Do They Want to Read? An Essential Lens for Teaching Readers

Part 2 of 3, Lens 2: Affinity

This is the third installment of the Teaching the Whole Reader series. The introduction is here, and the first lens is here. This is an exclusive series for paid/full subscribers. Thank you for your support!

Do you take notice of what students do in the classroom? Their book choices, their persistence with reading, how they are while reading, and who they talk to when not reading? This information can provide a teacher with as many insights about their students as any screener or test.

Jayne, not content with the results from the traditional assessments, decided to take a different approach to her literacy block. She didn’t want to make wholesale changes. Jayne recognized that the instruction she was providing was getting results. She would use the same approach that guided them to their current level - the Optimal Learning Model - to expand the literacy experience for students in new ways.

First, Jayne focused on the classroom library. Up until this point, she had been the curator and …