Why Book Love?
Imagine a classroom filled with blank stares, absent seats, bitterly-turned pages, and a bookmarked tab to Spark Notes. Students viewed reading as a chore, a requirement, a boring to-do list at the end of each night. Or a quick review of a tabbed Spark Notes to ensure a quality B- for the pop quiz. Or a frustrated, hard-working student surrounded by peers who don't read the book and still earn points on a quiz for a book they did not read. That was my room once-upon-a-time in a not-so-loved fairytale. Or should I say nightmare?
Then came Book Love. Penny Kittle reminded me of why I teach English. Do I like the same books as Mr. Fisher? As my husband? As my children? Absolutely not. I devoted ten minutes to every hour in hopes that maybe, this little thing called Book Love might work. And guess what: it blew my mind into fifty-thousand shattered pieces of bliss. Students started talking about books together, recommending their favorites to one another. I saw kids who hated reading our anchor texts in class pull out a Book Love book to see what would happen next. Themes discussed, relationships analyzed, and characters loved and loathed. All within a ten-minute gap within our hour each day. By the end of the year, I wasn't the only one reading more books and enjoying that ten minutes of quality reading. Most of my students loved it! They wanted more. In fact, the naysayers of my classroom evaluated Book Love at the end of the year by saying, "we really need twenty minutes a day." We were all hooked!
But why? We read good books as part of our curriculum, right? Some are amazing, even. But don't we all have that internal dialogue that when someone tells us we have to read something- we already feel the forced plate of cafeteria food shoved in our face? Wouldn't we all rather choose to eat cafeteria food rather than be told we have to eat it every day? That is where Book Love comes in. My students get to read whatever they want. I don't judge, force, or expect anything. They pick up a book and track their growth to compete with themselves. How many books can you read in a week? A month? A year? How many books can you read in a year? Track it. Watch it. Give yourself a goal. Can you achieve it? I can give you ten minutes to start your goal today.
I was so sad to hear we were sending students off to college, who truly couldn't read 200-600 pages a week (Kittle, Penny). They struggled to keep up and were not doing well because of their lack of reading stamina. My students have already proven that they can increase their reading stamina simply by reading in my class. I have improved my reading stamina by reading along with them. Even better is that many students WANT to read in class. They pull out their book when they finish an assignment or would rather read the book than work on a paper. Isn't that what we want as English teachers? To find our students reading for pleasure? For joy? For stress-relief?
I titled this blog, Book Love Bliss. Because within Book Love, I rediscovered the joy that brought me to teaching in the first place. Talking to kids about literature, characters, themes, plot twists, and sequels. Looking at symbolism within on book and comparing it to another. I found myself doing this with students every day after Book Love. Students asking me for a recommendation after they finished a book, eager to move into another world. My students were hungry to talk about books at a level that they could recommend books to me - show me some new authors to read. And guess what? I loved their suggestions! Without them, I wouldn't have read the Cinder series, Sarah J. Maas' series, or so many more. The discussion became a collaboration of readers instead of me being the sole one choosing the books.
I also found students thanking me for a stress-reliever in their day. A ten minute period where they would succeed as long as they picked up a book and read. How beautiful is that? A moment without pressure, stress, grades, social media, and anxiety. They get to escape their own world and join another for a few precious moments. Who doesn't love to escape for a little bit to get a bit of reprieve from this world we live in? I found it bringing students peace, joy, and contentment in something that they had neglected, forgotten about, or didn't make time for anymore. They missed it!
This blog will be my reminder of what books do for us - giving us insight into other cultures, fantastical worlds, time periods, and worldviews. It will also be my place to review some of my favorite books and authors. Books give us a fresh perspective, a break from reality, and a beautiful moment away from the stressors of our world. Pick up a book, and see how long you can get lost in it...
Then came Book Love. Penny Kittle reminded me of why I teach English. Do I like the same books as Mr. Fisher? As my husband? As my children? Absolutely not. I devoted ten minutes to every hour in hopes that maybe, this little thing called Book Love might work. And guess what: it blew my mind into fifty-thousand shattered pieces of bliss. Students started talking about books together, recommending their favorites to one another. I saw kids who hated reading our anchor texts in class pull out a Book Love book to see what would happen next. Themes discussed, relationships analyzed, and characters loved and loathed. All within a ten-minute gap within our hour each day. By the end of the year, I wasn't the only one reading more books and enjoying that ten minutes of quality reading. Most of my students loved it! They wanted more. In fact, the naysayers of my classroom evaluated Book Love at the end of the year by saying, "we really need twenty minutes a day." We were all hooked!
But why? We read good books as part of our curriculum, right? Some are amazing, even. But don't we all have that internal dialogue that when someone tells us we have to read something- we already feel the forced plate of cafeteria food shoved in our face? Wouldn't we all rather choose to eat cafeteria food rather than be told we have to eat it every day? That is where Book Love comes in. My students get to read whatever they want. I don't judge, force, or expect anything. They pick up a book and track their growth to compete with themselves. How many books can you read in a week? A month? A year? How many books can you read in a year? Track it. Watch it. Give yourself a goal. Can you achieve it? I can give you ten minutes to start your goal today.
I was so sad to hear we were sending students off to college, who truly couldn't read 200-600 pages a week (Kittle, Penny). They struggled to keep up and were not doing well because of their lack of reading stamina. My students have already proven that they can increase their reading stamina simply by reading in my class. I have improved my reading stamina by reading along with them. Even better is that many students WANT to read in class. They pull out their book when they finish an assignment or would rather read the book than work on a paper. Isn't that what we want as English teachers? To find our students reading for pleasure? For joy? For stress-relief?
I titled this blog, Book Love Bliss. Because within Book Love, I rediscovered the joy that brought me to teaching in the first place. Talking to kids about literature, characters, themes, plot twists, and sequels. Looking at symbolism within on book and comparing it to another. I found myself doing this with students every day after Book Love. Students asking me for a recommendation after they finished a book, eager to move into another world. My students were hungry to talk about books at a level that they could recommend books to me - show me some new authors to read. And guess what? I loved their suggestions! Without them, I wouldn't have read the Cinder series, Sarah J. Maas' series, or so many more. The discussion became a collaboration of readers instead of me being the sole one choosing the books.
I also found students thanking me for a stress-reliever in their day. A ten minute period where they would succeed as long as they picked up a book and read. How beautiful is that? A moment without pressure, stress, grades, social media, and anxiety. They get to escape their own world and join another for a few precious moments. Who doesn't love to escape for a little bit to get a bit of reprieve from this world we live in? I found it bringing students peace, joy, and contentment in something that they had neglected, forgotten about, or didn't make time for anymore. They missed it!
This blog will be my reminder of what books do for us - giving us insight into other cultures, fantastical worlds, time periods, and worldviews. It will also be my place to review some of my favorite books and authors. Books give us a fresh perspective, a break from reality, and a beautiful moment away from the stressors of our world. Pick up a book, and see how long you can get lost in it...
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