In Reading Essentials chapter 6 Routman offers some great tips and advice centered around classroom libraries. As a new teacher I think this will be one of the most difficult tasks I have since I will be starting from scratch. I have seen in both my main and dyad placement some great ideas for building a library. The first of these ideas is giving extra credit for students who donate library books to the classroom library. I love this idea, obviously the point value for extra credit would be small, I think my teacher did something along the lines of 5 books =1 point. This is a great way to get students to donate their old books, and depending on the area I teach at, families may be wanting to get rid of their old books since they are constantly buying new ones through the classroom book orders. I also like this idea since the students who donate the books could give a brief book talk on the book, or possibly write a little summary about the book to get students excited to read.
In my main placement my teacher has an extensive library of books but the way that it is set up isn't as accessible as I would like to make my library. She has the books in bins separated out by their series or category. She also has some books the shelves in the back of the library, but she has so many that they are double stacked, so students do not get to see the whole library of books. In addition, Routman suggests giving a few comfortable seats for students to sit in and read such as bean bag chairs, or even large pillows. Also possible designating a reading corner in the room where students can go for silent reading. I love these ideas! My master teacher does not have any space in her classroom for these things, which is disappointing since I think that students would really enjoy having a reading area, and it would make reading all the more enjoyable for them.
While my master teacher's library is extensive the way it is organized limits the possibilities that students have in choosing a book. I believe this is the biggest limitation to her library. Also she does not have an area where students can relax with their book and read. This is another limitation to the set up of the classroom. I think that the organization of her library works for my master teacher, but for me I would have a different way to organize my books.
Routman also discusses having fiction and non-fiction books present in the library. I have found that students really enjoy reading non-fiction books. I have not seen very many non-fiction books present in both my dyad and master teacher libraries. I feel that non-fiction books can be overlooked. Once I begin my own library I will make sure to keep in mind how important this genre is in a classroom and I hope to have a large section dedicated to non-fiction.
Since I have yet to create my own classroom library another idea that Routman gave in the chapter was to use rain gutters as book display space. I think this is a great inexpensive way to display the books in the room! I am a very visual person and when I am book hunting I always tend to choose the books that are on display as the ones to look at first, I think it is important to have a place where students can display their favorite books or possibly the top ten books that the teacher chooses that students can look at and read. I think this is a great way to gain interest in reading.
This summer I plan on beginning to build a classroom library so that once I have my own classroom I will not be starting from scratch. I see many trips to half price books and goodwill in my future. I believe that having an extensive classroom library is one of the most powerful things I can offer my students and I hope with the help of my family, friends, and my future student's parents I can build a vast library filled with many books of many different categories and genres.
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I also wrote about the importance of classroom libraries on my blog, Making A Difference. I think one of the most important things in a classroom is the library. Although in order to provide such an amazing library it costs money. I have started slowly collecting books off of ebay. Sometimes you can even get a whole series for super cheap.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, in one of your postings you talked about modeling reading in the classroom. Although I think modeling for your students is a fabulous idea, I don't always see where you can fit it in. Schedules are so busy as it is, my teacher uses the students reading time to get caught up on the attendance, lunch check-in, etc.