Reading this article brought back memories of reading in school. I was always an avid reader, but never truly enjoyed reading books that were required by the school. I didn't necessarily feel as if I was reading for pleasure but, rather, for assessment.
In my classroom, I try to make reading fun and entertaining while still setting standards. In a classroom where reading is a difficulty and all students are reading at least two grades below level, it is important to provide an atmosphere where students are able to enjoy reading while also improving their reading ability. For some students, reading is taxing and exhausting. They aren't able to read basic words that most of their peers are reading. For others, they lack basic comprehension skills. In our classroom, we do take a lot of AR tests. Students set goals and work toward those goals. But I see that I need to make time for reading workshops as well in order to create a love for reading where they can escape into another world, become someone else....the possibilities are endless. I would love for my students to enjoy reading as much as I do.
I appreciate that you want reading to be enjoyable for your students. That truly is the key to growing life-long readers. Reading Workshop is a great way for students to learn specific strategies for reading and setting goals (not point goals, but reading goals) that they can focus on. I am afraid that reading to take AR tests may create a society of students who also read for assessment instead of read for pleasure. Something to think about.
ReplyDeleteLet's set up a coaching time and get together to discuss a Reading workshop model for your classroom. . I would love to help!