Reading IS Part of My Job!

I started thinking about something today while I was sitting in my room during my prep hour. My prep is the hour before my lunch, so sometimes I grab my lunch early and sit in my room and enjoy reading a book while I eat. (I know, I know,  I'm lucky to not have the typical 20 minutes to shovel something down that is built into some teachers' schedules!) But sometimes I feel like I'm not using my prep hour as efficiently as I could be.

You see, for my prep today, I sat and read a book in my classroom. It was not because I didn't have any other work that needed to be done. I had ended at a really good/suspenseful part when our independent daily reading time ended in the previous class period, and I was anxious to know what would happen next. 

But all of a sudden a thought occurred to me: What if someone were to walk by? How would they interpret what they see? And I started to feel guilty for not doing paperwork and grading stuff during my prep time.

But then I called myself out on it. Why?? Reading IS a huge part of my job! I am a middle school language arts teacher, and if I have any chance of getting my 7th and 8th graders to read, I better be doing A LOT of reading myself. 

If I am doing my job well, I am using every occasion I can to model readerly habits, to show my excitement about books, to share book recommendations, to encourage reading during and outside of class, to build a culture of literacy beyond my classroom walls, and to know books that will hook my students. I can't teach reading well if I am not reading myself.

So that means reading. Often. A lot. As much as I can. And quite frankly, sometimes that break in the day is what I need to go into the afternoon with a good mindset. I had no reason to feel guilty. The paperwork can wait until after school when the kids aren't around - I'd rather they walk by my classroom and see me reading a book that they might want to read next. 

Bookstacks for Break Reading

I love that the past two days in my classroom have been filled with students coming in and perusing the bookshelves more intently than they usually do. Why? Because we're only a few days away from a two week holiday break, and they want to make sure they have books to carry them through those weeks.

Overheard in my room this week:

Student - "Why do you need so many books?"
Another student --- "Our break is two weeks!"
Student - "It is? I better get a couple more."

Student - "Mrs. Heise, can you recommend some books for me for over break?"
Me --- "Of course, what kind of books do you want?"
Student - "Something like The Distance Between Us. I want a Kasie book."
Another student - "Oooh, I loved that book! Wait, what are you recommending?"

Student - "Mrs. Heise, Do you have any new books?"
Me --- "Yes, I do. I have these and I just got some last night."
Student - "Yes! I call dibs."

Student - "Hey, have you read xyz?"
Another student - "No. Not yet."
Student - "You need to read it now. Add it to your stack."

Student - "Mrs. Heise, how many books can I check out?"
Me --- "As many as you want."
Student - "Really? Good."

These kinds of conversations are secretly thrilling to me because I can see that my students are becoming readers. They're becoming the kinds of readers who want to make sure they have books available for when they know they're going to have free time. They're making plans for reading. They're excited about books and authors and reading. I've seen more, bigger bookstacks than I ever have heading out of my classroom before. This is what I love to see.

Tomorrow we'll be "officially" setting goals for our reading over the holiday break and making sure everyone has enough books to get them through, but I especially love that this year students have started initiating this on their own.

One of my 7th graders took out his break reading bookstack to show off during after-school study hall.

My break reading bookstack - and, yes, there are many more titles on that Nook.

A sign one of my 8th graders made me after school today. Just had to add it because it makes me smile.

Because I Read What My Students Read

Today I was still feeling the joy from what I got to share with my students yesterday. I shared in the anger at an ending, sadness at a character dying, shock at a surprise twist, and swooning over a guy - all in the books that my students are reading. I realized this morning, when they cheered at breakfast when they heard we'd be reading for a large amount of time in class today, that I have built the community I have because I read the same books my students read. That thought sat in my head all day...and resulted in this poem tonight.

Because I Read What My Students Read

Because I read what my students read
I can do my job better
I can recommend books
to specific students
meeting their interests
growing readers

Because I read what my students read
there are days
when students can't get into my room fast enough
to tell me about what they read the night before
and share in the emotion
from that part of that story

Because I read what my students read
I can hook readers
with hints at what lies
inside the pages of that book
they've taken off the shelf
considering
but unsure
if it's the book for them

Because I read what my students read
I can match students
to books just right for them
based on what they need
in their lives at that time
or what kind of mood
they're in
or what topic
they want to read about
or how ready they are
for a certain topic

Because I read what my students read
I can share excitement
over a favorite story
I can share the frustration
over a cliffhanger

ending
I can share in the reactions
to the moments contained
within those pages
expanding their minds
I can share in the swooning
over certain characters
I can share in the desire
to have that character be real
and a friend
I can share in the tears
when something happens
in their lives
and in their books

Because I read what my students read
I know how they're feeling
with just a look
just a word
just a glance at a page
just a peek at a title
knowing what they're experiencing
because I have
too

Because I read what my students read
I don't have to have read the exact book
to relate to being a reader
of middle grades or young adult
I can empathize
and understand
what that reading
experience
must be like

But because I read what my students read
when I have read that specific book
and lived within that story
it creates an even more powerful
connection
rapport
of being a reader
and making recommendations
earning trust
to know what they might need

And because I read what my students read
when something happens in their lives
whether big or small
whether happy or sad
whether right or wrong
I turn to books
to let them know I care
to help them see how to cope
to let them know I am there
for them
to help them see another path
and I turn to the stories
on those pages
to help my students get through
their struggles
and celebrate
their successes

Because I read what my students read
I am a reader
teaching and growing
more readers

Why Movies Can Be Good for Books

It's no secret I love reading and books. I also happen to like escaping into movies quite a bit. I mean, let's be honest, they're pretty related fields. And take a book I love, and make it into a movie? I'll be at the theatre to see it for sure. But...as the sign in my classroom says, Don't judge a book by its movie. 

