Elise Gregory’s October Blog on  Routman’s Reading Essentials – Ch. 3 “Share your Reading Life”.

Routman begins this chapter by clearly expressing that as teachers, it is our responsibility to examine what we do as a reader and make our thinking and practices visible to our students.  I do believe that we have become so consumed with standards and trying to cover so much material within a set amount of time, that there are many days when we just don’t give students the opportunity to not only witness us reading, but also to give them enough time to read for the pure enjoyment of reading.  I know that even within this year there have been days when I simply felt that I didn’t have time to give the kids 20 minutes to read what they wanted to read, and that they showed real disappointment in this.  I have one student who is in my Kidwatching focus group who greets me at the door with, “Can we read by ourselves today?”  This is a student who is expressing the desire to read, so I must change my plans to effectively make this reading time a priority.  After reading this chapter, I realized several techniques that I want to include in my reading class.  The first is that we are going to start a “Book Club” within our reading class.  Within this “Book Club” time, students will read for the pure enjoyment of reading.  This will be a great time also for students to meet in self-directed small groups to share what they are excited about, or what they are not excited about. This is a technique that I would model for them.  Routman does emphasize keeping a running Reading Record.  I again would model to the students my expectations of this.  This record can be kept in the back of their writing journals. 

I did find it very interesting that Routman doesn’t’ feel that we, as teachers, should ask parents to sign off on the reading logs that we have students do at home.  I really agree with her on this as I see that many, if not most, parents are just signing and really not paying attention to what their child is reading.  Not only is it tedious for overburdened parents, but it will also save teachers time and energy that can be extended toward more pressing needs. 

Finally, Routman emphasizes that many of our students are reading because they have to and not because they want to.  Our goal as teachers is to turn the tide of their thinking and guide them toward reading because they want to, not because they have to.  Reading for their own purposes will help grow a love of reading instead of reading being a chore.