Book Talks and Reading Conferences

We have been in school for three weeks now, and I feel like we are making progress with our reading.  I am working to implement ideas from The Book Whisperer into my instruction, so this week I started meeting with students for reading conferences.   I am required by my school district to teach the little readers that go with the Houghton Mifflin Journeys, so it is difficult to get these in.  I am trying to find a balance between district curriculum and keeping our focus on reading good books that will really engage my students as readers. Since I have thirty students divided into four reading groups, this is not an easy task.

Each day, I had one reading group use their small group time to give an impromptu book talk about one of the books they were reading.  I had also planned to meet with two students at the end of each day for book conferences, but most days I ran out of time.  Instead, I used all of my small group time on Friday to catch up on conferences.

For the reading conferences, I had students bring their reading notebooks and the books they were currently reading.  Instead of sitting in my usual spot at the end of the table, I sat with the students along the side.  I called two students at a time.

Each time I met with a group, I observed the same thing.  The kids started out cautiously, expecting me to quiz or grill them about the books they were reading.  When they realized that our goal was to just talk about the books.  I saw them begin to visibly relax and participate in a discussion about the books they are reading and have read.  This was true during the book talk time and during the conferences.

It made me aware of how much of the time, I am not listening to what kids think and have to say.  It is an eye opener as to how we block kids from being fully engaged in the learning and how rarely they are actually invited into a conversation about the things they are learning.  I know that I am a good teacher, but much of the time I am so intent on helping my students achieve learning goals, that I don't permit them to help shape the path that we are traveling to get there.

I am so thankful that I read The Book Whisperer this summer, and I am enjoying the way it is transforming my teaching.  It's important to stop and smell the roses along the way.  Not only do my students benefit, but I am benefiting as well.

Setting Up Our Reading Notebooks

We've been in school for just a week and a half now, and the class has had an opportunity to become familiar with our classroom library.  Our next step was to set up our Reading Notebooks.  I always use a reading notebook, but this year I am following Donalynn Miller's suggestions in The Book Whisperer.  I like to use composition notebooks instead of spirals, because you don't have the problem with the wire in the spiral notebooks unraveling and getting tangled up.  In the front pages of our notebooks we set up 

• A tally List for the genres.  Students tally the books they have read as they go, and keep track of the genre requirements.
• They keep a reading list, and record books they have read, attempted and abandoned.  Each entry includes the title, author, date the book was finished and the students assessment of how difficult the book was to read.
• A Books-to-read list:  Students plan for future reading.  They record sequels that are yet to be published, recommendations, or books they have previewed and want to read later.

For the genre tally list, I found this one on-line.  I had to reduce it to fit into our notebooks. Each student will be required to read at least forty books during the school year.

Our 40 book requirement will include:

• 5 - Realistic fiction
• 2 - Historical Fiction
• 3 - Mystery
• 3 - Adventure
• 1 - Poetry
• 4 - Books recommended by friends, which could be almost anything
• 4 - Fantasy and science fiction
• 1 - Graphic Novel
• 2 - Biography, autobiography or memoir
• 5 - Informational
• 2 - Books by the same author
• 8 - Chapter books of their own choice

Any book over 350 pages can be counted as two books.

I am allowing them to record the books we read together, so they already have Fourth Grade Rats recorded.  We completed our first read aloud on Thursday.

That is followed by two pages that we will use as we learn about the characteristics of the various reading genres.

I used the reading list and books to read list from the Fountus and Pinnell's, Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3 to 6.  Students will use these pages to plan for future reading, and to keep track of books they are interested in reading.  

  

The rest of the notebook will be used for reading response.  This may be in the form of letters, character sketches, or other tools that I will come up with as we go along.

As suggested in The Book Whisperer, I set up a reading notebook for myself.  Instead of writing reading responses, I will set up a page or pages for each of my students.  Then I will use this space to keep notes from our reading conferences.  If I have space, I think I will write a brief summary of the books I am reading.  That will help me with book discussions.

I have already discovered that having my own reading notebook is a great way to model the tasks I want them to complete.  

I informed the class that I am also setting that goal of reading 40 books for myself.  When the class was doing some silent reading on Thursday, I took some time to choose a book for myself, that I had not read before.  I chose Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.  I didn't realize it before, but one of my advanced readers had also chosen this book.  She was absolutely thrilled when she saw that I was reading it too.  She has checked with me several times since to see how far I am, and to talk about the book.  Experiencing her excitement to connect about a book, was eye opening, and showed me just how beneficial this is going to be for my students.

