Why I share what I'm reading with my students?


Why, you may ask, do I post what I'm reading on my classroom door?  Why do I make the point of updating as I finish a book?  Why do I print off the covers in color and leave them there for students to see?
Because last hour I explained the plot of Ivanhoe to my class, and they commented, "That sounds cool.  Can I read that book?"  Because my students who love the graphic novel Bone now know I do too, and we get to talk about it.  Because students reading a graphic novel version of Jane Eyre noticed I was reading "the long version".  They didn't realize it was written a long time ago.  They thought it was just a graphic novel written for Read 180.  Because one of my girl students obsessed with romance and Twilight learned about Elizabeth Gaskell and the Victorian novel North and South when I explained that it was a love story.  Because I want my students to know when I say I love reading, I actually do.
The one problem I have had with this is I have to be careful what I'm reading.  Not that I read anything inappropriate, but sometimes words change their meanings.  So, though I bought Gaskell's novel Sylvia's Lovers back in August, I may wait until next summer to read it.  

Comments