This rings so true to me because I do think the book is always better than the movie. However, I can appreciate that there is an element to movies based on books that serves as a really long commercial of sorts for that book. I've seen how it works for my students...buzz and excitement builds about a movie...and the readers will come so they can be a part of it (Yes, Twilight, I'm talking about you). I always try to encourage my students to read the book before the movie comes out (I'm looking at you Hunger Games). I do this so they can appreciate the book more and make their own pictures of characters and settings in their heads before seeing what the movie's creators have envisioned. I know I personally get so distracted when I go to see a movie and the actor is so different from what I pictured in my head while reading the book (I mean, really, Jace in City of Bones? Not at all what I thought he should look like). But the reality it that sometimes it's the fact that a movie is being made that brings the readers to the books. *This is where I admit that I didn't really know about the Harry Potter books until I went and saw the first movie with my family. I loved it so much, of course, I immediately went and devoured all of the books that were already released and was one of the many waiting on my doorstep for each subsequent book to be delivered on its release day.* So Harry Potter is my perfect example of how a movie can help a reader fall in love with a book series.

Why is this on my mind today? Well, I've been talking book movies with my students. They all went on a field trip to see Hunger Games when it came out, so they're already asking me if we can do a school trip to see Catching Fire in November. I'm also anxiously awaiting the Divergent movie's release in March, and have been planning to use the book as a read aloud for our dystopian book club unit and then go see the movie on a field trip. It would create a fantastic opportunity to see the movie with my students to get their instant reactions, as well as providing a chance for them to create their own opinions on whether the book or movie is better. I feel a writing piece coming on.

So as I spent some time sharing book trailers with my students today, showing them the options for the first read aloud of the year and letting them vote to choose which one to read, I also chose to show the Divergent movie trailer after the book trailer. And, in what I bet will be no surprise to many, the winning choice was Divergent. I wonder if the movie preview had anything to do with that.

Life's Too Short To Read Books You're Not Interested In (aka: The Charts We Made Today)

I stood in my classroom at the end of a long day trying to think back to decide if there was anything I wanted to make note of to write about today when I got home. It was an OK Monday, but there wasn't anything that really stuck out. But as I looked around the room, I realized there was clear evidence of the thinking my students had done today. It was really only our 3rd actual day of class (due to testing and field trips last week) so we're still working through some of the nitty gritty details about books and building our culture of literacy in the classroom. So today was the day of charts. For some charts I have all four classes brainstorm and we add to a messy copy of the list on the whiteboard throughout the day, which I then convert to a neat enough to put on the wall chart later on. For other charts, where it's more limited what might be on it, I'll go ahead and attempt a neat copy as we talk through things (although I sometimes still have to make neater ones if my spatial skills aren't accurate for what I think we'll need when I start). Today was a mix of both.

First up was What We Think About When Choosing Books and Reasons We Might Abandon/Pause a Book made with my 7th graders and shared with the 8th graders (because for them it's review from last year). Both of these are discussions I feel are important to have in the beginning of the year with my classroom reading community. I have students brainstorm in groups and then share out as I messily write their thoughts on the board. Some items we have to discuss more, clarify, question, add to, reword, or combine together as we go. But I strongly feel that to be effective in our readers workshop and choice reading classroom, students need to realize there is a process to choosing books and we do put thought into it, we don't just randomly pull a book off the shelf. And they also need to realize that it is perfectly OK, and in fact encouraged, to abandon or pause books that just aren't working right now. I tell them that life is too short to spend time forcing ourselves to read books that we're not into. That just doesn't work for my class or my teaching philosophy. Now, that doesn't mean that you give up on a book forever - it could just be that it's not the right book for right now at this time in your life or day or week, and that's why we also have the ability to "pause" a book. But in order to meet the goals of this class (reading more!), they'll always have to have a book that makes them want to read during reading time, and if the one they have doesn't do that, they need to put it back and choose a new one.

I loved the ideas my students came up with - it especially made me laugh (and think of Colby Sharp) when one boy started talking about abandoning a book because it is too "girly" - so I had to ask him to elaborate on what that meant, and he said if it has too many detailed kissy scenes. [Granted, we did talk about ways you could work around that by skimming/skipping those scenes, and that sometimes boys like to read the books that tend to be more popular with girls because that way they know what the girls are thinking/reading about {which one 8th grade boy thought was genius!} but that could be a valid reason for abandoning a book.]

Our other chart today was made with my 8th graders to explain book genres. It was a way for me to quickly assess what they remember from last year, and they essentially made the chart that will be shared with the 7th graders tomorrow. Today was the invitation to the 40/50 book challenge day, so it was important to bring up genre and form. 

We, of course, had to discuss the fact that some genres combine together in a single book and that sometimes it's not completely clear where one would fit, but they're at least getting the overarching idea of genre and where things might fit. {We also got into a very interesting tangent about where various superhero characters would fit. When students could defend their answers, "No, Superman is an alien, so it's si-fi," I knew they were thinking.} It's another example of me wanting my students to have the big idea understanding of something in a way that will be usable to them, as opposed to needing to memorize a specific detail. I do think it helps them to think about books in this way because it allows them to look more closely at what an author has created to determine where it might fall. Ultimately, if a student can tell me what genre they would categorize a book in, and can defend that with textual evidence, that's where they show me their thinking, and that's how I assess their learning. 

We didn't only make charts today. We also did our Independent Daily Reading (IDR), and read the week 1 poem from the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (which for various reasons is happening on Mondays for us), and we jotted responses to said poem, and we set up our reader's notebooks, and we laughed and made it through our first Monday and first school day on a regular schedule. All in all a good day in middle school.