Reading in the Wild: Samantha Wanner

I haven’t read much of Donalyn Miller’s book yet, but just in flipping through the pages, I think I’m going to really enjoy having it as a resource for my future class. I seems like there are a lot of good ideas and practices that she introduces that would be really helpful in teaching reading. I came across a page where she talks about the reading graffiti wall. I really liked the idea of the kids getting to share their ideas all in one place. It’s out in the open and they can look at it at any moment. I like how it connects the students and the texts they’re reading. It just really stood out to me. I’m really excited to see what else she has to offer as I read the rest of her book.

I haven’t even really thought about teaching reading. I know I’m going to teach it, but I just hadn’t thought about it as a subject by itself. What worries me is having the responsibility to know and be familiar with tons of children’s books in order to refer them to my students. It just seems like such a big task to take on, and it seems like it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. Donalyn Miller also talks about how she doesn’t like how teachers asses students reading – in forms of annotations, reading logs, or things along those lines. She mentions that she feels that this leads students to almost fall out of love with reading. So then I find myself thinking, then how can I assess my students’ reading? As a student, I’ve always been assessed this way, so it’s difficult for me to do something different. If a parent or principal were to ask for proof, what proof would I have?

I don’t quite know what I’m excited about in terms of teaching reading. I can say that I’m hopeful that I’ll get some good ideas from this book. As mentioned before, I really liked her idea of the graffiti wall. I like the idea of creating something like a reading community. I like how as a class we all talk about the book we’re reading and our ideas. I think this is something that can be done with almost any age, and I’d like to incorporate that in my classroom. It helps my understanding and allows me to hear ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of.