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RE: Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
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From: Gardow, Pamela <pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:39:06 -0600
I agree with your recommendation that kids should have a book rich environm ent, and have those books available in many places and many formats. It is critical that classroom teachers talk about books and encourage students to recommend books to each other. I'm not for removing books from classrooms , by any means. My concerns are:
1. When classroom teachers become comfortable with their own personal libr aries, and work to expand them with school funds, they often reduce their e fforts to integrate the library into their reading goals and curricula, and don't collaborate as much with their school librarians. Perhaps this also allows some librarians to excuse themselves from book talking and developi ng collaborative lessons with teachers.
2. When schools put money into classroom libraries, especially in this cli mate of budget restrictions and economic hard times, it is easier for admin istrators and school boards to decide that professional librarians and full time access to the library are less important, and sometimes expendable. It's a vicious circle: less money for library staff means reduced time fo r programming and book talking. Then classroom teachers quite rightly comp lain that they are left to beef up their classroom libraries and do their o wn book talks and reading promotions, which encourages more cuts since the library is seen as less vital to the education of kids than the classroom.
3. Many students do not have access to or have never grown up using their public library. I think it is important that we create wonderful school li braries with terrific programming so kids will learn to be comfortable in t he library setting and become used to finding fabulous reads and stretching their comfort levels to new genres, styles and formats. For this we need dedicated, professional librarians who collaborate with classroom teachers, parents, and the students themselves.
We all need each other, and the kids need all of us working together to cre ate a climate where kids are motivated and expected to read. We also need to hold each other to high standards when it comes to reading and meeting t he needs of all children, regardless of their reading levels or reluctance/ enthusiasm for reading. It's a huge job, and it requires all of us to be p art of the solution.
Pam
Pam Gardow, Library Media Specialist Advisor, Teen Literacy Initiative Memorial High School 2225 Keith St. Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-852-6309 pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us
________________________________
From: Mike Mullin
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 11:32 PM To: Gardow, Pamela; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I heard of a public library administrator making a similar argument on a gr ander scale--she was arguing that we should do away with all school librari es and have students get their books from the public library, so more resou rces would be available to build great public libraries that are available to everyone, not just students.
If our goal is to encourage kids to read more, then I think both arguments (that school libraries are to be preferred over classroom libraries, or tha t public libraries are preferable to school libraries) are wrong. Any produ ct will be used more the easier it is to use--that is the closer it is to h and. That's why you can't go anywhere without running into a Coke machine. The more of anything you have on hand, the more of that item you'll use. (I worked in marketing for Procter & Gamble for a while--they found this, via research, to be true even of such unlikely things as Pampers diapers and C rest toothpaste.)
So the most important book is the one that's in the kid's hand, not the one on a distant library shelf. Beyond that, the more different avenues of dis tribution via which books are offered, the more those books will be read. S o home libraries, classroom libraries, school libraries, public libraries a nd online libraries are all important. But if our goal is to encourage read ing, we should work to make books more available where kids spend most of t heir time: at home, in their classrooms, on their computers, and on their c ell phones.
I believe that makes librarians more important, not less. As electronic boo ks become more prevalent the number of titles published has ballooned, pass ing 1 million in 2009. The people who cut through the clutter and put the r ight book in the right child's hand are more important than ever.
Mike On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Gardow, Pamela wrote: I wholeheartedly agree. I love it when teachers talk about great books and recommend books to their students, but I strongly believe students should get those books (if at all possible) from their school libraries. This is teaching them a skill for life. Students need to become comfortable with f inding their books in the library, because that terrific 6th, or 4th, or wh atever grade teacher who had a nice set of classroom books is not going to be with them for more than a year. Libraries will be available to them for a lifetime. Those great teachers can also be collaborating with their sc hool librarian to share ideas about, new books, favorite books, award winne rs, etc. Collaboration makes both programs stronger. How wonderful if tho se dedicated teachers would take their students to the library for book tal ks and book check out.
It makes me sad to see the focus on building classroom libraries which are available to one class of students, rather than building a great library co llection (and program) which is available to the entire school.
