Reading In The Wild
Truth be told, I am scared to death about teaching kids reading. From what I have seen kids are either way above where “they should be” or below. Only few kids I know are excited by reading and that is because their home life encourages it. Encourages them to read beyond their skill set. I also know of many kids who aren’t exposed to good reading and could careless and see no point. Those are the kids I am terrified about. How do you encourage a kid to read when it is already implemented into their brain they hate it or they aren’t good at it? Better the question is how do we as teachers encourage reading that isn’t to teach for a certain standard? Most teachers aren’t lucky enough to be accepted into a district or school where we can “free style” our lessons. Most of us will be in schools where we have to abide by the binder of rules.
Miller, however, has given me some encouragement so far. (and this class) Kids are reading everywhere but in new forms. As a teacher I need to adjust to what these kids are into these days. I have to get away from the mentality of “technology is bad” in the classroom. I need to read what utopian and contemporary novels. I need to get on the same level of these kids. Once these concepts are instilled into my brain, I think my fears will subside a bit. I will know what my students want and need. Not just what I am told they have to know.
Bottom line, my goal is to make every kid that walks into my classroom a wild reader.
One Reply to “Reading In The Wild”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on wild reading. I’ve been thinking about this with my students a lot and reflecting back on my thoughts as a pre-service teacher.
I can offer a bit of perspective from what I’ve seen teaching grades 3-8. You and your classroom will have immeasurable impact on the “wildness” of your readers. Sure, I’ve had families who do family read-alouds, belong to book clubs, and encourage reading on every level, but I also have many more busy families who put reading on the back burner.
I’ve taught in schools where I needed to follow a certain curriculum for reading. It can be challenging at times. I knew that I always would have a read aloud book. I would always take a few minutes to talk about the great books that I saw kids reading in class. I would always let students recommend a book they loved to their classmates. These are elements of wild reading that can easily occur in harmony with any other structures that must exist. I knew from my pre-service experiences that these elements had to be present in my classroom.
I appreciate your reflection near the end of your post. What a great place to start to know your role is to get to know what your kids need and want. We are so lucky to be teaching in this area of YA and even elementary literature. I truly enjoy the books I “have” to read for work.
Thank you for sharing your reflections. I look forward to reading your thoughts as you continue through the semester.
-Wendy