READING IN THE WILD, chapters 3 and 4, #cyberPD

Growing up, I was exactly the kind of kid who would fit Donalyn Miller’s definition of a “wild reader.” I read constantly, just about any book I could get my hands on. And my obsession with reading continues to this day! I am Reading In the Wild, for the blog link-up and Twitter initiative #cyberPB. I am excited to have this opportunity to write a reflection on chapters 3 and 4 of Donalyn’s latest book,

Chapter 3 is titled “Wild Readers Share Books and Reading With Other Readers.” On page 91, Donalyn states that “If we want children to read more, we must provide them with classrooms, libraries, and homes where reading is the norm.” Classroom libraries are one of my “hot button,” “soapbox” issues. When I was a classroom teacher, our classroom library was the cornerstone around which all literacy activities revolved. I once cataloged my classroom library during a doctoral course, and I was astonished to see that I had over 3,000 books. These books were donated by students and their families, supplemented by points earned for freebies by Scholastic book club, and mostly bought with my very own money. I put a lot of money into my library because I believed that it was the most important investment I could make in my students’ literacy lives.

I walk into many classrooms now where, unfortunately, there are only a few dozen books for students to use. Public and school libraries are extremely important places, but I would argue that we should spend much more money investing in classroom libraries. Classrooms are where students spend the majority of their time, and students should have easy, ready access to books at any moment. Teachers have no control over the access that children have to books outside of their classrooms, but they have (almost) complete control over the books that are in their rooms. I challenge classroom teachers to stop spending their money on motivational posters or on the latest, cutest bulletin board borders and to start buying more books!

The bottom line is this: our students will not and cannot become wild readers if we do not provide them with lots of interesting reading material IN OUR CLASSROOMS.

Other trends that Donalyn noticed through her Wild Reader Survey included many ideas that were similar to the results that I got in my own dissertation research. In my study, second graders were asked about their reading lives. Like Donalyn’s Wild Readers, my second graders relished the opportunity to hear about books from other readers. In fact, most of the second graders relied on recommendations from others to decide what they would like to read. One of the strategies I introduced in the intervention classroom to motivate the kids to read was the use of book talks. The books that the teacher and I shared through book talks soon became the hottest, most sought-after titles in the room!

Chapter 4 is titled “Wild Readers Have Plans.” I love the quote on page 137 from Penny Kittle about the difference between readers and non-readers: readers have plans. Donalyn points out that there are different types of reading plans. One of those types of plans is a commitment plan. Perhaps this is the easiest plan for a teacher and students to implement. It means simply setting aside time each day to read.  This is simple for many teachers, but in many districts like the one where I teach, how teachers manage their time is mandated by higher-ups. When I was building my classroom schedule each year, I would first plug in the times that I had no control over: lunch, specials, etc. Next, I would plug in time for students to read independently and time for me to read to the students. (I should point out that this time was IN ADDITION to instructional reading time.) How did I find this “extra” time? Mainly I was able to pull minutes from non-instructional, time-wasting activities such as class restroom breaks. I also became a pro at teaching my students routines (for turning in work, for getting ready for lunch, for cutting out words for spelling sorts, etc.) that they could manage quickly and efficiently with little assistance from me.

While I did make sure that my students had time each day to read and that they had interesting reading material, I did not do much to motivate them to set the kinds of challenges Donalyn mentions in chapter 4. I have since set those kinds of challenges for myself. You can read about a couple of those challenges here: my mini-Newbery challenge , book gap challenge .

Chapter 4 ends with Donalyn talking about personal reading canons, “the books that have shaped and defined us” (p 159.) I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on which books I would say were in my own canon. I hope to make that another blog post soon!