to consider the ways that they have challenged themselves and to write about the types of books they may want to explore. Reflection provides clarity and direction for all readers, but developing readers grow beside this practice. Through writing or conversation, kids verbalize where they’ve been, and when they do, they have a better idea of where they need to go.
Sit beside kids and talk with them about their reading.
Helping kids grow as readers and thinkers means sitting beside them and talking with them about books. I have conversations with students constantly about their reading lives, asking them to describe how books make them feel, how they connect to characters, and what book(s) they want to read once they finish with their current read. Conversations foster deeper thinking.
I think about talking with students as ways to nudge them further. By sitting beside them and talking about books, I am validating their humanity. I am saying, “You matter and I want to talk to you about your reading.”
Promote reading, not books.
Esteemed librarian, author, and educator Jennifer LaGarde first brought this phrase to my attention. Since then, I have marinated in the idea that as a teacher, I am not a teacher of literature. I am a teacher of students. There are books that I have read and loved, and each year, I talk about those books with students. I read and share, brining in books that I am certain will speak to my kids’ interests. I am careful when I talk about books in my classroom because I want students to know that in my room, their reading choices are valued. I may not enjoy a genre or format that they love, but that doesn’t mean their choices are wrong or irrelevant. It just means that we are different people. We come together to read common texts often, but I try to bring it back to their independent reading lives. I am responsible for readers, not books.
Although we are in the middle of a school year, the beginning of 2019 is alive with possibility. This is a beautiful year to fall in love with reading. I ask you to join me in guiding students to a sense of book love, of self-awareness, of joy. Join me in believing that kids want to read, and through their interests and hearts, we can open a world of language and story that will captivate them for years to come. Moving kids to adopt reading habits is not always easy, but nudging them a little each day has great power. During a mini-lesson earlier today, I noticed Mark was still lost inside his book. Part of me wanted him to pay attention, to be polite, during instruction about delivering information through the use of second person narration. But I let him read. I have watched him strive this year to find a book that will speak to him and today, he did. Those nudges–sitting beside him, talking about books, and time to read–moved him to engage with a text, and I am confident that he will find more books that will enhance his growing reading life.
I hope my suggestions give your classroom life and possibility. This work we do is important. To learn beside students is a precious thing. There are many times when kids are not willing to read or are more engaged with something else. I keep trying, though. I refuse to give up. I continue to believe that there is a book that will move them into a love of reading. I invite you to believe alongside me.
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