Comments on: Free and Voluntary Reading

By: Doug Noon

Doug Noon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:50:11 +0000

Patty, you sound like a great librarian, to be concerned in advance with how you can support this effort. I don’t know about the 21st Century skills / multimedia aspect of this, but I can tell you now that I’m wishing that I had more resources for students who are reading historical novels – material that would supply them with background information for some of the books they are reading.

Mostly, what I’ve seen with my own students is that they recommend books to each other, or they latch onto a book series and read everything they can get. Getting to know the kids and what they are interested – and then keeping on top of how their tastes develop is the best strategy I can recommend. I’m still learning too!

Thanks for the interesting question. It gives me a new angle from which to look at this project.

By: Patty

Patty — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:31:47 +0000

I am a middle school library media specialist. We’re starting reading/writing workshop next school year. Also, 6th grade will be coming up to our already 7th and 8th grade middle school. We middle school librarians have not been involved yet with the model to be used. How do others incorporate a totally operational/functional fully staffed media center within their workshops? All we’ve been hearing about is the classroom library – no discussion how the media center and 21st century skills are going to be involved. Help!

By: First Part of September « Rhinosplode

First Part of September « Rhinosplode — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:47:38 +0000

[...] to handle reading in my English 212 class: I’m inspired by Doug Noon’s experiences with Free and Voluntary Reading. This year, everyone in the class reads what they want to read, and they read without interruption [...]

By: Borderland › Convergences: Catching Fire in a Deluge

Borderland › Convergences: Catching Fire in a Deluge — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:56:25 +0000

[...] I like your suggestion that we use our blogs to compare notes about teaching in reading workshop classrooms this year.. Ideally, the collaboration will give us each a sounding board for new ways [...]

By: Mark Pennington

Mark Pennington — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:06:53 +0000

I am too much of a control freak to spend that much “free reading” time during at school; however, the only homework I now assign is reading with parent-student discussion. Check out how I balance my control propensities with student choice reading at http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/how-to-get-students-to-read-at-home/ Freedom of choice and accountability-what a concept!