Tips on how to create readers

Title of Article: Creating readers

Publisher: Teacher Magazine

Date of Publication: Sept 5, 2007, part I and Sept 13, 2007, part 2

Link: http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2007/09/05/06millermentor1.h18.html

Author: Teacher Magazine interviewing Donalyn Miller

Summary of article: The article is an interview with Donalyn Miller, a 6^th grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher.

Her students at Trinity Meadow Intermediate School in Keller, Texas, read between 50 and 60 books a year and last year, one of her students read 300 books. According to the article, Donalyn Miller has built an extensive library, which has more than 2,000 titles and extends beyond her classroom into a storage closet across the hall.

The interview is aimed at providing tips for teachers and parents on motivating reluctant readers, encouraging parent involvement and providing techniques for having students in and outside class. Teacher’s magazine points out that the methods used produced outstanding results in terms of motivating youngsters to read and testing results. Last years her students received a 100 percent passing rate on the reading portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. There are many techniques and methods that Donaly Miller uses with her students to help them be better readers or simply to get them to read independently. Here are some of them.

The teacher gives her middle school students choices in what they read. She reads extensively the literature for children and she is able to recommend and provide lots of books, in different genres. When a student finishes a book, then the teacher makes a big deal out of it and the whole class listens to a brief recommendation from that student.

As to reluctant readers, Donalyn Miller suggests that teachers should try to ask the child about movies he/she saw. ‘There have been a flood of movies made from children's books in the past few years. I can often suggest a book based on a movie that a student has already seen’ says Donalyn Miller. When a student saw a movie it would be easier for him to accept to read a book that inspired a good movie. The child will increase his comprehension skills and will get him into reading.

Another way to have students into reading is by incorporating a podcast for children. This is an effective means of having students read and listen to books when they say that reading is boring or too hard. Also, magazines with sports heroes would be a low-risk way to get reluctant students to find reading pleasurable. Reading sports heroes or different non fiction magazines give the students greater freedom to pick and choose articles according to their interests.

The parents play an important role in this process. Educating parents on how to help their children read more is strongly recommended by Donalyn Miller. She says that teachers could set up workshops in school for parents who want to help their children enjoy reading more. Workshops like that will impress upon the parents the importance of their role in helping their children.

The article is extremely relevant in the context of motivating youngsters to read by using different techniques. Technology can play a powerful role in helping to facilitate learning and reading for those reluctant readers or low level readers. We all know that many middle school students are reluctant to read or begin reading but don’t finish their books. I really think that using technology in class effectively is a plus for the students who like to use computers and any gadgets. Why not use these tools to have students learn since they are familiar with them? Using podcasts in classroom but also at home might help the struggling readers to get into the habit of reading and comprehending. Websites like www.audible.com provide books for both download and listen and can really be a powerful way to bridge the actual gap between how students can learn and how they live.