Articles

The articles this week really got me thinking about the classes I am working with this semester at Dalton. The 7th and 8th graders were assigned their first book project and the students were all allowed to choose the books they were going to read as long as they were on or a little above their reading level. The 8th graders were not allowed to choose R.L. Stine though. The 7th graders were given a page limit that they had to meet, and I found this to not be the best idea. When I was with the 7th graders in the library, they were so concerned with page length and not getting a really long book, that I feel many may have missed out on some great novels. In my 8th grade classes however, the students were not given a page length and it was never really a discussion. Kids chose books where the title jumped out at them or from the suggestions of myself, my cooperating teacher, or the librarians. I found that the kids loved the idea of choosing a book for themselves, and I took that opportunity to have them tell me why they chose their books. It is so exciting to see kids reading and being excited about what they are doing. I also love it when my students come up to me to tell me how they like the book that I helped them pick out!

I agree with Julie Lause when she says that reading can not become strictly an academic exercise or it will become “BORing.” Students need the opportunity to read about things that matter to them, they need to read for meaning, and that will strengthen their language development. I also really liked “The Reader’s Bill or Rights” in the New Voices article. At Dalton, the kids are given a week with their book, and in that first week if they really can not get into their novel, they are allowed to pick another one. I really think the focus of all of these articles is to get kids reading, and the more they read, the more they will want to read, but they need to be able to have a choice in many/most of their reading materials.