Pam
Pam Gardow, Library Media Specialist Advisor, Teen Literacy Initiative Memorial High School 2225 Keith St. Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-852-6309 pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us
________________________________
From: CARPENTER, JEFFREY J
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 4:46 PM To: 'Sarah Mulhern'; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: RE:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I'm okay with putting books closer to readers, but how can a classroom teac her purchase and maintain a collection of materials at all reading and inte rest levels? Would it be better for our students to have access to a schoo l library media center? We are open to all and serve all. I grew up in th e 70's and in my small rural school the teacher had a classroom collection of books. Every teacher at Charlotte's Web, Rabbit Hill, and other award w inning books. I fell in love with books when I had access to great books, and was told about them (book talks)
Jeff Carpenter
From: Sarah Mulhern
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 10:43 PM To: ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: Re:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I've been following this discussion with fascination. I'm a current high s chool teacher (9th and 12th grade English) and a former 6th grade teacher. As a 6th grade teacher, I met many reluctant readers. Most were reluctant because they didn't know they loved reading. Why not? Because they hadn' t been exposed to books beyond those required in school or those forced dow n their throats by their parents (with good intentions, but still...). If we want kids to read, they need access to great books. Unfortunately, t hat is becoming harder and harder for teachers. Parents don't (or can't) t ake their kids to the library or bookstore. School budgets are being slash ed and libraries are being cut out of the curriculum. For many students, c lassroom libraries are the only place they have access to books. But most of those are funded solely by the teacher. Districts budget their money fo r textbooks, so the burden falls to the teacher. We need to get books into classroom libraries. If you have books around the house
, find a teacher t o donate them to! (Need help connecting with a teacher? Check out #ARCsFlo atOn http://thereadingzone.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/arcs-float-on/ Connec ting teachers with bloggers/reviewers/authors to get books to kids.)
Across the board, the best way I found to get reluctant readers to pick up a book was to share read alouds in the classroom and to let kids TALK about books. Social reading is real, and it is powerful. Let kids recommend bo oks to each other, let them booktalk, let them have some of the power. The ir peers will listen! And read alouds will draw them to authors and genres they might not have been familiar with.
Finally, we need to get ARCs into the hands of kids. My 6th, 9th, and 12th graders are drawn to ARCs like flies to honey. Even the most reluctant re ader is intrigued when they know they can read a book "first", before the g eneral public. A single ARC can get into the hands of up to 70 students in my classes, with many others ordering their own copy, recommending it onli ne (Facebook and Twitter), and begging me to buy a hardcover copy. If publ ishers would send ARCs to classroom teachers, they would be getting free ad vertising for their book AND helping reluctant readers to become lifelong r eaders. ARCs are like magic. :)
Thanks for this great discussion!
Sarah Mulhern Gross _at_thereadingzone
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:39:06 -0600
I agree with your recommendation that kids should have a book rich environm ent, and have those books available in many places and many formats. It is critical that classroom teachers talk about books and encourage students to recommend books to each other. I'm not for removing books from classrooms , by any means. My concerns are:
1. When classroom teachers become comfortable with their own personal libr aries, and work to expand them with school funds, they often reduce their e fforts to integrate the library into their reading goals and curricula, and don't collaborate as much with their school librarians. Perhaps this also allows some librarians to excuse themselves from book talking and developi ng collaborative lessons with teachers.
2. When schools put money into classroom libraries, especially in this cli mate of budget restrictions and economic hard times, it is easier for admin istrators and school boards to decide that professional librarians and full time access to the library are less important, and sometimes expendable. It's a vicious circle: less money for library staff means reduced time fo r programming and book talking. Then classroom teachers quite rightly comp lain that they are left to beef up their classroom libraries and do their o wn book talks and reading promotions, which encourages more cuts since the library is seen as less vital to the education of kids than the classroom.
3. Many students do not have access to or have never grown up using their public library. I think it is important that we create wonderful school li braries with terrific programming so kids will learn to be comfortable in t he library setting and become used to finding fabulous reads and stretching their comfort levels to new genres, styles and formats. For this we need dedicated, professional librarians who collaborate with classroom teachers, parents, and the students themselves.
We all need each other, and the kids need all of us working together to cre ate a climate where kids are motivated and expected to read. We also need to hold each other to high standards when it comes to reading and meeting t he needs of all children, regardless of their reading levels or reluctance/ enthusiasm for reading. It's a huge job, and it requires all of us to be p art of the solution.
Pam
Pam Gardow, Library Media Specialist Advisor, Teen Literacy Initiative Memorial High School 2225 Keith St. Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-852-6309 pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us
________________________________
From: Mike Mullin
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 11:32 PM To: Gardow, Pamela; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I heard of a public library administrator making a similar argument on a gr ander scale--she was arguing that we should do away with all school librari es and have students get their books from the public library, so more resou rces would be available to build great public libraries that are available to everyone, not just students.
If our goal is to encourage kids to read more, then I think both arguments (that school libraries are to be preferred over classroom libraries, or tha t public libraries are preferable to school libraries) are wrong. Any produ ct will be used more the easier it is to use--that is the closer it is to h and. That's why you can't go anywhere without running into a Coke machine. The more of anything you have on hand, the more of that item you'll use. (I worked in marketing for Procter & Gamble for a while--they found this, via research, to be true even of such unlikely things as Pampers diapers and C rest toothpaste.)
