The first book I came across was The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller (2011). I read it, and love it! It simply states that students should choose their own books to read, based on their interests. That will spark a love of reading, and therefore create more proficient readers, also appealing to the data-driven administration by producing high standardized test scores. What was striking about the research within the book and her description of her own experiences, even though a student chooses to consistently read lower text levels than the grade he or she is in, reading levels will still improve, because they are simply reading more. She assigns her students 40 books a year, which is far more than the "novel a quarter" or "novel a month" a teacher might assign for the whole class. She sites Fountas and Pinnell books regarding Guided Reading, which was the first reading program I implemented as a teacher. I enjoyed it as a first year teacher, and was disappointed when the school changed to another basal-type of program the next year.
This books has sparked something new in my career: research the subject of reading. Before, it was teacher morale, and that is still very present in my mind, but I have researched a lot about that, and now it is time to go down another path. I am also taking professional development courses through the state of Alabama in order to keep my teaching certificate, so those topics will also be posted in this blog as time goes on, but at the same time, I plan to write a literature review paper about reading.