Follow us:
DR. BICKMORE'S YA WEDNESDAY
  • Weekly Posts
  • WEEKEND PICKS 2023
  • Monday Motivators 2023
  • Weekend Picks 2021
  • Contributors
  • Bickmore's Posts
  • Lesley Roessing's Posts
  • Weekend Picks 2020
  • Weekend Picks 2019
  • Weekend Picks old
  • 2021 UNLV online Summit
  • UNLV online Summit 2020
  • 2019 Summit on Teaching YA
  • 2018 Summit
  • Contact
  • About
  • WEEKEND PICKS 2023

Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday has a new Feature-- A YouTube Channel

Don't worry, it is easy to find.  Just go to YouTube and search for Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday.

Check Out the YouTube Channel

Getting Books in the Hands of Readers by Katie Sluiter

8/26/2019

0 Comments

 
Yeah, Katie is providing a post once again! She is one of my teaching superstar. I am amazed by anyone who manages to teacher middle school year after year. I am even more impressed that she reads to her kids, keeps a blog from time to time, survived cancer, reads like a maniac, she connects with kids, and still can find time to write me a guest blog post. You should browse for her other posts on the contributors page.

Getting Books in the Hands of Readers by Katie Sluiter

Picture
​It has long been established that choice is the key to helping students find joy in reading. Access to a diverse group of authors, genres, and text complexities along with dedicated time to read during class time has proven to improve student reading more than any other strategy. As someone who has deeply invested in the research and strategies of Penny Kittle, Donalyn Miller, Kelly Gallagher, among others, I have spent years growing my classroom library to include books that can provide what Rudine Sims Bishop calls windows, sliding doors, and mirrors for all of my students. I also give my 8th graders time every single day to read.
 
But there is a step between the access and the time to read that tends to get glossed over. A well-curated classroom library is not a field of dreams--just by providing books does not mean students will read them. Teachers also need to become adept at pairing readers with books.
 
Too many times, students are brought to a library (if they are lucky) and/or told, “go ahead--pick whatever you want to read!” without any guidance. Those who are already reluctant readers will, at best, wander aimlessly choosing a random book. At worst, students will just not choose anything. When I was a newish high school teacher, I tried having the students pick what they wanted to read. It failed.

It failed for a number of reasons, but the big two culprits were that I didn’t read what my students read and I didn’t show them how to choose books that would meet them as readers.
 
The past five years that I have been at the middle school level, I have worked on some real strategies to get books in the hands of all my students. I think of books as potential new friends, and encourage my students to “meet” them in a variety of ways.

Book Talks

​Promoted by reading gurus everywhere, frequent book talks are the most regular way I get titles in front of my students. In fact, the first thing I do on the first day of school is book talk one of the books I read over the summer that I loved (this year I will be book talking Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson).
 
Because we have 60-minute class periods, I don’t have the time to book talk each day, however I devote 10 minutes every Tuesday to Book Talk Tuesday. I usually feature at least three books. As the school year goes on, I start to hand over Book Talk Tuesday to students.
 
I also take students to our school media center once a marking period as a whole class (they can visit the media center individually when they want) so our fantastically awesome media center specialist can do book talks with them. She is a voracious reader of Young Adult Literature, and has a wider selection than I do in my room. It also gives me time to wander and chat with kids about what they are reading--or not reading.
Picture

Book Speed-Dating

Picture
During the first week of school, I set my room up like a speed-dating cafe. Students are put in groups of 4 at tables. Each table has 4 books from my classroom library. Each student has 16 speed date forms that ask them to rate the book in front of them on First Impressions (the cover art, etc), Flirting (summary and blurbs from other authors, etc.), and Getting to Know You (opening it and reading a selection).
 
From there they circle “yes”, “no”, or “maybe” for if they would like to take the book out. They get two minutes per book. At the end, they sort their forms into three piles. Then I have the write all the titles that received a “yes” into their Reading Notebooks on the page for “What I Want To Read,” and tell them they can also put in the maybe’s if they choose.
 
My 8th graders LOVE doing this so much, I am considering starting second semester this way too since kids can get in a reading rut halfway through the school year.

Book Tasting

Picture
​This is similar to speed-dating, but with a different motif: that of a reading cafe. My fellow 8th grade ELA teachers and I set this up when we do literature circles.
 
We transform our Media Center into a Cafe: we dim the lights, project a fireplace on the big screen, play some quiet jazz, and set each table with a tablecloth, place mats, tea lights (the electric kind because middle schoolers will burn it all down otherwise), a table tent with instructions, copies of the book that will be “tasted” at that table, and of course, bakery treats.
 
Because we combine classes for this event, each teacher has an apron on. As students come in, one teacher will group the students for each table, and one will guide each group to their first table. Each table has a different menu that features the book for that table. Similar to my book speed-dating, Students get Taste Test Forms for each of the books that include First Impressions (title, cover, appearance), Menu Description (summary of the book, number of pages, etc.), and Taste Test (looking through the actual book). Students give the book “stars” for each category.
 
Also like speed-dating, students then use their forms to give their first, second, and third choice for which books they would like to read for literature circles.

Picture
​While all of these events are fun, the main thing I try to do is make books and talking about books a daily part of my classroom from Day 1 to Day 180. Talk TO your students about what they are reading or not reading. Find out what they like and what they struggle with. Constant talk and recommendations should be happening.
 
Every year I have students who will finish a book and say, “what should I read next” despite my best efforts to turn them into planners. For those kids, I either hand them a personally made recommendation list, or I pull books from my library and set a stack in front of them and say, “look at these for your next adventure.”
 
Books are part of each and every day in my classroom. Even on the last day of school, I make student curated “Summer Rec” lists available as they walk out the door reminding them that their public library is free and close by.
 
If you want students to read they need choice, access, and time, but they also need a teacher who loves reading enough to talk about it constantly. Now let’s get books into the hands of students!

Katie Sluiter currently teaches at Wyoming Junior High School in Wyoming, Michigan. She has taught middle school, high school, and community college English and Composition classes and has her Masters Degree in Teaching English from Western Michigan University. She advocates for best practices in the ELA classroom as a contributing writer to The Educator's Room. She has presented at multiple MCTE conferences and will be on two panels at the upcoming NCTE conference in Atlanta. Her blog, Sluiter Nation, chronicles her life as a mother and teacher. She lives in Zeeland, Michigan with her family. You can contact her at katiesluiter@gmail.com
​
To donate to Mrs. Sluiter’s classroom library, check out her
Classroom Library Wish List created by student requests.

​Until next week.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Dr. Gretchen Rumohr
    Chief Curator
    Gretchen Rumohr is a professor of English and department chair at Aquinas College, where she teaches writing and language arts methods.   She is also a Co-Director of the UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. She lives with her four girls and a five-pound Yorkshire Terrier in west Michigan.

    Dr. Steve Bickmore
    ​Creator and Curator

    Dr. Bickmore is a Professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and a past president of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

    Co-Edited Books

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Chris-lynch

    Blogs to Follow

    Ethical ELA
    nerdybookclub
    NCTE Blog
    yalsa.ala.org/blog/

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly