Book Choices for Reader's Workshop

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

Most of my students have not yet discovered that they love to read. They don't know that there are books written for them, that speak to their experiences and interests. They don't yet know that reading isn't just something they are forced to do for a standardized test.

My students are bright and inquisitive about the things that interest them.

Many of them come from lower-income neighborhoods. They have been told that their voices and opinions don't always count because they don't have lots of money, or they don't speak English fluently. But they have a fire in them to be heard. It's hard to speak about my students as a "they," because each student has a whole world inside of them- dreams for a future, ideas about the things they witness, a unique set of experiences and ways to express them. I want each of my students to know how valued and important they are.

My Project

Part of the way I show my students that they are important is by offering choices to them in my classroom. We participate in a reader's workshop. They pick the books they want to read, and I show them strategies for reading them. We have individual conferences about their books and discuss why they chose them and what they're getting from the story. In my classroom, we learn to read by reading. With the resources I'm requesting for my classroom library, I will be better able to meet the interests and needs of my students. We have a wide array of readers in our classroom, and I want all of them to find books that give them power as readers- books they can read and understand, books they want to read, books that speak to their experiences with the world.

This project will make a difference for my students by showing them that their choices matter, that they will not be punished for their own interests and personal stories.

It will also open up the world of reading to them, especially for the students who have never encountered it before. They will come to see themselves as readers of books, ones that they have chosen and that are recognized as valid.