As a former elementary teacher and reading specialist, this is all I have known throughout my career. I have read everything by Nancie Atwell, Donalyn Miller, Linda Rief, Donald Graves, etc. When I tried to share these stories with my colleagues, many told me that high school is "different" and we couldn't do that because we are preparing our students for college. Then Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle showed up in my life. After reading all of their books AND attending their workshops, I knew that this could be done in a high school English classroom. I just needed a few teachers willing to take the plunge.
Here is some advice on how to get started:
#1 - Read the research and books by all of the authors above and then get the support of your department chair. Without her support, there was no way that the teachers I work with would have ever felt comfortable taking this risk.
#2 - Convince your department chair to do a summer reading book club with Readicide by Kelly Gallagher. It is short enough and will get teachers to start thinking about their practices. We started there and teachers implemented a few of his ideas throughout the next school year. The teachers who really believed in Kelly Gallagher's work asked for his other books - Deeper Reading, Write Like This, and In the Best Interest of Students.
#3 - Hand Penny Kittle's book, Book Love, to those jumpers in your department who are tired of their students "fake reading" and "spark noting" everything. I gave a short presentation about her work at an end of the year department meeting. That summer I had one teacher buy her book and completely change the format his classroom. He was the "lone nut" (If you haven't seen the First Follower You Tube video - you must if you are wanting to implement change.) and jumped in head first. But once he was in, others followed.
The change in his approach |
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