Every day in my classroom starts with ten minutes of choice reading. I firmly believe that students need to read more, and that the best way to entice them to read is to give them choice, instead of forcing them to all read the same thing at the same pace. Spoiler alert: they love it.
Most of my students are high achieving and highly motivated; however, they often lack the spark of true intellectual curiosity.
They care about getting good grades, and lose sight of their love of learning in the process. This isn’t their fault- it’s the culture in which they have been raised. They need someone to let them choose their content so that can experience true ownership of their learning instead of just “doing school.” Also, as in any classroom, I have a huge range of reading abilities. Again, by giving them choice, I can better differentiate instruction and make sure each student has a book that works for him or her.
My Project
For this project, my students choose a research topic that is of interest to them, and I want to provide them with various nonfiction titles in a range of subject areas. I have found that having classroom copies of books makes it easier for students to choose a book that we already know is relevant to their topic. This eases the challenge of researching different books on their own. Additionally, having classroom copies ensures that students are able to locate a book in a timely manner so the focus can be on learning, rather than hunting for an available copy. All the requested titles are of an appropriate reading level and interest for my students. Students’ easy access to numerous contemporary titles under their topic umbrella exposes them to other areas of focus that they may want to explore for their research.
Previous data from student surveys shows that my students are reading more and enjoying it more than in previous school years.
These new titles will continue to give them choice to help foster their love of reading. My hope is that this love will continue outside the four walls of my classroom and beyond just this year in English class. We need more lifelong readers in this world.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Agostino and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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