Key Ideas to Remember

[Deb]

What key ideas do you want to remember for your own students?

[Jeannene]

There were so many great things that were mention in this chapter of "The Book Whisperer". A few that I would like to remember and use in my future class are; readers without power to make their own choices are unmotivated, ask the student to read a book they are engaged in rather than to complete the book for an assignment, and if doing a group reading assignment make sure the book isn't focused to just one type of reader. My major issue with reading was that I didn't want to read the long boring books that I didn't understand, but that was what was assigned. It wasn't until my senior year that I actual did the reading assignments in the class because our teacher allowed us to get engaged with the books. If my previous teachers just followed a few of the guidelines Mrs. Miller went by I think that there would be more avid readers. I hope to make my classrooms a place to encourage reading and the few things listed above is one place for me to start!

[Emily]

The key ideas that I want to remember from this reading for my own students would be to realize that students who don’t read, even if they are capable of completing reading tasks at school, run the risk of falling behind students who read more than they do. I want to be able to give students the possibility to enjoy reading as much as possible without all of the analytical and painful work that some teachers put along with it. I also want to remember to use books that underground readers do read to meet instructional goals so that way they are able to enjoy their reading and they still are learning something about the books that they enjoy. If they are reading, why would I want to get them to stop reading just to read something I think would benefit them in my classroom. I want them to be able to read what they want but explore new things at the same time. I also want to remember that most students think that school to them is about performing to the teacher’s expectations and doing the work that the teacher requires. I want my students to know that I want them to do the best that they can do and I don’t want to limit their ability to do great work just because it’s not how I would do it. I want them to be able to have the sky as their limit and realize their worth in the reading materials. I really enjoyed reading this chapter and I thought that it gave me a whole new outlook on how to get students to love reading and also be able to evaluate the kind of reader I am so that I can either fix that for my students or utilize it to be able to connect with my students in the future.

[ME]

Key ideas to remember:
Readers can be developed if encouraged by finding what interests them.
Reading should be done regularly every day to become a good habit.
Developing readers need to feel successful.
Students should not read just to pass tests.
Readers should have good role models.
All readers should be given a choice in what to read.

[Pam]

She has some good ideas for encouraging students to read. I liked her idea of letting the children read the books they want to read rather than assigning them one to read. I am sure as I start to make my lesson plans I will be able to come up with many ways to have discussions with the children in regards to the books they are reading that don’t include writing book reports. The handout you gave us in class “Share a Book!” is full of fun ways the students can share their books with me that they will enjoy doing.

Sometimes you read something that is a “no brainer” and think, why haven’t the experts been pushing this concept in school. The way Miller was able to help Kelsey was perfect. As I said in my other post, I struggled in reading in elementary school so I know how thrilling it was for Kelsey to be able to succeed after such a long struggle. As a future teacher what I look forward to the most is to be able to help students in their struggles in school.

[Rachelle]

Miller is dedicated to creating a climate that supports all three types of readers. Each type of reader needs protected time to read. Developing readers need a lot of hands on practice reading at whatever reading level will help them experience suggest. Dormant readers need time to try out a wide variety of books so they can experience what works for them and begin seeing themselves as readers. Underground readers need flexibility to move at their own pace and not be bogged down in the process of classroom instruction.

[Emma]

I think that it is important to remember that all students are readers in some way - the key is to have your classroom be an oasis for all three types of readers to find out how they love to read. The key ideas that Miller expressed which I found important was that developing readers need to be encouraged and need to feel successful in their reading ability. Dormant readers must have time to try out a myriad of books and see what fits them the best so they can see themselves as successful readers. Then the underground readers need to have the flexibility to move at their own reading pace and not be tied down with a lesson that is being dragged out for other students. Miller had a good way of giving some ideas on how to encourage reading and make the classroom a climate for all to find a book to enjoy and be a confident reader.

I know that in high school, I often found myself at a "lull" when the books we were reading were done in sections and we had to go over parts of the book and what they meant. But other times we had group discussions and were allowed to, in a way, debate what we thought about the book and that was always my favorite. I liked to debate points of view because it was a good way to bring up points and ideas that I sometimes didn't get out of reading the book. But, like Miller said, sometimes I just read the book because it was required and it was not always a book I liked, so for certain books it would become a chore to read instead of a pleasure. And I know that many of my classmates felt the same.

Not everyone likes to read as much as I do, and in my senior AP lit class, one of our activities was to pick a book of our own to read (on a list of 100 books) and do activities with it. Everyone in my class loved the chance to finally choose one book that we personally had an interest in and delve into it how we each saw fit.

