I love a good book.
Aside from the professional articles, blogs, and books that I pick up in order to improve my game as a teacher, I just love novels and would rather read a good story any day.
Novels provide profound glimpses into the fabric of real life, and if we as teachers can hook the students into understanding the world of possibilities that reading can reveal and get the right books into kids' hands, I believe we'll have a revolution of "sneak readers" on our hands. You know, the children who stay up late with their flashlights under the covers, or the students in our classes that always have a book sitting in the corner of their desks - or more often in their hands during transition time in the classroom.
Non-Fiction books can be equally (or more) attractive to some students, and these are important to consider and recommend to students, too.
Build your class library [Scholastic Book Orders!], find a topic or genre a student likes, and get those students the right books! When you're not busy introducing students to their new best friend (I mean the book you know they'll love), find some time during the day to read aloud to your class and show them what a good story sounds like.
5 years ago, my wife read a certain book to our two boys who were then 10 and 7, and they were enthralled, surrounding her on the couch, snuggling up close and following along as she read the words of each page to them.
The following year I read aloud this excellent book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, to my 6th graders in my ELA class.
I have to admit that with all the rigmarole of school and specials and holidays and curriculum and whatever else occupies the whirlwind we call a school day, we didn't finish the whole story. I read for 5 minutes or 10 minutes, or even more if I found the time. Students sometimes just listened, or they doodled, and I even let them finish an English assignment from time to time while I read. However, I used the book on average probably once every 2-3 weeks for a literature response assignment.
As seen in the recent release of the movie, there is just too much good stuff in there NOT to write about! "Mr. Browne's Precepts" provides a strong outline of writing topics, so much so that there's a whole book about it - look here. I found it very beneficial, though, to simply read aloud until it felt like the right time to stop. With extremely short chapters (sometimes less than a page), there were multiple convenient stopping points.
At those points, students were always left wanting more (I love that!). And that's where the literature response came in. I have also found that in the middle grades books that have strong character development provide the best opportunities for response. I believe this is because of the connection students form with the character(s). Wonder is definitely one of those books.
All I asked from an English standpoint was depth of thought, proper paragraph writing, and a focus on conventions. Most students provided all three of those things, and I think it was because they understood the importance of the questions I posed to them, based on the events or characters in the story.
Questions like:
You can see the value of holding that read aloud time and then giving the students a chance to write a response.
For me, I struggle to find time for books with all the writing (and grammar...yes, grammar) the students must do, but students need to read in order to learn to write. The two cannot be separated. Directing them toward quality literature is a MUST!
I have built a large class library in almost 20 years of teaching 5th-8th graders, mostly due to the Scholastic rewards that seem to be so freely given at times. We have worked through some wonderful books that hold beautiful opportunity for literature response. I have to admit, being a male teacher who didn't find the love of reading until adulthood, I completely understand the hesitancy of boys at this age to pick up a book rather than a ball.
Many of the books I've recommended in class have been for those boys who just haven't found the right book yet. The list below may be a bit biased toward my preferences, but maybe you're in a similar place and need get some books in kids' hands. From my experience, the boys need to understand the value of a good story. I have personally read most of these; others have been recommended to me by my 6th grade students: "Mr. T., this is such a good book!"
Here's my go-to list of books I use from my class library when I need to recommend a thoughtful plot with amazing character development. Some would be great for read-aloud time specific to literature response. Often-times I recommend authors, whichever of their books I have! You will see some authors repeated here.
Fiction:
Chasing Vermeer - Blue Balliet
The Boy Who Saved Baseball - John H. Ritter
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Freak the Mighty - Rodman Philbrick
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
Holes - Louis Sachar
Loser - Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George
Okay for Now - Gary Schmidt (my college professor!)
Summer Ball - Mike Lupica
Summer of the Monkeys - Wilson Rawls
Swindle - Gordon Korman
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
The Young Man and the Sea - Rodman Philbrick
Historical Fiction:
Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
The Cay - Theodore Taylor
Charley Skedaddle - Patricia Beatty
Esperanza Rising - Pam Muñoz Ryan
Fever, 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson
Fish - Gregory Mane
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg - Rodman Philbrick
A Long Way from Chicago - Richard Peck
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Old Yeller - Fred Gipson
The Slave Dancer - Paula Fox
Science Fiction/Fantasy:
Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
Babe & Me - Dan Gutman
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Horizon - Scott Westerfeld
The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks (one of the few books I read as a kid!)
The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
What did I miss? I would love to hear in the comments which books you read aloud in class or recommend to students! Most of mine are a bit older - timeless!
And as usual, if you have students or children who need some instruction or practice with their writing with guaranteed professional feedback, hop on over to my instructional website here.
Aside from the professional articles, blogs, and books that I pick up in order to improve my game as a teacher, I just love novels and would rather read a good story any day.
