Igniting a Passion for Reading: Book Study chapters five and six

This is truly embarrassing, but I really need to wrap up posting about our book study. We finished back in March (oh, goodness, that was a long time ago) but it seems that this is the first time I've had the energy and the minutes to share what we talked about! If you've been following these posts, I do apologize and I'm thankful to you! Chapter Five My Modeling Career: Igniting a Passion by Reading with Students In teaching, you very quickly learn that, when you want students to do something - anything - no matter how simple or small, you MUST model it. Whether it's how to turn in their homework or how to respond to a short-answer question, you have to show them how it's done. In this chapter, Layne explains how that is true with the love of reading.  It makes perfect sense. Do you want them to be readers? Then be a reader... and show them that you are. HOT READS

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A great strategy from this chapter is the "Hot Read". It's easier than it sounds. You choose a book at an appropriate level for your class. Place it in a special spot with a little sign that says, "Ms. So-and-so's HOT READ!" Model reading it for a few minutes during the day, and putting it in your bag to read at home that evening. After a few days, kids will start to request your "hot read". What a great, SNEAKY way to get kids excited about a book! One important point Layne makes several times throughout this chapter (and the rest of the book) is how important it is for kids to know the authors of the books they read. If they know which authors they enjoy, they can find more books they enjoy. If they don't, they're swimming through a series of books without any sense of what they love. Chapter Six Can We Talk? Igniting a Passion Through Book Discussions

In this chapter, Layne discusses an issue that I've had in my own classroom. How to have meaningful book discussions without using roles that become limiting and awkward. I know I've used these roles in my own classroom - the "illuminator" and the "graphic artist," having each student assume a specific role and complete a mundane task in order to participate in a book discussion. But if you think about great discussions adults have with each other about books, they're more authentic than that. They include things like this: * Retelling important pieces to clarify to the listener * Reacting to a character's choices or traits * Questioning what will happen next * Describing emotions you felt when certain events happened Instead of having students complete tasks, why don't we model effective dialogue about books and then provide them with a rubric of ideas to communicate with their groups?  Layne also engages students in delivering their own Book Chats. For more about Book Chats, visit this post about chapters three and four of Igniting a Passion! Thanks for checking out our Book Study! Check back soon for chapters seven and eight! Chapters One and Two Chapters Three and Four Pin It

Igniting a Passion for Reading: Chapters three and four of our book study!

This is the second posting about our professional book study: Igniting a Passion for Reading! 

"If we can't make kids read (and we can't), then shouldn't we be concerned about monitoring how often we're providing experiences with text that are enjoyable so they might consider reading on their own?" (Layne, 2009)

This book has provided my teachers and I with so much quotable inspiration that I have to share some of it with you!

Chapter Three

Igniting a Passion Through Book Chats

In this chapter, Layne shares his number one surefire strategy to be able to pair books with readers: 

"Read books written for the age group you teach and then tell the kids about the books."

 I love to read books written for adults (like me), and I read a smattering of children's books, but it's really not enough to keep up with all of the new stuff! If we become voracious readers of children's books and have a large collection of books we can recommend and pair up with readers, our reading instruction becomes far better. 

The way Stephen Layne actually "tells" kids about the books is Book Chats. Book Chats are 5-7 minutes long (I could see you getting away with 3-4 minutes in elementary school) and are basically carefully planned commercials that include a few of the following pieces:

1. A Hook - just like we teach in writing, a good hook creates excitement and interest in the book. Some ways Layne shares to create a great hook are to

- Ask a thought-provoking question related to the theme/topic of the book.

- Dress up/use a simple prop

- Possibly read an excerpt (choose carefully!)

- Use an accent related to the book

2. Share a few reasons this book is a great read, or share your reaction to the book

One of our teachers dresses up to share Fancy Nancy!

My favorite quote from this section:

"If I walk into an elementary school classroom wearing a plastic tiara and announce that my name is Nancy (to introduce Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy), believe me, I have everyone's attention." 

Keep in mind, the author speaking is Stephen Layne lol.

Chapter Four

Igniting a Passion Through Effectively Reading Aloud

As my teachers and I were discussing this chapter, we talked a lot about where our love of reading came from. Many of us had positive reading experiences in the home, with a parent or older sibling. Unfortunately, many of our students don't have those experiences. By effectively reading aloud (and yes, I have seen this done INeffectively), we can create a positive reading experience for our kids!

To quote Stephen Layne, "To reach these kids, we're going to have to impact the way they think about books and the way they feel about books." 

Throughout the chapter, Layne gives several reasons to read aloud to kids. I've never had a principal who didn't believe in the value of reading aloud to children, but in case you do, this chapter provides some good reasons and quotable moments to share with them!

Reason Number One: It's fun! "A good book read well will do more for the woes of the disenfranchised readers than all the leveled books our publishers can crank out." 

Reason Number Two: It exposes them to a variety of genres. "The conscious choice of reading aloud from a wide range of genres is certain to broaden the interests of our students because many of them have failed to explore multiple genres."

Reason Number Three: It can improve children's listening skills. "In the elementary and middle grades, it is important for us to capitalize on the difference between a child's listening level and the silent reading level of the same child because, in most cases, there is about a two-year difference in these levels." 

Reason Number Four: Reading aloud provides an opportunity to authentically model and practice targeted reading skills. "To underestimate the value of the teachable moment... could be a serious mistake; through the read-aloud I may be reaching kids who need the most skill reinforcement."

