Chelsea Horsburgh PME 811

On Monday, I will begin my ninth year of teaching and as I excitedly prepare for a new school year I am wondering how the physical environment in my classroom can better facilitate learning specifically to enhance independent reading. During independent reading, students read books of their choosing for a sustained period of time. Fountas and Pinnell (2019) explain there are numerous benefits to independent reading including:  Offers the opportunity to develop habits, attitudes, and tastes as a reader Builds students’ mileage and stamina as readers Allows students to exercise full control of the reading process Provides opportunities to share thinking about books with other readers through discussion and writing about reading Allows readers to apply independently what they have learned through who-group minilessons, guided and shared reading lessons, and book clubs.  As I prepare my classroom for another school year, I want to consider the benefits ...

Over the years, by collaborating with others, I have been able to fill my teacher tool kit with a variety of strategies and activities that help me to better meet the needs of students. In my experience working with middle school students, I have found it essential to have a wide array of tools in order to keep learners engaged and invested in learning. Engaging middle school students in reading can be challenging and can require some creative ideas to hook them into reading. In recent years, by observing my colleagues I have learned two new strategies to engage all readers, 1) book tastings, 2) book-talk cafes. Book Tasting:  Last spring, I was fortunate to observe our Secondary Librarian invite students to a book tasting. During the book tasting, our librarian transformed the library into a cafe complete with placemats and menus. Instead of a menu of food, this cafe offered a tasting of books, organized by genre. During the book tasting, students were invited to choose ...