Having the privilege to attend a National Conference is fantastic. You walk away having attended several meaningful sessions and your mind is overloaded with new ideas, thoughts, questions and next steps. As I sort through my thoughts and take time to organize my mind, I am determined to continue to read more from Amplify, written by Muhtaris & Ziemke.
As I read further in the text, I continue to find myself saying, “Yes! Let’s do that!” I am visualizing the engagement and excitement in the classrooms I know as if they were applying the teaching strategies that the authors explain. In chapter 3, I had to stop reading and start writing. The authors cite Donalyn Miller (the book whisperer, whom I shared a conversation and bus ride with!!), who always promotes “the only thing kids need to be doing during reading workshop is reading books, talking about books and writing about books.”
True. True. True. That’s it. That’s all we need. As we work to build schools that are literature rich and talking about books, we have to focus on reading and make it known that reading is the priority. Recently a Principal asked me if they could order a certain book for their library. I responded, “Yes, do you have any from that series?” The answer was no. I was floored. This series has been extremely popular for a few years now and we haven’t given our students appropriate access to the books.
I challenge everyone that works in a school to have a conversation with 1 student a week about a book the student is reading. Ask them about it, ask them why they chose it, ask them what they plan to read next. We will empower our students when we show them that their reading is valued and crucial. We have to show them we are truly interested in what they have to say. A literature rich school environment will prepare our students to become more than they imagine. As Donalyn Miller says, “the only thing kids need to be doing during reading workshop is reading books, talking about books and writing about books.”
