Extended reading and writing refers to extending choice to students regarding what they read or write for a class assignment. This is the topic I investigated for my Action Research Project in 2020. An example of student choice I have used in my class is a Choice Board connected to articles on Actively Learn.
A recent assignment in my PLN course returned me to this topic of student choice. I was tasked with finding an article on extended reading and writing. I turned to Cult of Pedagogy, an education website created by Jennifer Gonzalez, to find an article. With her site, she has turned her education experience into a place where other teachers can find inspiration and support to learn strategies for the classroom. Each week my inbox is greeted by an article summarizing her most recent podcast with educators.
How to Stop Killing the Love of Reading, published in December 2017, grabbed my attention with this first paragraph: "I’m talking about reading for pleasure, to satisfy curiosities, to understand how people work, and to find solace in knowing we are not the only ones who think and feel the way we do." (Gonzalez) Though this article was published in 2017, I was not familiar with it. I connected with it on a personal level; I love reading books and typically read 45 books each year (not including audiobooks.) If I wasn't a classroom teacher, I would be a librarian so that I could share my love of books with teens.
This article is based on an interview Gonalzez recorded for her podcast with teacher and author Pernille Ripp. Ripp recently published her book Passionate Readers based on her experience with reading in the classroom. Her primary reason for how the love of reading is being killed is the focus in the classroom on reading as a drill or work. There is too much emphasis on close reading, asking students to answer questions, analyze, or write about the passages they just read. Students are not allowed to just read. This reminds me of another news report that came out recently, The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books. It's not that they can't read books; it's that students entering college have never read an entire book. A college student quoted in the article said, "She had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover."
The second half of the article provides solutions for students who are disinterested in reading: dedicated reading time, student choice, a robust classroom library, and culture and community. When dedicating reading time does not include worksheets or logs, students do not feel stressed when they read. Students need to choose the books they read, even if that book might be above their reading level. Additionally, students need to be permitted to DNF (did not finish) a book if they are not interested or it is too difficult. It is better to let the student decide if it is too difficult a reading level. Ripp has a classroom library of thousands of books. Even though the school library has books, Ripp says it's important for students to "sense the books staring at them." Lastly, having conversations with students about books creates a culture of reading, bringing both the Social and the Human lens into reading.
I found this article to be inspiring in two ways: first, to continue having conversations with my students about books, and second, to continue growing my classroom library. Also, I may need to switch the content of two of my bookshelves to make my library more visible to my students. Lastly, I want to encourage my students to read more when they have completed their assignments. I know this is tough and may not be as exciting as TikTok, but I will keep trying. Students are reading for skill and drill all day. They need to be reminded to read for fun.
Sources:
“How to Stop Killing the Love of Reading | Cult of Pedagogy.” Cult of Pedagogy, 3 Dec. 2017, www.cultofpedagogy.com/stop-killing-reading/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024.
Horowitch, Rose. “The Atlantic.” The Atlantic, theatlantic, Oct. 2024, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/the-elite-college-students-who-cant-read-books/679945/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024.
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