Thoughts before beginning this book study...

The reason I wanted to do this book study is because I am always looking for ways to motivate my students to read, not simply to teach them how to read for a test.  Over the years I have been in education, I have watched reading instruction take a disturbing turn.  Instead of the focus being to create readers, the focus has shifted to a world of leveling and small group instruction and more leveling.  In elementary school classrooms, some teachers go so far as to take a book from a child because it is the wrong "level" for them to read.  I've been around long enough to know that new ideas and best practices come and go in education.  My fear is that, before this educational trend is replaced with something else, we are watching students walk out our classroom doors who will not become readers because they have been given the wrong impression about what reading really is all about.  If we, instead, focus on building a love for reading from the first day of Kindergarten and foster that throughout each year, the assessments will almost take care of themselves.  At that point, assessment instruction can be focused on test-taking strategy, not reading endurance.  My goal for participating in this book study is to get some new ideas that make sense for creating READERS.