#CyberPD Is Going Wild! Week 2

 #CyberPD is going WILD, 

Simply Wild About Reading! 

We're reading, 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! 

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"Children are made readers are the laps of their parents."  
(Loc 1158 eBook)

A recurring message in Reading in the Wild is that of developing readers who are independent of us as teachers or parents, reader's who self-select books, read in "edge" times and who have a reading community to share and discuss books.  As a first grade teacher my class is made up of (mostly) eager readers, who want nothing more than to learn to read, this seems like a very attainable task.  I pride myself on cultivating readers who are "Wild Readers."  When reader's leave first grade they seem to be right on track for a life of wild reading, so what happens? 

Embarrassed Readers~

Well, certainly no one reading this is guilty of letting reading fall out of fashion or move into the category of embarrassing, but it seems to be happening! 

Being surrounded by cultural forces that fail to support reading or diminish reading outright erodes students' interest in reading and prevents them from sustaining any reading motivation. (Loc 1779 eBook)

A recent National Literacy Trust Report found that 17 percent of children surveyed would be embarrassed if their friends saw them reading. (Loc 1787 eBook) 

Reading this forces me to think beyond my classrooms and beyond my  building when working to cultivate wild readers. The work we do in teaching our kids the value and benefits of being a part of a reading community needs to extend to the families and communities of our kids.  
In Chapter 3 Donalyn list several strategies for building and extending reading education.  

Donalyn's message is one that sticks with me outside of my reading day! I see readers leave our first grade classrooms excited about reading and then somehow along the way lose this joy! WHY?  Is it the over loaded schedules, video games or TV that has allowed reading to become that "luxury we can't afford" or has reading truly fallen out of fashion and become an embarrassment? Are we really doing all we can do to create "wild readers?"

Plan of Action! 

Well, this is a big task and it won't be accomplished alone. We will need to pull together and educate our children, our families and our communities on the benefits and how to be a member of a reading community. 

"Reading in the Wild" (a growing blog post with my class) We are collecting photos of people (yes, even strangers) reading in those edge times. I am amazed at how many people I see with books out and about!  I have also asked parents (via the blog and email) to send me pictures of kids "Reading in the Wild."  This is a small beginning in educating parents about edge time and wild reading, but with a little help we should have a nice display ready for back to school!  If you see "Wild Reading" please send pictures to me @deb_frazier so we can add them to our blog. (Out of respect to the readers, avoid faces and please ask permission ;-))

What's Next? 

@Litlearningzone and @AnnielOrsini plan to meet (virtually) to collaborate on ways we can flood our parents with the same message we teach the kids, I can't wait! If you would like to join us we would love to have you! 

How will you extend the reading community of your readers? I would love to hear your thoughts on educating parents and bringing back the pride in reading!