[Whitney]

Key ideas that I would like to remember from reading this article for my own students is that not each student will enjoy reading as much as the other. I need to make sure that I am encouraging reading and not shutting it out outside of school. As much as I dread reading, I would like for all of my students to enjoy it even just a little more that I do.
It is a good idea to make my classroom comfortable for all three different types of readers. What I mean by this is to not assign reading an uncomfortable amount and to assign the perfect amount of reading. I would also like my student's to have the option to choose what they would like to read for book reports or alternatives to book reports. In grade school we were forced to read books that were not intriguing for the entire class. It would have been nice to choose books or topics that interested me.

[Bailey]

One of the big ideas that I took away from this is how to bring out the reader in a student who has no initial interest or gets very easily overwhelmed by books. The story about Kelsey really stuck with me. She was so beat down by failing test scores that she just didn't know where to start, or where to go with books. As a teacher, it is important that we meet our students where they are at with reading, and go from there. It can be a process to find the reader in someone, but it is not impossible. They just need to right conditions and direction.

Another big thing for me was to remember that if a student is already ahead of the curb and just loves to read, it helps to adapt as a teacher in order for the student to get the most out of the class as possible. Do not try to force a student to change what they read or how they read in order to complete an assignment. We can find a way to work with it. That is what being a teacher seems to be about. Find what level a student is at and go with it.

[Stephanie]

Some of the key ideas that I really want to remember are to allow students the freedom to choose some of their own books to read. Have books from many different levels of reading available for students to check out. Model reading from all these different levels so that students will see that you are reading. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to read books that may be below your reading level or above your reading level. Keep reading. Be excited about what the students are reading.

[Elizabeth]

I really want to remember the three different reader types. Especially how she uses developing reader rather than the negative term “struggling reader”. I really want to remember these key ideas because I feel like they are positive labels for students, rather than the negative terms usually given. I feel like it is so important to truly understand your reader so you know how to get them more involved and to read more outside of class. I loved the idea of using a reading survey to get to know the student at the beginning of the year. I feel like with a lot of students this could be tough. But since I’m going to be an elementary school teacher, I feel like a class of 20 students could be easily handled in evaluating each student individually. I loved how she wrote a note to her student to put inside the Eyewitness: Soccer book. I seems like the most personable way to recommend a book to a student. It shows that you truly took the time to read the surveys and thought that the student would enjoy the book.
I also loved her positive way to start the year. I love that each year they start out with a “book frenzy” where everyone gets excited to rent books from the classroom and they talk over some of the books and recommend them to each other. It sounds like so much fun!

[Tiffanie]

One thing that stuck out to me is giving the students choices in what they want to read. When teacher choose a text there will most likely be a student who does not like the book and therefore become less engaged in the text as well as the work. By giving the student the choice of what they read, and as a teacher creating my work to cater to the student’s choice in a text. I also liked that the types of readers were categorized as developing, dormant, or underground. I liked this because these categories do not sound negative. It is also important that if students are using my personal library, that I have different levels of books. By providing different levels of books I would be able to cater to all of the different reading levels in my classroom.

[Jenifer]

When reading "The book whisperer" there were a few key ideas that stuck out to me. One was give the student an options of books to read and let them choose the one that catches their eye. I think by teachers assigning books to read you know that not all the kids are going to like reading that book and do exactly what I did all throughout high school and do the minimal reading just to get by and using summaries and other resources to pass. So to me letting them choose the books will give them a greater chance of engaging in the reading and hopefully they enjoy it.
From that another key idea would be kids should not just be reading to past the test. This should be something that they should enjoy a lot of us especially for me just read to past the test. Reading is a wonderful thing and something that we can enjoy.

[Bianca]

Some key ideas that I want to remember for my own class are to make sure that I have a selection of books available for my students to read with many different varieties and genres. I want to also make sure to let the students know that they will not be tested on the reading material, however I would like for them to still read. Instead of testing students on what they have read, I will make sure to question them and provide an open discussion with ideas that are presented in the books and how we can apply them to our lives. I want to also remember to not focus on the labels that students may be labeled as such as reluctant or struggling reader but allow everyone the opportunity to read and have them feel that they are doing well. I really want to be able to observe my students and be able to give them book recommendations based on my observations on subjects they will enjoy reading. Overall just make reading fun and not the feel of a job or just have to read to pass a test.

[Liz]

I felt like the main key idea from "The Book Whisperer" was that the goal of Language Arts is to set children on the path to being efficient, life-long readers. From this main idea comes the key ideas for each kind of reader. If the reader struggles, the teacher must find a way to not only interest the student in reading but also make them feel like reading well is something they can achieve. For the dormant reader, the key idea is that the teacher must find a way to get them interested in reading. For the underground reader, the teacher's key idea is that they must allow the student to keep doing what they are doing. They shouldn't be distracted.

[Kimberly]

There are many key ideas that I took away from this chapter of The Book Whisperer. The student should have a variety of books to choose from and be allowed time to read every day. Practice, practice, practice! The student should be responsible for picking out the types of books they want to read. I liked that the teachers used questionnaires at the beginning of the year to get a feel for what each child would like to read and in this way could help prod the child in the right direction. One of the things that impressed me was the classroom library and how she engaged the students to read and talk among themselves about books. You could almost feel the excitement of the students.

