Description
Turn any student into a bookworm with a few easy and practical strategies
Donalyn Miller says she has yet to meet a child she can't turn into a reader. No matter how far behind Miller's students might be when they reach her 6th grade classroom, they end up reading an average of 40 to 50 books a year.
Miller's unconventional approach dispenses with drills and worksheets that make reading a chore. Instead, she helps students navigate the world of literature and gives them time to read books they pick out themselves. Her love of books and teaching is both infectious and inspiring.
In the book, you'll find:
- Hands-on strategies for managing and improving your own school library
- Tactics for helping students walk on their own two feet and continue the reading habit after they've finished with your class
- Data from student surveys and end-of-year feedback that proves how well the Miller Method works
The Book Whisperer includes a dynamite list of recommended "kid lit" that helps parents and teachers find the books that students really like to read.
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Jeff Anderson, author and literacy staff developer ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 There and Back Again 7
Chapter 2 Everybody Is a Reader 19
Whisper STUDENT SURVEYS 39
Chapter 3 There’s a Time and a Place 47
Chapter 4 Reading Freedom 69
Whisper READER’S NOTEBOOKS 99
Chapter 5 Walking the Walk 103
Chapter 6 Cutting the Teacher Strings 119
Whisper END-OF-YEAR EVALUATIONS 153
Chapter 7 Letting Go 159
Afterword, by Ron D. Myers, principal 179
Appendix A: The Care and Feeding of a Classroom Library 183
Appendix B: Ultimate Library List 193
Appendix C: Student Forms 201
References 213
Index 217
Acknowledgments 225
About the Author 228
About the Sponsor 228
