I've been teaching a long time, and I've collected an impressive classroom library. However, when I left the classroom to become an instructional coach, I thought the books would be better in children's hands than in my garage, so I gifted hundreds of books to colleagues. Now, I'm back in a new, empty classroom, where digital books are the only choice students have.
I will be conducting Reader's Workshop this year to allow all students to access the skills needed to become successful readers. Choice in reading materials is essential to the Reader's Workshop model. While the teacher models reading skills, the students practice those skills at their own level, with the material of their choosing.
Can you imagine if you were allowed to choose the books you read in middle school? So many students are turned off to reading while inching week, by week through an irrelevant novel. By providing a classroom library with choice in both content and difficulty, the students in my class will maintain a positive relationship with literature. Please help me provide these children, and those in future classes, the love of reading that comes from having the freedom to chose what matters most to them.
About my class
I've been teaching a long time, and I've collected an impressive classroom library. However, when I left the classroom to become an instructional coach, I thought the books would be better in children's hands than in my garage, so I gifted hundreds of books to colleagues. Now, I'm back in a new, empty classroom, where digital books are the only choice students have.
I will be conducting Reader's Workshop this year to allow all students to access the skills needed to become successful readers. Choice in reading materials is essential to the Reader's Workshop model. While the teacher models reading skills, the students practice those skills at their own level, with the material of their choosing.
Can you imagine if you were allowed to choose the books you read in middle school? So many students are turned off to reading while inching week, by week through an irrelevant novel. By providing a classroom library with choice in both content and difficulty, the students in my class will maintain a positive relationship with literature. Please help me provide these children, and those in future classes, the love of reading that comes from having the freedom to chose what matters most to them.
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