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The Book Whisperer
Oct 22

Big Takeaways

Make time for reading in your classroom, as she said in the book, ‘choosing not to read is never an option.’ 2 hours is mentioned as time to make during the week for students to read, she is a 6th grade teacher. The goal was to create a lifelong reader, to help the student love reading, not just to read to take a test.

Create a Culture for reading, be the role model, be the Master Reader. She suggests to steal time for reading, for example, morning work, instead of giving endless worksheets, have them read. When waiting for a bus, have them read, interruptions in class, have them pull out a book. As she says “reading is what we do, always, everywhere, it becomes the heart of a class’s culture.” Make library time a big deal, make sure they learn how to use the library. Have plenty of books on hand in the classroom. Have a space for reading. They had a donated sofa in their class they named “Aunt Fanny”.

Student choice is key, another quote I like and agree with is “Readers without power to make their own choices are unmotivated.” Empower your students, and give them the responsibility to make their own reading choices. Within the choice she had book requirements within certain genres and amount of books to be read in each. The goal for the year was 40, they didn’t discuss what would happen if they didn’t reach the goal. She held high expectations for her students.

I like the way she described Teachers approach to reading. P. 109, I’m paraphrasing, one she labeled aesthetic stance to reading. Those who saw reading as an emotional and an intellectual journey. An inside out approach. The other she called a skills based approach. Those who see reading as a goal, not a gift, an outside in approach. More of a need to be able to read for school and life. Rather than a want, or a love of reading.


Implications for your instruction

I really liked this book, there are so many great ideas to carry forward to the classroom. Currently I am in a 2nd grade class in my Practicum. In the class the Cooperating Teacher has a Languages Arts block with rotations. There is 13 minutes of choice time daily, there is a lot of books in the room. She has a designated reading area with pillows and rugs. There are shelves and baskets of books for the students to choose. She also has a 13 minute block of guided reading, with a book of her choosing, and in 3 groups according to level.
Making time each day, every day for choice reading is manageable, whatever the amount of time, of course longer is better, but even 10-15 minutes a day is valuable and important.
I think the younger the grade the more important to encourage reading, and do what you can to create a love of reading in the child.
I like the suggestion of using reading as the go to for a time filler, as opposed to busy work, such as morning work.

Points you’d like to challenge/question
As new Teachers, we may not have the freedom or autonomy that this author had to structure her class around reading. There will most likely be programs to follow or other requirements we have to follow.
Another challenge is she mentioned one student who would only read one type of book, Science Fiction I believe. She kind of glossed over it, and I challenge that at some point, he will have to read and understand text that is not his choosing. It is important that students be challenged and expected to learn to read and comprehend all a variety of types of text.