The Book Whisperer

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I thought that teaching reading meant whole class novels, book reports, and chapter questions. And although this helped me through my first two years of teaching, it never really satisfied me and always left me witih classroom management issues.

But towards the end of my second year of teaching, a fairy godmother named Donalyn Miller came to my school and granted my wish of understanding what I was really supposed to be teaching - books. I sat through her presentation and really didn't think that how she taught would work for me. Nonetheless, I took her book, The Book Whisperer, and decided to read it. This is when I became a teacher.

Her book is now my teaching bible, and because this time of the school year is so hard - TAKS coming up, teachers unsure of what is to come, and students getting spring fever - I decided to pull it out yesterday and reread.

I'm so glad I did. This book reminds me of why I value our daily silent reading time and why my lessons take the skills good readers must learn yet apply these lessons to their individual choice of novel. The Book Whisperer once again, inspired me to pick up something to read and I finally got into Sapphique the sequel to Incarceron and out of the fiction rut I had fallen into.


I passed along my teaching bible to my knew counterpart for next year, and I can only hope she is half as renewed as I am after beginning to reread this wonderful teaching guide. Donalyn Miller writes an education blog at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1970104.Donalyn_Miller/blog and also writes for http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2010/09.