One of my goals this year is to be open to trying and reading new books myself and in genres I don't usually read.  I've taught fourth grade for fifteen years, and I have lots of favorite books that I enjoy sharing with the class, but I realized that I've been a little stuck, and haven't ventured into some of the newer books.  I'm going to make more of an effort to read books the kids are reading.  It will also enables me to discuss the books with them.

I noticed that one of my struggling readers had checked out Bunnicula to read.  Bunnicula is one of my favorite books, so I decided to use that as our next read aloud.  She was excited that we were going to all read a book that she had selected.  

I am finding myself taking more time to notice the books my students are reading and to engage them in conversation about their books and interests.  I showed them some of the non-fiction books I am reading on subjects I am interested in; knitting, gardening, canning, and Argentina (because my son is going to school there).  Then I asked them to make lists of the non-fiction topics they would be interested in reading about.  I used Tagxedo to make a word cloud of those topics, and I took the list to our school library, where I checked out 23 books on as many topics as I could find.  In this way I can supplement the non-fiction section of my classroom library.

I feel like I am doing a much better job sharing my enthusiasm for reading.  Already the class is doing well at choosing books to read during those transitional times in the classroom.  I already do Daily 5.  I think it's going to be much easier to get that going now that we already have such a great start with our independent reading.  

The Book Whisperer

Over the summer I read The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller.  Many people in my PLN (Personal Learning Network) have talked about this book, and it has been on my list of books to read for a while. When I saw it on the shelf at the public library, that clinched it.  It is just the inspiration I needed.  I am now reading it a second time, and making notes.  Donalyn Miller writes

"Providing students with the opportunity to choose their own books to read empowers and encourages them.  It strengthens their self-confidence, rewards their interests, and promotes a positive attitude toward reading by valuing the reader and giving him or her a level of control. Readers without power to make their own choices are unmotivated." 

This is certainly not a new concept.  In fact I used to teach this way, though maybe not as well.  We used to read all the time.  I did readers workshop.  We were always engaged in lots of great books.   But over the last couple years, and especially last year, I felt that I lost my way.  Last year my school district adopted Houghton Mifflin, Journeys.  There was more and more pressure to limit reading instruction to the reading series, and to narrow the instructional focus to tested common core standards.  The pretesting and post testing schedule was relentless, and I saw my students shut down more and more.

Last year was not a good year for me.  Missing more than five weeks of school, because of an accident and broken bones, certainly did not help, but it was more than that.  I feel strongly that in our desire to increase "rigor" which is a word I hate, by the way, and make students and teachers accountable, we have taken the joy and excitement out of learning.

My goal is to put it back.  So this year I am working to balance the requirements of my school district with what I know kids really need.  I have to teach my conscience.  The whole reason I got into teaching was to share my love of learning.  I think The Book Whisperer is the road map I need to get back on track.  I will be writing other posts about this book, as I learn from it and try new things in my classroom.

We just started school on Thursday.  Our homework that first night was to complete a reading survey that Ms. Miller includes in her book on pages 202-203.  It is the Reading Interest-A-Lyzer, based on the Interest-A-Lyzer by Joseph S. Renzulli.  I started trying to make a copy of the survey from the book, and then I had the good sense to Google it.  I found a downloadable copy here.  This is going to give me a starting place for learning about my students as readers.

Here are some of my other goals for the year:

• Immersion:  Students need to be surrounded with books of all kinds and given time and opportunity to read them every day.  

• Conversations about reading, what is being read and what students are getting from their books need to be an on-going event.

• Demonstrations:  Teach daily reading lessons using authentic texts like books, articles, and textbooks, designing every lesson around the skills that readers really need to develop reading proficiency. 

• Expectations:  expect students to read every day and to read a large volume of books. The goal for the year is 40 books.  I will allow them to count the books we read together as part of that number.  

• Responsibility:  Students need to make some of their own choices when pursuing learning goals.  Set reading requirements at a certain number of books per genre, but students have the freedom to choose which books.

• Employment:  give students time to practice and apply the skills taught.

• Responses: provide immediate non-threatening response on student progress.

At this point in time, I'm not sure how all of that will look, but I am excited about this journey.

Each Monday I participate in #4thChat on Twitter.  I was a little concerned about setting the reading goal at 40 books.  It seemed high for a fourth grader, so I was asking some of the other 4th grade teachers what they required.  Donalyn Miller responded in a tweet that I should set the goal at 40 books.  We live in a pretty spectacular world, when you can get advice directly from the author of the book you are reading. You gotta love technology!

Have you read The Book Whisperer?  If so, how have you used it in your classroom?