No one ever asks me what books my students are reading. Admins want to know about test scores or grades. I understand. Kind of. Maybe that's why I'd make a terrible principal. I don't usually know that stuff off the top of my head. I also probably put less stock in it than I should.
Students are people. I try to treat them as people instead of numbers and plot points. When I'm at the library or bookstore, I see books that remind me of students. I don't see books that remind of .xls files and report cards. Books remind me of students because I think they would like to read them, not because books will help their screen time in front of our reading intervention app.
Do you know what books your students are reading? Maybe I need to start asking more of that.
Hey Justin- Great post. Right now, my students are Hunger Games fan boys. I get asked at least once a day by someone if they can borrow my HG books--unfortunately, I only have one set (I need to fix that). Other favorites include Horowitz's Alex Rider series, the Septimus Heap books, and anything by Brandon Mull. (Mull is doing an author visit at our school in a few weeks.) I have also started reading them Van Draanen's Flipped as a read aloud.
ReplyDeleteReading helps us better understand ourselves, each other, and the world. Understandings that cannot be measured with objective test questions and scores. Teaching reading and talking about books with my students has helped me get to know them in a much deeper way than any plots on a graph ever could.
Yep, I know what books my students are reading: Homeboyz, Touching Spirit Bear, Between Shades of Gray....and many more. I offered a free choice novel unit that freshmen are begging to do again before the end of the year. And now, they all have a nice To Be Read list going! Great post. And I don't know what my students test scores are either.
ReplyDeleteBooks remind me of students, too. That's true!
ReplyDeleteI, too, know what my students are reading. That's how I get to know them. It doesn't surprise me that you know that about your students, too.:)
My students are reading Babymouse, One and Only Ivan, Wonderstruck, Dragonbreath, etc., etc.
I enjoyed your post today! Thank you, Justin!