Note: All quotes and page numbers
correlate to Nancie Atwell’s Second Edition of In the Middle: New
Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning.
Oh Nancie
Atwell! I am learning so much from you! I am continuing my reading of In the
Middle and will continue to respond to my readings weekly because Nancie’s
writing is inspirational to a teacher of English.
Within the
second chapter of Nancie’s book are many quotes that got me thinking about my
own practices as a reading teacher this year and what I would like to change
for next year. The first thing that stood out to me was the following quote:
“But we rarely make time in class for students
to read or allow them any say in what they read. And Students almost never see
their English teacher reading” (28).
I have found
myself guilty of not allowing enough times for my students to read. I am
supposed to be letting them read 20 minutes a day as it is, but rarely find
time for that with the curriculum I have to cover, the many tests my students
have to take, and the other initiatives that come my way throughout the year.
And very rarely during students’ SSR time, do they see me reading. I have to
use that time to work on lesson plans for the following week, and grade student
essays, start ups, and quizzes.
Upon further
reading, Nancie points out “Twenty One Lessons Teachers Demonstrate About
Reading” from which 3 stood out to me that I am sure I do.
#11. “It’s
wrong to become so interested in a text that you read more than the fragment
the teacher assigned” (29).
We finished Tangerine
by Edward Bloor a month ago. A few of my students loved it! They loved it so
much they read ahead! And what did I teach them?... That reading ahead was bad.
I tried explaining, I was glad they thought the book was great, but I also said
they needed to stop reading so they did not get ahead of the class. Reflecting
on this, I now realize I should have let them devour that book up. It was my
own lack of abilities and creativity as a teacher that made me not want them to
finish before the unit was over. What would I have them do when they finished?
What if they spoiled the ending for the rest of the class? What would I do
then?
#14. “Rereading
a book is cheating, so are skimming, skipping and looking ahead” (29).
Again, with Tangerine,
this was our first and my first class novel. And guess what? It was not the
first time some of my students had read this book… and what did I teach them? I
did not encourage them to thoroughly reread the text. I did not explain the
importance of rereading and the enjoyment one can get out of reading a book for
the second or third time…
#20. “There’s another kind of reading, an enjoyable,
secret, satisfying kind you can do on your free time or outside of school” (29).
While I let
my students pick their own books and they enjoy SSR time and it is not a secret
endeavor, I don’t think I always portray the same enthusiasm in reading with
the class our class novels and other readings. And so what am I teaching them?
The school reading is boring and not fun
Nancie’s
solution to these woes is not only having the writing workshop I talked about a
few weeks ago, but also a reading workshop. She creates these worshops by
having “frequent book talks about new additions to the library as well as old
favorites, and I schedule frequent ‘book shares’: times for readers to go
around the circle and describe their books to classmates” (37). She also gives
students a readers notebook to write letters to their friends and teacher about
what they are reading. This create an authentic adult-like conversation about
literature as students and teacher write back and respond about their books (41).
“I also
guessed that a written exchange between two readers, a student and an adult,
would move kids deeper inside written texts, with the give and take of the
dialogue helping them consider and develop their thoughts about the writing
they were reading” (41).
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