As the pendulum swings in education, veteran teachers know it isn’t wise to throw the baby out with the bath water. This book saved my heart this year when my district suddenly took the freedom to use my professional experience and creativity. We middle school teachers were told we were never to teach with a whole-class full text. For the first time, I wasn’t able to teach kids how to love a book, how to notice all the mysteries and celebrate the craft as it touched our hearts.
Kate Roberts sees the value in a variety of teaching methods and recommends a blended approach—teaching reading through a combination of student-selected independent books, book clubs, and whole class novels.
As a teacher who is committed to evolving based on published research, I knew I wanted to learn more about teaching well with independent reading and book club models. Roberts gives practical strategies and models in videos. I learned just what I hoped to learn and feel much more confident about implementing these more effectively in my classroom.
She also supports my own anecdotal research through many years as a high school and middle school teacher, by recognizing the value of analyzing the craft and themes in a challenging text as a team. We can entice students to notice deeper meanings and sophisticated craft moves when we can pose questions and target their focus during partner work. Reporting what they uncover to the whole class boosts confidence and prompts even deeper thinking yet. My students then applied the skills they learned in book clubs, and it was exciting to watch their deep analysis unfold with this guided practice.
If only leaders knew what we really do with full texts in the classroom these days—it’s not a dragged-out worksheet like it may have been for them in the past. Roberts coaches us to use full-length texts to teach valuable, transferable skills and strategies, showing us how to limit time spent to make sure students also have time to read what they choose.
This book was just the validation I craved at just the right time to save my soul. Even though I’m not permitted at this point to use what I have learned, I know I’m not wrong. I am so grateful that such an honored professional spoke up and shared her expertise. I hope some day I am able to implement every bit I learned from this book.
Thank you, Kate Roberts!
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