Novels provide profound glimpses into the fabric of real life, and if we as teachers can hook the students into understanding the world of possibilities that reading can reveal and get the right books into kids' hands, I believe we'll have a revolution of "sneak readers" on our hands. You know, the children who stay up late with their flashlights under the covers, or the students in our classes that always have a book sitting in the corner of their desks - or more often in their hands during transition time in the classroom.
Non-Fiction books can be equally (or more) attractive to some students, and these are important to consider and recommend to students, too.
Build your class library [Scholastic Book Orders!], find a topic or genre a student likes, and get those students the right books! When you're not busy introducing students to their new best friend (I mean the book you know they'll love), find some time during the day to read aloud to your class and show them what a good story sounds like.
5 years ago, my wife read a certain book to our two boys who were then 10 and 7, and they were enthralled, surrounding her on the couch, snuggling up close and following along as she read the words of each page to them.
The following year I read aloud this excellent book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, to my 6th graders in my ELA class.
I have to admit that with all the rigmarole of school and specials and holidays and curriculum and whatever else occupies the whirlwind we call a school day, we didn't finish the whole story. I read for 5 minutes or 10 minutes, or even more if I found the time. Students sometimes just listened, or they doodled, and I even let them finish an English assignment from time to time while I read. However, I used the book on average probably once every 2-3 weeks for a literature response assignment.
As seen in the recent release of the movie, there is just too much good stuff in there NOT to write about! "Mr. Browne's Precepts" provides a strong outline of writing topics, so much so that there's a whole book about it - look here. I found it very beneficial, though, to simply read aloud until it felt like the right time to stop. With extremely short chapters (sometimes less than a page), there were multiple convenient stopping points.
At those points, students were always left wanting more (I love that!). And that's where the literature response came in. I have also found that in the middle grades books that have strong character development provide the best opportunities for response. I believe this is because of the connection students form with the character(s). Wonder is definitely one of those books.
All I asked from an English standpoint was depth of thought, proper paragraph writing, and a focus on conventions. Most students provided all three of those things, and I think it was because they understood the importance of the questions I posed to them, based on the events or characters in the story.
Questions like:
- What would you wish for if you found a magic lamp and could have one wish?
- Describe a time when you didn't want to go to school.
- Why do you think Auggie's parents want to send him to middle school?
- Why do you think Auggie is mad at his mother?
- How does a particular person at school treat you well? No names used.
- Give two ways you can sympathize with a person who needs it.
- Describe a time when you "felt your face getting hot" or "your smile being fake."
- Would you have called Mom to go home? Why or why not?
And these were only a few of the ones I used at our convenient stopping points through less than half of the book. There are so many more to create. Or find ideas online. Here's a great resource specific to the book Wonder from a teacher named Jen Runde.
You can see the value of holding that read aloud time and then giving the students a chance to write a response.
For me, I struggle to find time for books with all the writing (and grammar...yes, grammar) the students must do, but students need to read in order to learn to write. The two cannot be separated. Directing them toward quality literature is a MUST!
I have built a large class library in almost 20 years of teaching 5th-8th graders, mostly due to the Scholastic rewards that seem to be so freely given at times. We have worked through some wonderful books that hold beautiful opportunity for literature response. I have to admit, being a male teacher who didn't find the love of reading until adulthood, I completely understand the hesitancy of boys at this age to pick up a book rather than a ball.
Many of the books I've recommended in class have been for those boys who just haven't found the right book yet. The list below may be a bit biased toward my preferences, but maybe you're in a similar place and need get some books in kids' hands. From my experience, the boys need to understand the value of a good story. I have personally read most of these; others have been recommended to me by my 6th grade students: "Mr. T., this is such a good book!"
Here's my go-to list of books I use from my class library when I need to recommend a thoughtful plot with amazing character development. Some would be great for read-aloud time specific to literature response. Often-times I recommend authors, whichever of their books I have! You will see some authors repeated here.
Fiction:
Chasing Vermeer - Blue Balliet
The Boy Who Saved Baseball - John H. Ritter
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Freak the Mighty - Rodman Philbrick
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
Holes - Louis Sachar
Loser - Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George
Okay for Now - Gary Schmidt (my college professor!)
Summer Ball - Mike Lupica
Summer of the Monkeys - Wilson Rawls
Swindle - Gordon Korman
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
The Young Man and the Sea - Rodman Philbrick
Historical Fiction:
Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
The Cay - Theodore Taylor
Charley Skedaddle - Patricia Beatty
Esperanza Rising - Pam Muñoz Ryan
Fever, 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson
Fish - Gregory Mane
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg - Rodman Philbrick
A Long Way from Chicago - Richard Peck
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
Old Yeller - Fred Gipson
The Slave Dancer - Paula Fox
Science Fiction/Fantasy:
Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
Babe & Me - Dan Gutman
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Horizon - Scott Westerfeld
The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks (one of the few books I read as a kid!)
The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
What did I miss? I would love to hear in the comments which books you read aloud in class or recommend to students! Most of mine are a bit older - timeless!
And as usual, if you have students or children who need some instruction or practice with their writing with guaranteed professional feedback, hop on over to my instructional website here.
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