So the most important book is the one that's in the kid's hand, not the one on a distant library shelf. Beyond that, the more different avenues of dis tribution via which books are offered, the more those books will be read. S o home libraries, classroom libraries, school libraries, public libraries a nd online libraries are all important. But if our goal is to encourage read ing, we should work to make books more available where kids spend most of t heir time: at home, in their classrooms, on their computers, and on their c ell phones.
I believe that makes librarians more important, not less. As electronic boo ks become more prevalent the number of titles published has ballooned, pass ing 1 million in 2009. The people who cut through the clutter and put the r ight book in the right child's hand are more important than ever.
Mike On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Gardow, Pamela wrote: I wholeheartedly agree. I love it when teachers talk about great books and recommend books to their students, but I strongly believe students should get those books (if at all possible) from their school libraries. This is teaching them a skill for life. Students need to become comfortable with f inding their books in the library, because that terrific 6th, or 4th, or wh atever grade teacher who had a nice set of classroom books is not going to be with them for more than a year. Libraries will be available to them for a lifetime. Those great teachers can also be collaborating with their sc hool librarian to share ideas about, new books, favorite books, award winne rs, etc. Collaboration makes both programs stronger. How wonderful if tho se dedicated teachers would take their students to the library for book tal ks and book check out.
It makes me sad to see the focus on building classroom libraries which are available to one class of students, rather than building a great library co llection (and program) which is available to the entire school.
Pam
Pam Gardow, Library Media Specialist Advisor, Teen Literacy Initiative Memorial High School 2225 Keith St. Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-852-6309 pgardow_at_ecasd.k12.wi.us
________________________________
From: CARPENTER, JEFFREY J
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 4:46 PM To: 'Sarah Mulhern'; ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: RE:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I'm okay with putting books closer to readers, but how can a classroom teac her purchase and maintain a collection of materials at all reading and inte rest levels? Would it be better for our students to have access to a schoo l library media center? We are open to all and serve all. I grew up in th e 70's and in my small rural school the teacher had a classroom collection of books. Every teacher at Charlotte's Web, Rabbit Hill, and other award w inning books. I fell in love with books when I had access to great books, and was told about them (book talks)
Jeff Carpenter
From: Sarah Mulhern
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 10:43 PM To: ccbc-net_at_ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: Re:
Reading, reluctantly and otherwise
I've been following this discussion with fascination. I'm a current high s chool teacher (9th and 12th grade English) and a former 6th grade teacher. As a 6th grade teacher, I met many reluctant readers. Most were reluctant because they didn't know they loved reading. Why not? Because they hadn' t been exposed to books beyond those required in school or those forced dow n their throats by their parents (with good intentions, but still...). If we want kids to read, they need access to great books. Unfortunately, t hat is becoming harder and harder for teachers. Parents don't (or can't) t ake their kids to the library or bookstore. School budgets are being slash ed and libraries are being cut out of the curriculum. For many students, c lassroom libraries are the only place they have access to books. But most of those are funded solely by the teacher. Districts budget their money fo r textbooks, so the burden falls to the teacher. We need to get books into classroom libraries. If you have books around the house
, find a teacher t o donate them to! (Need help connecting with a teacher? Check out #ARCsFlo atOn http://thereadingzone.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/arcs-float-on/ Connec ting teachers with bloggers/reviewers/authors to get books to kids.)
Across the board, the best way I found to get reluctant readers to pick up a book was to share read alouds in the classroom and to let kids TALK about books. Social reading is real, and it is powerful. Let kids recommend bo oks to each other, let them booktalk, let them have some of the power. The ir peers will listen! And read alouds will draw them to authors and genres they might not have been familiar with.
Finally, we need to get ARCs into the hands of kids. My 6th, 9th, and 12th graders are drawn to ARCs like flies to honey. Even the most reluctant re ader is intrigued when they know they can read a book "first", before the g eneral public. A single ARC can get into the hands of up to 70 students in my classes, with many others ordering their own copy, recommending it onli ne (Facebook and Twitter), and begging me to buy a hardcover copy. If publ ishers would send ARCs to classroom teachers, they would be getting free ad vertising for their book AND helping reluctant readers to become lifelong r eaders. ARCs are like magic. :)
Thanks for this great discussion!
Sarah Mulhern Gross _at_thereadingzone
---Received on Fri 11 Feb 2011 09:39:06 AM CST
