In Book Love...
Penny Kittle lays out a number of creative and effective methods to encourage passionate reading in our students. She explains her strategies with thorough examples and explanations for why they work. Below I have briefly summarized a few of her methods that can be used in accordance with the YA literature suggestions on this site.
Kittle argues for a classroom that shies away from strict traditional curriculum. She believes that it is important to get students excited about reading before attempting to teach some of the more challenging classics. “Independent reading allows students to build the stamina so they can read Gatsby,”(6) says Kittle. "Although we may pass on a bit of cultural knowledge, reading classics rarely helps most students develop the commitment, stamina, and pleasure in reading that will last” (Kittle 19). Kittle suggests 25 books a year from grades 6-12 to reach goal of 175-200 books in adolescence (Kittle 23). She explains, “we have to commit to helping students choose texts they can navigate alone, then teach the skills needed to unravel more difficult texts in class, so that their skills increase while they experience the pleasure of reading” (Kittle 14).
Kittle argues for a classroom that shies away from strict traditional curriculum. She believes that it is important to get students excited about reading before attempting to teach some of the more challenging classics. “Independent reading allows students to build the stamina so they can read Gatsby,”(6) says Kittle. "Although we may pass on a bit of cultural knowledge, reading classics rarely helps most students develop the commitment, stamina, and pleasure in reading that will last” (Kittle 19). Kittle suggests 25 books a year from grades 6-12 to reach goal of 175-200 books in adolescence (Kittle 23). She explains, “we have to commit to helping students choose texts they can navigate alone, then teach the skills needed to unravel more difficult texts in class, so that their skills increase while they experience the pleasure of reading” (Kittle 14).
1. Book Talks: (see video below)
Talk about 4 or 5 books a day the first week of school to put a lot of titles out there
Expect students to keep a list of what they want to read in writing notebook
Book Talk Essentials:
Examples of questions to ask during conferences:
Talk about 4 or 5 books a day the first week of school to put a lot of titles out there
Expect students to keep a list of what they want to read in writing notebook
Book Talk Essentials:
- Hold the Books- show them the cover
- Know the Book- read a short selection of the book
- Keep Records- list title and author of book somewhere visible in the classroom
- Accept Help- use book trailers, parents, librarians, fellow teachers as resoures
- Remember how important you are- Passion is contagious!
- Have students set goals for reading (increases motivation)
- Have students record reading rates and total pages read per week
- Aim to increase complexity in book selections
- "Writing is discovery... when we write, we discover what we didn't know we knew" (99)
- Students record their thinking while reading in notebooks
- Supply guiding questions: tell me about the narrator of your book, discuss the pace, what are the moments that define the character?
- Require students to write about the craft of writing
Examples of questions to ask during conferences:
- How did you choose what you are reading?
- Is this an easy or a hard read? How do you know?
- Tell me about these characters- who are they and what do you think of them?
- How is this book different from the last book you read?
- Which genres have you read this year?
- Tell me about a book you've dropped this year. Why did you drop it?
How to do Book Talk
A word from Penny Kittle herself...
Penny Kittle was kind enough to clarify some of our NYU #teachread questions through video. Check out what she had to say!