mapping a year of reading

 Kittle and Gallagher’s (2018) chapter on mapping a year of reading is of course perfectly timed as I am in preplanning this week and eager to put everything I have learned into action. Mapping out the entire year will be new for me, as I have been in the habit of combining independent reading with whole class texts and book clubs based on inspiration striking (perhaps to coincide with an author visit or finding a title that works as an extension of a topic that has interested a particular group of students). Kittle and Gallagher’s decision to spend half of their class time on  independent reading makes sense as it aligns with their goal of growing their students into lifelong readers, and that is a goal that I share. Balancing that out with book clubs and classroom texts helps to create a community of readers in the classroom. Mapping out the entire year with intention and purpose is something that I am committed to doing this year. 

Thinking of my own students, my first instinct was to agree with their plan to spend the first nine weeks on independent reading. Thinking of how different my students might be in their reading levels and how it might be difficult to find multiple copies of the same book for them to read felt like legitimate challenges to starting with book clubs or a class text. I also want to honor their choice and help them find books that they are truly interested in.  When I read Kittle and Gallagher’s reflection and their thoughts on using the positive peer pressure of a book club to motivate dormant readers, that felt like a valid consideration, but I was concerned about whether my students would have the skills and discipline to discuss their books in groups with each other if we had not done it together. Would it be better to start with a class text so that we could read it together and I could model the strategies of reading to find complexity that Buelher (2016) elaborates in her work. And what text would I choose that would be able to interest the whole class? Whether to start with independent reading, book clubs, or a whole class novel is a question that I have not resolved, but I think is important to consider. I might just have to make a decision based on what I think feels right and try it out. Like Kittle and Gallagher, I can always change my practices in future years if I find that my plan might be improved upon. 

I have always found book clubs challenging because of the difficulty in acquiring  multiple copies of the same book. This course has given me a broader way of thinking about book clubs. Basing them on genre, for instance, or topic. Or even having students read different books by the same author. This makes book clubs feel more manageable and allows students at different reading levels to participate in the same group. I like Kittle and Gallagher’s tools for discussion for book clubs. I think sentence starters and conversation movers would be essential for my students. I think the thought logs would be something that we would have to do together as a class before my students would be able to use them themselves. Working toward book clubs with no requirements seems like a very advanced concept, but I was impressed with their observation that having no requirements seemed to motivate their students to be prepared and that their participation increased! I would love to see that in my classroom. 

When it comes to selecting a text for whole-class study, I thought it was interesting to compare Carol Jago’s (2006, cited in Kittle and Gallagher, 2018) criteria with Buehlers. In some ways they overlapped. For example, they both recommend books that deal with complex, universal questions or problems. Buehler focuses more on an adolescent lens, and looks for current issues of relevance to teens. Jago’s guidelines ask us to consider the richness of the language, presence of compelling characters, and (my favorite) a “good story with places for laughing and crying” (p. 64) Is there anything better than laughing and crying over a good book together?

References

Buehler, J. (2016). Teaching reading with YA literature:  Complex texts, complex lives (Principles in Practice). National Council of Teachers of English.

Gallagher, K., & Kittle, P. (2018). 180 days: Two teachers and the quest to engage and empower adolescents. Heinemann.