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In closing, this line that Stephen Layne quoted from Mary Lee Hahn resonated with me and my teachers, and I wanted to share it with you:

"Read-aloud may look like an ordinary event in a typical classroom, but it feels extraordinary when the teacher who is reading is aware of the power of the book and the importance of his/her role..."

Beautifully put! Thanks for joining our second round of our book study! In a week or so, I'll publish what we noticed when we read chapters five and six!

If you want to go back and learn about chapters one and two, check out my previous post!

And for tips about reading aloud, check out my Reader's Workshop MiniSeries: Episode 3 Read Alouds!

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Join Our Book Study! Igniting a Passion for Reading, chapters one and two

As a Literacy Coach on my campus, one of my main roles is to develop teachers' (and my own) professional knowledge in the areas of reading and writing. I'm so excited this year about a new way I'm trying to do this: a professional book study!

Last year at a Book Fair, I saw this book and had to buy it.

It addresses exactly the issue we'd like to learn more about! How do we get our kids to become engaged readers who choose reading?
I read the first chapter and realized I had to share this great book with my teachers, too, so I set up an optional book study. I invited teachers to participate and my principal approved purchasing the books. After teachers told me that they were interested, we ordered the books and set our reading for the first session: Chapters One and Two. Last week, we met to discuss the first two chapters. 
As we settled down to discuss, one of the teachers told me, "I'm going to be honest." (Don't we like to say this when we think our listener won't like it?!) "Please do!" I said. 
"Over winter break, when I thought about reading this book, I looked at it and thought to myself, 'Why did I sign up for this? I don't have time for a book study!' And then I made myself read the first chapter and I thought, 'I love this book!'" 
She's not the only one I heard this from - several teachers stopped me in the hallway to tell me how much they enjoyed the book!
Yay! It's a challenge to find a book accessible to so many teachers who are so very busy. This book was a great choice.

Here's what we talked about during our book study!
Chapter One: The Missing Objective in the Teachers' Reading Lesson Plans
This chapter is basically an argument for us to realize the importance of aliteracy, or people who are able to read but don't. Layne explains that this is more of a danger and issue in America than illiteracy, as a higher percentage of people are aliterate than illiterate.  This is the quote I highlighted from that section: 52% of Americans ages 18 to 24 reported reading no books for pleasure in 2002, and that information evidence a 12% decline from the 1992 study.
What?! Over half of Americans read not one single book for pleasure in a year?! That's surprising to me. I guess a percentage of those people are unable to read, but a large percentage must be able but choose not to. And that it's declining is horrifying - what will that percentage look like this year? Does anyone read anymore? 
Sigh.

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So clearly, it's important to not only teach kids how to read, but to engage them in reading for enjoyment. 
There's one more great quote from this chapter I wanted to share:
If you believe, as I do, that reading is a choice and that it is not humanly possible to make anyone of any age reading anything, then perhaps some time spent looking at how we can impact students in such a way that they will be more likely to make the choice to read deserves our attention.
Yes. It does. Because we are constantly engaged in the mechanics and comprehension of reading, our students do not develop the love of reading. And because at home, they are constantly engaged in the mechanics and comprehension of video gaming, soccer practice, and all other hobbies/enterprises/activities, they aren't choosing to read. And what's more, we can't make them choose to read. 
So what now?
That's what Chapter Two is about.
Chapter Two: Coaches Who Know Their Players Win More Games
He's a smarty pants, isn't he? It's true. If you know your readers, you can better engage them in a book that will resonate with them. In this chapter, Layne shares a few strategies for doing this. 
Interest Inventories
Ok, so every year in August, I'd hand out a reading interest inventory to my kids and teach them how to fill it out. I'd collect the inventories and stick them in a folder with my other "documentation". And then I'd forget about them. I may have pulled out one or two with my more struggling readers, but I can't think of a time I successfully used one with my aliterate, or able but unwilling readers.  Layne explains that if we try to tackle everyone, it's impossible. And unnecessary! Why hunt for special books for Tony when Tony reads all the time? So he suggests that we target a few students and review their surveys. And then go book shopping.

Do we have to be told twice to go shop for more books? He goes book shopping for his disinterested readers and then hands them the book saying what he calls four magic words: "I thought of you."
Who doesn't want to be thought of? Often, this encourages kids to read the book you've shared with them, and that might be the book that helps them realize the beauty and joy of reading.
Goal Setting
Another strategy he writes about is setting goals. Not only does the student set goals for their reading; the teacher does as well. These goals could include how many minutes you'd like to spend reading per day or week, the genre of books you read, the number of books, or reading books by a specific author. 

Hats off to a New Year! Goal-setting product on TPT. 

Then he writes his goals on a large chart and records the students' goals on a handy sheet. This sheet is posted in the front of the room, at the back of the room, on a clipboard, on his desk, anywhere he may need it to confer with students about their progress toward goals.  As the year progresses, he follows up with individual readers about their progress toward goals in a simple, conversational way. He'll ask about how they're doing with reading more historical fiction and share a little about his progress toward reading more scientific texts. It's a pleasant way at moving readers toward more mature reading decisions. So that's our first book study session. I'm so excited to meet with my teachers again this week to discuss the strategies that he shares in chapters two and three! Check back again to read more about our conversations and learning!
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