Wednesday, July 9, 2014

#CyberPD Is Going Wild! Week 1

It's time for #CYBERPD! 

This years' #CYBERPD is going WILD, simply wild about reading!  Professionals all over the globe are invited to read, blog, tweet, or share creatively as we read Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller, @donalynbooks.  #Cyberpd is hosted by @cathymere at Reflect & Refine@laurakomos at Ruminate and Invigorate and @litlearningzone at Literacy Zone.  If you're interested in joining visit any of the blogs for more information!  

~Thinking Differently

The title alone had me ready to think about reading differently.  Donalyn uses two terms "wild reading behaviors" and "reading in the edges"  that grabbed my attention.  As a first grade teacher I find most parents are eager to support their young readers and read at home regularly.  This has been a gift I have taken for granted, but recently I have started to see a change.  Families are busy with sports and other activities that sometimes over shadow the importance of reading regularly at home.  Donalyn explains how this reading interruption- "Reading becomes a self-indulgent luxury we can't afford."  
Readers, and parents of readers, can't afford to adopt this perspective of reading.  As our students fall out of the habit of reading outside of school we need to step in- we need to show kids how to "read in the edges" and develop "wild reading behaviors."  In these first 2 chapters Donalyn shares strategies for creating "wild rendering behaviors". She shares her workshop schedules,  embracing self-selected books and setting up and caring for a classroom library.  


~What's new

As I read I began to reflect on ways I could foster "wild reading behaviors" in my students. I chose a
few ideas that were just unusual enough to to hook my readers and make them wild about books! 
  • As my students are learning to self-select books from our classroom library I would like to extend this lesson/workshop to the school media center a few times a week. By learning to self-select books outside of the classroom kids will begin to generalize book choice strategies and  help them to choose books at the public library and book stores.  
  • Ask kids to sign the end pages of favorite books.  These signatures can serve as an endorsement for future readers and it's just unusual enough to motivate readers to read highly signed books. This will also help me to recall class favorites and see what books the kids are drawn too. 
  • Begin holding book drawings for new books! As new books are introduced to the classroom Doanlyn shares how she shares a book commercial and then ask students to enter a drawing to be the first reader.  The supply and demand of this book drawing creates great interest in the new books. 
~Pondering…


  • How can I teach my readers to read in the edges, finding these little moments where they can steal a reading minute? 
  • How can I help parents understand the importance of wild reading and reading in the edges?
  • How can I help parents support and honor self-book selection?



6 comments:

  1. Deb,
    Thanks for joining the conversation! I really enjoyed your "pondering" section. Donalyn is so good at giving us nuggets of wisdom that cause us to continue thinking for quite some time! I think you're right - we have to tap in to educating and supporting parents along with the students in our classrooms. Thanks for planting that seed in my head!
    Laura

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  2. Our librarians and I are working to find ideas to help children use the library well, & have thought of doing quick book talks within different sections so students can begin to find the just right books for themselves. I like your ideas of adding the school library experience, too, Deb.

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  3. Deb,
    Love love the idea of taking this conversation into the media center. I also like the signed end pages. How fun would it be to check out a book a friend or sibling had signed years before.

    Cathy

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  4. I like your pondering section too!
    I like that idea about bringing the kids to the media center and going through the library books for self-selected reading. It would be a good outside of the classroom "test" to see where their skills are!
    After reading some of the blogs today, I am going to add a "reading in the edges" talk during Back to School Night. Maybe by giving parents an idea of what this is, they can start incorporating it. Especially carrying books, particularly in the car, for kids to read. Or getting audio books for the car! So many opportunities :)
    Looking forward to learning with you. Thanks for the comments today!

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  5. Hi Deb,
    I agree with Cathy and love the idea of taking this conversation to the media center. I would welcome any teachers that asked me for support in this area, so I hope you find the same from your media specialist. I also like the idea of drawings for the chance to read new books and I hope to use them this year in the library, too. The last two "ponderings" regarding how parents fit into wild reading/reading in the edges and into self-selection were great ones. Thanks for giving me something else to ponder, as well!
    Jamie

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  6. Deb,
    I completely agree with you about involving parents! Truly, the introduction to wild reading behaviors needs to happen before school even begins! "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

    I think educating families especially at the primary ages is essential to the success of creating wild readers. I would love to collaborate and brainstorm/plan some parent workshop ideas.

    Love your ideas for next year to help foster wild reading behaviors and love that FREADOM poster too!

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
    Michelle

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