[Bradley]

There were a lot of great ideas mentioned in the chapter “The Book Whisperer.” Some key ideas I want to make sure to remember for my own students is that not every child enjoys reading. If you find topics that the students enjoy, then find books regarding those topics, the students may enjoy reading those books. Then, they could become great readers and really enjoy reading on their own.
No matter what type of reader your students are, you need to encourage them to read everyday. You could help to facilitate this by building time into your lesson plan where students could read books of their choice and not assigned material.
For the development readers, you need to make sure they feel success to keep them motivated to read.
One key idea that I feel is very important is keeping the underground readers involved and motivated in the class and not only focusing on the developing readers.
An example of this is Randy’s story. He was always carrying a massive book around and you knew he was a great reader, but he didn’t do his homework. Based on this, it was suggested that he should be placed into the after school-tutoring program since his grades were low.

[Jennifer]

There are many things to remember from this article. One of those things being that I want to remember to let the students in my class pick some of their own books and not make them read everything that I want them to read. I also want to remember that if I have to have them read a book that I need them to that I should give them choices for different book but make sure that all of them fulfill the same lesson. This way all of them will learn the same lesson but they still get their choice in which books they read. Another thing I want to remember is that if a student is already reading books to just let them read and not try to force too many other books on them so that they don’t get frustrated and give up on reading. One of the other things I want to remember is that if I have a developing or dormant reader in my class I should just encourage them to read something, and it doesn't matter what they read until they start to like reading. This way they can get used to reading and then work up to their grade level and other topics of books they might like.

[Brooke]

I enjoyed reading the excerpt from “The Book Whisperer”. There were many ideas that I will save for my future classroom. One of the first ideas I enjoyed was the reading survey. I think the surveys were a great way to find out what the students are interested in. It also would help get to know the students better. Another idea I liked was keeping a bookshelf in the classroom that the students could utilize. Going through school my teachers were very strict with their books. They did not have many interesting books to choose from. I think that is great that Mrs. Miller has an extensive book collection that she allows all students to borrow from. Another key idea I enjoyed was giving children book recommendations. Going through school, I remember getting book recommendations from my friends rather than my teachers. I think this would make the students trust you more as a teacher.

[Hannah]

I think the biggest concept this chapter emphasizes is that getting kids excited about reading and promoting free reading in the classroom is extremely important and effective. Students should not have to look at reading as a chore or punishment. It's our jobs as teachers to promote the magic reading can ensue and encourage our students to find books that interest them. It's also important to remember that every student has the capability to read. Whether they be a developing reading or and expert reader, there will always be a book out there that caters to their reading level and genre.

[Trey]

While reading this chapter, I found a variety of key ideas that I thought would prove to be useful in my future classroom. One of these ideas was the interest surveys. I've heard of doing interest surveys before, but never using one that involves the children's interest in books and what type of books they enjoy reading. Another idea that I find valuable is what an underground reader truly is. Each classroom will have a select few of these students and I want to be able to include these students in the tests and assignments that will pertain to their specific reading level/capabilities. Instead of having these students blow through a book, I could give them more detailed questions or assignments that would enhance their reading experience even more than just the test. Finally, I want to take with me that as a teacher I must offer an abundance of confidence within my students and set an example for them to follow when it comes to reading books. Miller did an excellent job at describing what it takes to have ideal conditions for learning with children when it comes to books and reading. Each child is unique and you must find a way to reach them in order to engage them in books.

[Lauren]

The first thing that I really thought would be useful was the interest surveys. They can be very helpful in getting to know a student and just figuring out who they are. Oddly enough I found myself answering the questions in my head. Qnother thing I found that would be useful wasn't stated outright, but was implied that I myself need to expand my reading. I love to read so this shouldn' be too hard, but I need to know a wide variety of books to be able to recommend books to a student who doesn't necessarily have the same tastes that I do. The most important thing, in my opinion is to let them make their own reading choices. me telling what to read is not going to help them enjoy reading.

[Mr.]

What I seem to be hearing many times recently is that students, in regards to reading especially, need choice. To deprive them of choice can strip them of their interest of reading itself. It will change reading from pleasure to work, and it may never make the transition back again. I also liked how she said that the demands on her teaching at first was impacting her teaching success. She was focused too much about what others wanted of her and less about what the students needed. She focused instead of the needs of the students as expressed to her, and then secondly she focused on the needs she thought the students had. I like how she said we should have bigger goals than our short-term lesson plans that require students to do a certain activity. The long-term goal of that short-term lesson is to create life long readers who possess the ability to read so we shouldn't stifle those who already enjoy reading avidly. I also took away from this chapter than anyone can be turned into someone who views themselves as a reader. I loved the stories of those whose lives were changed, and then you could see the changes in their lifestyles and thoughts.