Does this sound like YOU?
How do you collect evidence of Reading Anchor Standard 10?
R. A.10. “Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.”
“Note on range and content of student reading
To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must read widely and deeply from among a broad range of high-quality, increasingly challenging literary and informational texts. Through extensive reading of stories, dramas, poems, and myths from diverse cultures and different time periods, students gain literary and cultural knowledge as well as familiarity with various text structures and elements. By reading texts in history/social studies, science, and other disciplines, students build a foundation of knowledge in these fields that will also give them the background to be better readers in all content areas. Students can only gain this foundation when the curriculum is intentionally and coherently structured to develop rich content knowledge within and across grades. Students also acquire the habits of reading independently and closely, which are essential to their future success.” Source
How do we measure this goal?
Some teachers use reading logs and activities after reading. However, those aren’t always popular with students, especially students who would prefer to simply
READ!
Check out this post by seventh grader Paul Sinanis, “Yes, I Love to Read!”
Are teacher actions inadvertently causing students to read less?
Students today want voice and choice. Written book reports, especially 5 paragraph essays, are probably NOT working in many classrooms. Readers may simply not be “recording” the books that they are reading in order to be spared what they see as the mind-numbing expectations of an adult. Expectations that they don’t see as relevant. Collecting titles and comments as part of a portfolio of a reader / writer may appeal to some students. But what else can be used? (This post about reading goals had some options to consider.)
Are you adding book covers to your classroom door?
Do you list what you are currently reading at the bottom of your email?
Do you talk about the books you’ve read?
How do YOU share your reading life with your students?
Are YOU, the teacher, using the same mechanisms for reporting that you require of your students?
How do we know what our Reader-in-Chief is reading? We have been fortunate to have a President that reads for the last 8 years. And his reading has been well-documented by the press in pictures, articles, and lists. Check out the New York Times story or Electric Literature’s summary of President Obama’s reading here for two different perspectives on reading and the President.
What are the possibilities that you could consider?
A top 10 list?
A top 5 list?
A “TBR” picture?
An adaptation of Car Karaoke?
A conversation with a reader?
How will we know that YOU are a reader? What evidence will YOU share?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Lisa, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
Resource - Full 
Fran, I love your nudges this morning and I too wrote about this and decided to set a reading challenge this year via Goodreads and I need to really share more in the classroom with my students.
Mandy,
I need to revisit Goodreads. Maybe a challenge is in store for me as well! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Inspired by a padlet I saw that Erika Victor made with many padlets on one padlet page, I made a class reading log padlet. We each have our own page. We are adding the date and then a photo of the book cover and a sentence about it. I am finding this to motivate me to keep reading so I can keep adding. At the end of the month, I’ll ask the kids what they think. Logging can be tedious but it also can motivate and show patterns and help to keep us purposefully reading. Here’s the link if you want to take a peek. Scroll down to find my name!!
https://padlet.com/sally_donnelly/3qgista4li2x
Sally, I love the idea of a padlet. My consistency with recording wanes as the year progresses and this would be one way to keep my own reading visible! THANKS for sharing!
Sally’s idea of a padlet is terrific, isn’t it? When I taught, we all shared often, what we were reading, and why, and we posted on our classroom door. Great questions here today, Fran! Have you seen this: http://offtheshelf.com/2017/01/the-new-o-book-club-12-fiction-picks-from-president-obama/ Fun!
Linda,
I had not seen that. I love his club. What a great list and I’m so happy that I have read many (but not all) of those! Sharing the book love sure seems to keep it alive!
Thanks for the reminder of how important the experience of reading is to students and all readers. I love the padlet and pictures of books. I will try that soon.
Terie,
Having choices is important for everyone – young and “older” . . . So fun to be able to see other options! ❤
One thing I liked when I was teaching was a class bookworm. It would start at one spot on the wall and each time a student or I finished a book a body segment was added with book title, reader, and one sentence about the book. It was fun to watch the worm grow as the year went on.
OMG! I love the class bookworm idea. Something cumulative that builds community and answers “Are we readers?” THANKS!
We love these mentor teaching moves to share reading lives! http://assessmentinperspective.com/?p=3853 http://assessmentinperspective.com/?p=3847
Thanks for sharing your ideas and the blog post!
Clare
Love both of those examples, Clare, but still thinking about those “notes” on the reading log on your first link. So many, many great ideas from all the readers! YAY! Love MORE ideas! 🙂
January…seems like a good time to get something started. There are so many good ideas. I think I will choose one of the ideas I can put on the door. Thanks for the inspiration.
So nice to have choices. I can’t wait to see what you decide to use! ❤
I love the reminders in this post. I just found out that–after 6 years in an instructional coaching position–I will be going back into a classroom next year and I couldn’t be more excited because of everything you wrote here. I can’t wait to share my reading life with my students and to do everything in my power to make them fall in love with reading. The ideas you’ve collected here will serve as a great reminder for me in August as I get my new classroom started!
Congratulations on your return to the classroom. Falling in love with reading . . . the perfect goal for our students! ❤