Summer Reading- The Book Whisperer, Chapters 2 & 3

I am really enjoying the sentiments found in The Book Whisperer.  Donalyn Miller makes the reading relatable as she includes personal stories from her own teaching experience.  You have to have street credit when you're providing professional development.  Teachers are a lot like students in their learning.  They need to know how what they are learning applies to their world and their teaching.  By including examples and acknowledging her own struggles Donalyn Miller writes this book directly to the teacher.

Here are my "take aways" from Chapters 2 & 3.  If you have your own understandings and would like to share or have questions, please leave a comment!

Chapter 2 Everybody is a Reader.............

• Letting students choose books and guiding them to book selection creates the basis for a motivated reader.
• Struggling readers spend far less time in school reading than their classmates due to pull out supports, actually deepening the reading gap. (this is a big one for me)
• Schools label types of readers adding to the view of students as "readers" or "nonreaders"
• Redefining types of readers...
• Developing Readers
• students in intervention are not reading enough and not provided authentic opportunities to apply his/her strategies
• need to pair books with students at right level
• Dormant Readers (ME AS A STUDENT)
• kids who can functionally read but are unmotivated and uninspired to read, see reading as work
• need the same inspiring conditions as developing readers to thrive & develop- ie. hours reading, independent choice & classroom environments that value choice
• Underground Readers
• bored with teacher led book study, just want time to enjoy their own books
• Research Based Classroom Conditions for Learning- I LOVED this breakdown b/c it echoed all the components laid out by other books about the reading environment I read throughout my masters...Reggie Routman, The Sisters, Fountas & Pinnell.  It all highly influenced how I would later assemble my own first grade classroom. Reading it again was like a warm hug! I did something right!  I know what I'm talking about when I give the same advice to other teachers!  You can read the definitions and application in the book, but here is the list...
• Immersion
• Demonstrations
• Expectations
• Responsibility
• Employment
• Approximations
• Response
• Engagement
• Student Interest Surveys- I have used these in the past when composing Literacy Profiles for students in need, however never as a whole class.  I think that using surveys (modified for every age) is time well spent in the beginning of the year.  For younger students this can be a very simple or even include the parents at Back to School Night.

Chapter 2 was not really long, but it was chocked full of information and thought provoking ideas.  Here are some reflection questions for teachers after reading this chapter....

1.  What type of reader were you as a student?
2.  How did you feel about reading when you were a student?
3.  How much of your own style of teaching is reflective of how you were taught? What does that tell you about your students' experiences in your classroom?
4.  Do you have students missing out on time reading in class?
5.  How do you know when your students are engaged in reading?
6.  What does reading look like in your room?
7.  In what aspects of your room can you find evidence of Cambourne's factors for successful learning?
8.  How do you feel about Student Interest Surveys? In what ways could you incorporate them into your room?

Chapter 3 There's a Time and a Place................

• Reading is not an extra activity during the school day but the "corner stone" of learning.
• No other activity has a greater positive impact on student learning then independent reading (supported by research).  We deny our students this opportunity for our own teacher-led and teacher centered activities.
• Time for reading should be planned first, not added as a an afterthought or time filler.  It should be deliberate and hold value.
• Includes many ways to use "downtime" to accumulate to meaningful amounts of time reading.
• classroom interruptions, morning warm-up, early finishers, waiting for events, etc. I wish I would have used some of these times when I was in the classroom.  Donalyn Miller makes a great case for the getting rid of morning warm-ups and early finisher work.  I can't tell you how much planning time I wasted on developing packs of worksheets for those times.  I wish I would have made that switch.
• Reading spaces need to fit the class and not all rooms can accommodate a formal reading space.  Students should be taught to read anywhere and have clear expectations of what reading can look like in the room. 

Here are some reflection questions for teachers after reading this chapter....

1.  How do you organize time for independent reading?
2.  When could you create more moments for reading?
3.  Where do students read in your room?

These chapters really provided an opportunity to reflect on reading in our classrooms and evaluate the kind of structures we have in place.  For the rest of my posts about The Book Whisperer I will be only providing questions for reflection! So make sure you're reading the chapters and developing your own understandings.  Remember to leave comments or pose your own questions.  

Thanks!!