Although this book is geared toward middle-level.And that is the gist of this brilliant book- that our job as literacy teachers is not only to teach students how to read and how to read to learn, but to instill a love of reading in them that will last a lifetime. Goal is to motivate and create life-long readers and not just effective Researcher and classroom teacher who begs us to change our ways, if in fact our That is crammed with pages and pages of written work for students to complete.Īnd, with the reading of The Book Whisperer, I have found yet another We don’t need to develop a beautiful book or novel unit Stop the barrage of worksheets, journal entries, quizzes, tests, and book Nancie Atwell ( In the Middle), you will adore this book!įor years, I have been using the research ofĪtwell, Allington, Wilhelm, Routman, et al, to support my plea for teachers to Reader’s Workshop fan or if your teaching has been inspired by the research of It is a restructuring of our literacy instruction to intentionally carve outĪs much time as possible to let kids read.

time we try to squeeze into our literacy block. Life-long readers, teachers must create a learning environment that stimulates and The premise of this book is that to create passionate, Independent reading fosters a student-centered climate, allows students to practice and apply reading skills and strategies, and promotes reading for enjoyment. And besides, I have always held the philosophy that students should be doing most of the work and talking in the classroom. After reading The Book Whisperer, I know now more than ever that something that looks so simple is very, very important. Although I felt guilty for doing so, I also felt that I needed to give my students time for direct instruction and small group time. When I was in the classroom if something had to give because of time restraints, I admit that it was usually my D.E.A.R. Now, I am far, very far from being 'Polly the perfect teacher'. Like Miller, I suggest 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted independent reading daily in addition to other literacy frameworks you may use such as Daily 5, Guided Reading, etc. However, I have always felt as a teacher and literacy coach, that if I did not observe students reading independently during a 90-120 minute literacy block then something needed to change. Some admins expected that the students should be actively involved and engaged in a project or lesson or they expected the teacher to be delivering whole or small group explicit instruction. If an administrator walked into a classroom and students were reading silently, many teachers would feel guilty. Many times over my career, teachers and administrators have viewed independent reading (read to self) as not 'teaching' and something that students can do at home.

The book whisperer by donalyn miller