I recently had the pleasure of being the guest on the podcast Listening to the Voices in our Heads hosted by Jenna O'Malley. I joined other author-educators in discussing how being an author and an educator intersect and influence each other.
One of the things we discussed that stood out to me was that our students need to see us doing things beyond just teaching, especially if we want to motivate or inspire them in those things.
I have said before that I don't like Lucy Calkins or her (now disgraced) curriculum - but there was one thing she did get right: when your students are writing, you should be writing and when your students are reading, you should be reading.
When your students see you doing the things you are asking them to do, it makes the task valid. It shows your students that you think it's important and that it's not just busy work.
This is such a challenging thing to do, though, when your admin or district are pushing test scores, demanding small groups, and placing expectations on teachers that there just aren't enough hours in the day to meet.
I've experienced this first hand. In my last district, the one that insisted on using Lucy Calkins, they expected us to read when our students were reading - but they also expected us to do our small groups, interventions, DIBELS testing, and so on and so forth. What's the right choice? Do I read when my students are reading? Or do I take care of all the other responsibilities I have?
It's time to have a chat with admin, the district, or even your school's/district's curriculum specialist. What is the real priority: test scores or growing readers?
Research has shown that reading for pleasure has a significant impact on literacy growth. The research also shows that the best way to promote reading for pleasure in students is for them to see adults they trust and respect doing so. This means parents and teachers reading for pleasure with and to students. (SOURCE)
There definitely needs to be a better balance in our schools so that our teachers aren't taking on the burden of teaching and excess responsibilities. Teachers need to have the time and flexibility to apply evidence based practices to their teaching - such as reading for pleasure during students' independent reading time.
I'm not saying give us an hour to delve into our favorite fiction novel (though that would be nice). I'm just asking that we have the ability to spend 15 minutes reading for pleasure so our students can grow a love for reading while also improving their literacy skills.
Teacher modeling is a cornerstone of effective teaching, after all.
