Elizabeth Graham's Blog Post #2: Share Your Reading Life

As a media specialist I have the opportunity and privilege to participate in and witness our students' reading lives up close and personal. Routman's Chapter 3 is all about this concept: "Share Your Reading Life". My students know that I am lifelong reader, will read a cereal box if that is all there is and, like Routman states, "It is almost impossible for me not to read". When students say that they don't have time to read, I recommend that they carry a book and use it during those times that they are running errands, stuck in the car, on the way to sports or church or any of the other places children find themselves. I want our students to view themselves as readers and to practice the habits of strong readers, not as a requirement or a task, but as a pleasurable activity. While some of our students are naturally driven readers and can find appealing materials and always have a "next" book (or two) ready to go, many more need help finding a "now" book, much less a "next". Inevitably, when I book talk a title, giving a simple plot summary filled with hooks (never spoilers), providing background on the characters and setting or making real world connections that they can relate to, students clamor to check out the book or put it on hold.

Watching video book trailers, either professional or student created, creates a visual to go with the story. Below is an example of a book trailer I shared with 5th grade last week. This is a trailer for Liesl Shurtliff's book Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin. Rump is a 2015-16 South Carolina Children's Book Awards Nominee and currently has five students waiting to be next to read it. (Yay!)

Tree of Reading

A unique element of life in the library is that our students and I get to have a shared reading life. When we come together and share stories or book talks, we are creating a collective reading life. Peanut Butter and Cupcake, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and the Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore are favorite books that have become part of our common book language. To document our shared reading life, one wall of the story well is devoted to covers of each year's read alouds. A new addition for 2015-16 is the Tree of Reading that will be surrounded by book covers.

Each classroom also has a shared reading life between teachers and students. Whether it is K5 expressing their love of Pete the Cat or No David or older students saying, "Oh yeah, Ms. Wright loves Andrew Clements' books", students are impacted by what you share with them. Routman advises, "When we make our reading lives explicit to our students, their reading lives expand in many directions". What an incredible gift to give to our students.

Rump Trailer from Random House Kids: https://youtu.be/mpqaOP3UdQ8