The Book Whisperer~ Creating a Classroom of Readers

Wow!  I really enjoyed reading The Book Whisper!  It was a very easy read and motivated me to rethink my Reader’s Workshop approach.  In the early days of my teaching career, I tried hard to get all my students to love reading.  I had a strong passion to make reading appealing since I had always struggled with reading and hadn’t found the joy of reading until I was an adult.  As a teacher I wanted to share my new love for reading with my students, but the more I taught and the more trainings I had on other approaches the less I tried to find the perfect books for each of my students.  Its like the more you put on your plate, you don’t always realize what is falling off of it.  

After reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, my passion for teaching my students to love reading came back stronger than ever.  I have made independent reading time a priority!  My students are loving to read.  They also enjoy getting to choose their own books.  One student who was reading below grade level and not very interested in reading has found a series she is loving.  She has now read three books in the series!  Wow, I’m so excited.  My kids have several books piled on their desk just waiting to read next. My students are also talking about books! I love hearing students recommend books to other students.  

Today I had a student crying while she was reading Out of My Mind. I called her out into the hall to see if she was ok.  She told me she was at the part where the little sister was ran over.  I'm glad I had read that book before, because I assured her that she would be fine.  But later I had four girls who wanted to know if I had another copy of that book.  I asked them why they would want to read that book if it made Ella so upset.  They told me that it must be a good book if the author had connected her that much with the characters!  Wow, that is a great way to look at it.  

Thanks you Donalyn Miller for giving me back my passion for teaching kids to love reading! Teaching is much more fun when the kids are beaming with excitement as they tell you about the books they are reading!