I agree with you, Karen. It is an apprenticeship for a lifetime. They need to see us reading. I brought in a large stack of books, stacked them up, and showed them what I read this summer along with our city newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, and various magazines, websites. They were so interested. Many asked great questions. This is a new epiphany for me.
I think they are at the age where they see their parents telling them to do one thing and yet the parents do another. It may be wise to be the adult who models what they preach....reading! I have been assigning more daily/weekly IN class reading time since it is NOT happening for many at home. (When I met parents at our conferences & parent night, I see why homelife is so chaotic.) How are others scheduling in class reading? Please share with all of us. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 6:58 PM Subject: Re: [LIT] The value of independent reading >I truely believe that if we want middle schoolers to read and to believe >that reading is important, they need to see that we value it by giving it >time in class, and they need to see us read and discuss our reading with >them.? If we don't value it in our lives, why should they value it in >theirs.? > > I let the kids know what books I am reading, both professionally and for > pleasure. I talk about how some of the professional books are boring but > that I need to persevere to get the information.? I let them?know that?I > get confused or lose my concentration and have to reread parts. ?I let > them know that I also read some pretty junky novels, and that's ok too. > > This is an apprenticeship for adulthood. > > > Karen Onyx > Carusi Middle School > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 8:53 pm > Subject: Re: [LIT] The value of independent reading > > > > I gave my copy of Reading Zone to my principal.? He's in charge of LA in > our > building this year but has a History background.? I have enough other LA > teachers reading and excited? about the book so that he is curious as to > what is > going on.? Luckily he is quite willing to look at other methodologies and > will > read most of what I give him.? I think Atwell is probably the best > proponent we > have out there right now. > > > Karen Onyx > Carusi Middle School > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sarah Mulhern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 8:16 pm > Subject: [LIT] The value of independent reading > > > > Hello everyone! > > Recently I was observed by our new school principal. > Just my like, I was his first observation of the year! > However, I felt the lesson went well and wasn't too > worried. I met with him last week and was a little > unhappy. You see, he was present for our independent > reading. I have been following Atwell's reading > workshop model for the past two years and just this > year really focused on the independent reading > portion. I am THRILLED with the results! My students > are reading, recommending books to each other, and > completely focused on their books. Well, in our > meeting the principal told me that "while it is > perfectly acceptable for 6th grade students to read > independently for 20 minutes each day, they should be > doing something then". In other words, he thinks the > reading time is an excuse for me to sit around and do > nothing. I explained that I conference with the > students while they read (and he was there to see me > do this!), will eventually pull small literature > circles with them, and otherwise meet with my > students. He wasn't convinced that this was a > valuable use of instructional time. Thank goodness I > didn't tell him that on some days I read, too! > Modelling is just as important, in my opinion. > > I left the meeting irritated but not too upset because > he won't observe me again until next year. My vp and > supervisor will, but that's fine. However, just a few > days later we had a district meeting with my > supervisor who spent a good portion of the time > telling us that middle school students can not and > will not read for sustained amount of time. We were > told these students are just pretending to read while > pulling the wool over their eyes. I didn't want to > start an argument by telling her that my students can > and do read for up to 45 minutes at a time, > independently! While I'm sure they sometimes zone out > or focus on their own thoughts, I do conference with > them and have not found this to be a widespread > problem. > > Ok, after all that rambling, I guess I am asking if > anyone else deals with this. Do your administrators > support independent reading time?? > > sarah > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - > http://mail.aol.com > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - > http://mail.aol.com > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.3/1082 - Release Date: > 10/20/2007 2:59 PM > > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
