The Book Whisperer: Everybody is a Reader {Chp. 2}

Well, I missed linking up for the first chapter of Donalyn Miller's amazing book The Book Whisperer.  {I spent all of last Thursday driving home from our family vacation.}

I absolutely love this book though.  I read it last summer, and it gave me the incentive to completely change my reading classes.  I am so excited to be reading it again this summer.

I love reading, and as a teacher, it was hard for me in the past to understand why students would not like to read.  It is so much more freeing as a teacher to start from the basis that every child is a reader.  Instead of then struggling to try to make children readers, I can spend my efforts finding books that the students will enjoy instead.

Donalyn identifies three types of readers in this chapter: developing readers, dormant readers, and underground readers.

Moving away from a traditional reading curriculum {basal readers, whole class reading units, book quizzes and tests} is a scary step for most teachers.  I will admit that when I started giving my students more choice and independent reading time last year, I was nervous.  I was nervous about what other teachers and even the parents would say.  I switched from long reading lessons to mini lessons with interactive notebooks and then free reading time.

I'm not going to say that everything went completely smoothly last year.  There are definitely things that I need to work on.  I need to do a better job finding high interest books for my developing readers. {Even if that means trips to the library every weekend to supplement my class library.}  I need to do more to support my developing readers so they can feel success.  I also need to give my students more time to talk about the books they are reading with each other.