A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about what seemed to me at the time to be a major breakthrough —  I had, believe it or not, finally realized that reading the books my students are reading would be a good idea. I understood that maybe having a clue as to what they like and finding books to help them become more confident readers was my professional obligation. After years of obstinate snobbery, I decided to step off my adult literature reading pedestal and acknowledge that there is merit in young adult fiction. To be well-read in the genre is indeed empowering. You can read more about my epiphany here, but the post I am writing today is meant to share the events that followed this breakthrough. Below you will find a rough sketch illustrating some of the success we had implementing our Independent Reading program in the last term of the school year.

BOOK TALK

After reading a few YA books, (I was determined to read five YA books for every one book I read for pleasure. The score at the end of the year, by the way, was forty-seven YA book to zero personal books. What can I say, I was hooked.) I read Book Love my Penny Kittle and Falling in Love With Close Reading by Kate Roberts and Chris Lehman, and realized that while I was on the right track in my thinking, I had some classroom routines to establish. My biggest take away from Kittle’s book was the power of the Book Talk. Simply put a Book Talk is when a person, so far it has been only me, but students can deliver Book Talks as well, stands up in front of the class and tries to “sell” the book. Below you will find some key points I try and include in every Book Talk, which I try to limit to about seven minutes:

1. Read the back blurb and talk about the cover.

2. Mention its strengths. Here are some example:

Well-written
This book had me laughing and crying at the same time. Skillfully crafted, it moves beyond simple plot description. The author plays with language in very interesting ways and had some amazing passages. While the voice is funny at times, Alexie is able to deliver some very poignant scenes. (Absolute Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie)

Exciting
The last one hundred pages of this book were off the hook. I couldn’t put it down. While it started a bit slow, the book pays off for readers who can be patient and invest in plot development. I don’t want to give too much away, but after about page 150 everything goes a bit crazy. (Erebos by Ursala Posnanski)

Well-development characters
I fell in love with Eleanor and Park. Because they are deeply flawed, and so they appear to be human. I not only knew people like this in high school, I think I was a person like this. I can really relate to Park’s inability to be himself in the face of society’s definition of masculinity. These characters take time to understand, but pay-off once you know them. Good luck not crying at the end. (Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell)

Reverent themes to my students
This book was very difficult to read. While I know some of you have studied the Cambodian genocide in humanities, this story makes it feel all too real. Because we do so much work with Cambodia NGO’s, I think this book should be mandatory reading for all UWCSEA middle school students. (Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick)

Compared it to books I know are popular
Five Flavors of Dumb is not a particularly well-written book, but if you liked The Future of Us and Everyday, then you will like this one too. Simple and easy to get through. This book will not change your life or affect your soul, but it will keep you interested and does some cool stuff with growing up and Rock and Roll. (Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John)

3. Discuss some of the themes or ideas covered on the book (I try to avoid plot summaries).
4. Give it a 5 star rating and explain why I rated it as I did.
5. Read a passage from the book to give kids a taste of the voice and the style.

That’s usually about it. I’ll take a few questions and be done. I think it is important to have a physical copy of the book as it adds a certain gravitas; besides, you need it to read the passage, which is not a step to be missed.

I cannot tell you how powerful these book talks have been in my classroom. I have kids running up to me during lunch time, thanking me for my recommendations. Middle school kids want to read, but they don’t always know what to read – and random scouring of the library rarely bares fruit. Kids need help and the Book Talk is a great first step.

The effectiveness of the Book Talk has been evident during our fifteen minute independent reading time. When I look around, I would say that 90% of the books that kids are reading are books that I have book talked in the last few weeks. I also supplement the book talk with my book wall.

Real simple – On my classroom door, I have a sign that says Currently Reading, and I print out the front cover of whichever book I am reading at the moment. Once I am done, and I have book talked the book,  I then add the printed cover to the wall outside. Sometimes when a kid asks me for a recommendation, I physically walk them to the wall and we talk about the books that are there. The wall serves as a reminder for us both.

TIME

I would like to talk a bit more about the fifteen minute independent reading time I previously mentioned. Kids value what we value. If we want them to take anything seriously in the classroom, then not only must we feel excited and passionate about it, but we must also deem it valuable enough to dedicate time for it. We talk about a million things, but until we do them and dedicate consistent time to routines, then we are only paying lip service. So at the start of every class, we read for fifteen minutes. The key is that there are no exceptions. Even if we have a shortened class for whatever reason, or if we have an assessment due the next day, we still read for fifteen minutes. Our reading time is never cut short. Never.

When kids understand that this reading time is set in stone, it cuts down on forgotten books or those kids who are simply not reading, because those kids know you will be checking to see their progress every class. (Quick note about forgotten books. After a few weeks, it happens less and less, but even your most avid reader will occasionally forget his/her book. I like to have magazines, poetry and short story books on hand, so that a student can start and finish something in that day’s time and return to his/her novel when home. That being said, you will have your serial forgetter, and honestly I am still working on strategies for those kids. Feel free to leave some suggestions in the comments.)

