Independent Reading: A Classroom Snapshot

Wookie Kim, 2009 D.C.

Artifact #1: A Letter

Artifact #2: Blog Entry 1, 10/31/2009

A library as terrific as this would be meaningless if it didn’t make an impact on the students it is targeted to help.Let me just preface this by saying that many of my students do not read. They maychoosenot to read (because they don’t see its value, they find it “stupid”, or they don’t feel confident) or they may actuallynot be ableto read (because the books in the classroom are too difficult, abstract or un-relatable).Whatever the case, reading is not a major part of my students’ lives.

Therefore, the goal of the library is to show my students the power of reading.The purpose is to ignite my students’ desire to read, so that–eventually–they will become life-long readers!

Only a few days have passed, but here are some anecdotes that show the clear signs that desires are being ignited, mindsets are being changed, and non-readers are becoming readers:

  • LD–a tall and precocious football player with thick-rimmed black glasses–came in a few mornings ago during an extended homeroom to continue reading Eric Schlosser’sFast Food Nation, a book I had suggested he read, if only to make him think about something that he, as a football player, enjoyed tremendously.He is not in my homeroom, so he was slipping out of his own class to read in mine.
  • FS immediately noticed the Luis Rodriguez memoir, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., snatched it quickly off the bookshelf, and pronounced, ‘Oh! I got this joint!’
  • RB – a motivated young woman seeking to graduate high school in 3 years – spent a good 5 minutes thinking aloud about whether or not she wanted to check out Lipstick Apology or Our America this weekend. (For now, I am only allowing students to check out one book at a time.)
  • SS2 - the creator of one of the most brilliant and imagery-rich poems I’ve seen - one minute declared matter-of-factly that ‘I don’t read books!’ and another minute found himself immersed in the world of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. This Friday, he asked me if he could borrow the book over the weekend. I jokingly asked him, ‘I thought you don’t read books?’Defensively, he responded, ‘I don’t! But I want to find out what happens to Ponyboy.’

Artifact #3: Blog Entry, 11/23/2009

In this library update, I will recount the wonderful ways in which this terrific text tower has changed my students’ lives just as much as my own. I will also give a preview of the thank you letters that my students are beginning to write to thank the many individuals that have underwritten this project.

The library has done the following for my students:

  • Ignited a true passion for reading.Here, I could provide a book of anecdotes if I wanted to. Some students’ passions are still kindling like a small flame: EC just checked out his first book,Hatchet, and is eager to experience the adventure of being a plane-crash survivor, albeit vicariously. Other students’ have burst into firestorms: KN, first period bookworm, arrived 15 minutes early to class Monday morning and exclaimed, “Mr. K, I was so bored Sunday night because I finished Our America!” While dropping her book into the return bin, she quickly moved to the library and pronounced, “I want a new book!”
  • Provided a diverse array of readable material that has broadened horizons.The breadth of the library has opened my students to new ideas and new ways of looking at the world. The library has provided windows into other cultures as well as mirrors reflecting their own life experiences. EM—the only student to ace the unit 1 assessment—thought out loud about the way we treat people from other cultures as he readSavages.
  • Given them valuable opportunities to practice skills learned in class.My students have learned skills that good readers use (e.g. summarizing, inferring, connecting, and questioning) while reading. However, they have often practiced them in unnatural contexts (i.e. within the confines of a single class period using a text that I have unilaterally chosen for them). The library has made independent reading a valuable part of class time and it has also shown my students that our reading strategies can be applied to any text. MM recently reflected that “jot dots [little margin notes that summarize the paragraph’s main idea] have helped me understand what I’m reading better!”

My students are loving the library. But I would be ignoring a key aspect of how the library is helping out in my classroom if I only talked about the benefits that my students accrue from the library.

The library has done the following for me:

  • Improved my classroom management.I can use the library as a carrot (“if we finish this activity early, we can independent read!”) or a stick (“if you choose to keep making disrespectful comments, you choose to give up your library privileges”). Also, if there is that rare moment when I get through a lesson too quickly, I have been able to say, “for the rest of class, take out your independent reading book and write a reading response journal entry.” This has saved my neck enough times for it to be a serious classroom management tool.
  • Allowed me to connect more closely with my students.My students often have difficulty choosing a book to read from our library (the process is not easy when you have 350 new books!). As a result, I generally ask my students to tell me about their interests so that I can recommend a book to them. This process has helped me better understand my students’ passions and motivations. I know that CJ is only motivated by sports stories; I know that ER loves anime and Japanese culture; I know that DR will only read books that are “real.” Also, if they do happen to choose books on their own, I am able to generate a more holistic picture of each student by monitoring the choices they make. Finally, by reading a book that a student has chosen in advance, I am able to have meaningful conversations about the book that both push my students to read more critically as well as build a better rapport.
  • Enabled me to show the value of books and literacy to my students.The very act of maintaining an efficient and effective library in the classroom has taught my students the value of books and literacy. I can hold a mistreated book up in the air, put on a a doleful facial expression and complain about how the book has been abused. When I say “books are like babies!” I mostly see rolling eyes, but I also see faces that recognize that I am serious about the role that books play in our lives. Students are beginning to enforce the rules amongst themselves. When one student folds a page corner, another scolds her. The library has grown into an intrinsically valuable part of the classroom. It almost functions as an inanimate member of our classroom—the gatekeeper of learning that watches over our classroom while students and teacher are out for the evening.