It's summer, and I am excited to join my fellow Literacy Land friends as we journey into the book Reading Wellness by Jan Miller Burkins and Kim Yaris. I have seen that many of us have also been reading Who's Doing the Work? which is the book they wrote after this one. As a team, we will work to introduce you to this amazing book and help you and your students have "Reading Wellness"!
One of the buzz words we hear so much in reading is "student choice". Many schools have adopted this and taken it to new levels, but how do we get our students there? Many of our reluctant readers don't know how to choose their own books, much less use them as learning tools in any capacity. We have to get them there and keep them there. Reading Wellness does just that with simple lessons that are applicable across all grade levels and subjects.
The authors believe we need to be teaching students intentionally, so they are learning intentionally. Throughout the book, they use the following four intentions to show how we should be teaching, so students will continue as lifelong learners.
Intention 1: Alignment with our inner teacher
When we became teachers, we set out on a path that we chose. Each year we grow as teachers through professional development, reading books, and reflection. Each day, we check that we are aligning our instruction with our curriculum, but are we aligning it with our inner teacher? Are we helping our students become lifelong learners, just as we are? Each lesson helps us evaluate our beliefs and align our teaching with our own teaching beliefs.
Intention 2: Balance
We are given a curriculum to teach, yet we know what is best for helping our students become lifelong learners. As teachers, we have to balance our expectations of others and our expectations of ourselves to have perfect alignment. And even though we believe something to be true about teaching, we have to make sure it is good for us and our students. Then we have balance.
Intention 3: Sustainability
Though we only have a certain amount of time in the day, our lessons should be sustainable, teaching processes, strategies, or routines that will enhance other learning opportunities. Each lesson should help students grow as lifelong learners and not simply have an immediate end. We want our students to dig deeper into their learning as they grow as learners each and every day.
Intention 4: Joy
Yes, joy! This is my favorite because I feel this should be what makes lifelong learners. Joy doesn't necessarily mean that your students LOVE everything they are doing and have a smile on their faces. {Wouldn't that be nice?} It simply means to those moments when you and your students are engaged in work that matters to you and aids in making those lifelong learning habits become more solidified.
Throughout the book and this study, we will refer to the intentions and how they are affected by each lesson. With these in place, we can have classrooms full of lifelong learners ~ those students who strive to learn even when they don't love the content!
Join us by clicking on this post as we check out Reading Wellness! While reading the books and our posts, feel free to ask us questions. At the conclusion of the study, we will take a day to answer your questions to the best of our abilities. We look forward to sharing Reading Wellness with each of you!
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