The fifteen minutes, while a frustratingly short amount of time, sets a great tone for the day’s lesson. Kid’s simply stroll in and, without much fanfare or noise, find a comfortable place to sit and read. (Side note: this is easier when there are comfortable places for kids to read: Sofas, beanbags and comfortable carpets are crucial in any room that is recite to reading.) I sometimes actually “treat” my kids to extra time and they love it. Your more confident readers will police the louder ones, as they see this time as precious reading time in school, while your weaker readers have no choice but to get with the program. They know they must have a book and have little choice but to hunker down and get to it, lest they get yelled out by the others. You will find your reluctant readers fake reading and this why you use this time to conference with kids about their reading. But before I get to the conferencing, I need to talk about Goodreads.

GOODREADS

Because you must be thirteen years old to use Goodreads, (Goodreads, if you are reading this post, an educational account option would be great) we only use it with our grade eights. I will explain what we do with younger kids at the end of this section. Before I continue, let me say that I am obsessed with Goodreads as a teaching tool. Like I tell my kids, I use it to “stalk their reading lives!”

Our students create seven shelves to log their reading. Yes, I said the “L” word. We all know most students hate logging books. But we also know that logging what we read will help us gain stamina and confidence as a reader.  With Goodreads, students seem to be okay with building a personal catalog of books they have read. To keep track of their log, our students create these seven separate shelves:

• To Read Comfort
• To Read Just Right
• To Read Stretch

• Read Comfort
• Read Just Right
• Read Stretch

• Abandoned

The To Read books are to help them build stacks of books they want to read. These may be books that they are excited about after a Book Talk, or from a friend’s recommendation. The three categories are pretty straight forward. One of the main learning goals for this reading program is for students to be able to self-select the right book at the right time. We encourage them to vary their reading lives. It is okay to pick a few comfort books that they can read in one or two sittings. We want students to always be reading, not getting mired in books they hate or ones that are too difficult. I would rather have a student read four comfort books, two just right books and a stretch book, rather than trying to read four stretch books back-to-back. Looks like I may need to write another post about these classifications. Back to Goodreads.

Beyond simply logging books at the proper levels, Goodreads also lets me know when, how long, and how often they are reading. With the update status feature, I can follow a student’s reading habits and comment in real time! If I notice that a student reader reads in small chunks throughout the week, but is able to sustain long marathon sessions on the weekends, I know that she is probably an avid reader who simply doesn’t have time during the week to read. I can say something like this on her profile:

Wow! Great job on such a long reading session. Let’s try and add another ten minutes to your reading during the week. Remember reading is your English homework and is expected, so do not treat it like a luxury. You love to read, so read during the week too.

Whereas the student who has not updated his/her status in days, will need a special in class conferencing to see where the problem is.

Goodreads also allows me to conference with readers live and at anytime. There were times when I would notice kids reading for an hour on a Saturday night, to which I could leave words of encouragement and support. What has been even better than me monitoring students’ reading is that they are recommending books to one other and using the site as a vibrant social networking site for books. Like anything of course, these success are not true for every student, but as I mentioned above the inactive users are often the reluctant readers and Goodreads allows the teacher to sort out who is who.

I had mid-level readers telling me that between the Book Talks and Goodreads they felt a sense of urgency and momentum that forced them to become involved and much more confident readers.

“It feels like everyone is always talking about and excited about books. I have never felt this way before, and with Goodreads I can see my reading life growing and share it with my friends. It also feels good to know you (talking about me the teacher) are paying attention and giving us support.”

Goodreads has been priceless in building excitement around our independent reading program. We still have work to do for sure and the influx of our classroom libraries next year will help move us to the next level for sure, but we had a great start in our last term. The formula is pretty simple:

1. Empower yourself to be en expert by reading as many young adult books as you can.
2. Be passionate and excited about what you read and share your enthusiasm with your class through consistent Book Talks.
3. Give kids time to read in class and show that you value their reading. Reading is not a luxury. We do not read when we have to time or need to relax. We read because we love it. We value it as an activity and we want to build stamina. We read everyday!
4. Although reading logs have a bad reputation, we can all agree that students and teachers need to know what and when kids are reading. Goodreads is a dynamic and fun way to gather much of the data teachers need, and students like using it.

The following is not verbatim, but a summary of many talks I have given kids in the last few months:

This reading program is not some cute initiative we, the English Department, are experimenting with, that will go away. We are here to prove to you that reading is fun and has value. It is not something you do on the side. Reading is a key tool to your learning. You need to know how to choose the right books and build your stamina. I am not telling you these things because I want you to read a few books this term. I want you, starting at this moment, to always be reading a book. When you finish one, you automatically pick the next one, because you have a stack of books waiting to go. I want reading to become an obsession for you. I want you to lay wake at night and worry about not being able to read every book you want to in your lifetime. I want you to panic when you go into a bookstore or a library because you want to grab every book off the shelf and read them all at once.

I am here to help build your reading life. You will not become one of those adults who just “doesn’t read!” There is no such thing. You will start reading one book after another this year. You want to know when you will stop? Summer? At the end of Middle School? High School? College? Nope. Never! You will NEVER stop. You will be reading one book after another till the day you die. This is the business we are involved in here in this classroom. We are readers and we are writers, so we read and we write because that is what we do.

Believe it or not, I was not able to fit everything I wanted into this post. So please stay tuned to this space for more info on conferencing,  videos of Book Talks and some student interviews. Please leave any questions you  have, and share ideas and strategies you have used that have been successful.