麻豆传媒入口

Like other upper elementary educators, I鈥檓 always thinking about ways to help my students succeed as readers. When it comes to reading, we often hear terms like comprehension, summarizing, background knowledge, and vocabulary. But I want students to experience the joys, not just the techniques, of literacy. 

I鈥檝e been fortunate to participate in a reading fellowship at the , where my mentor and I sat down to create a yearlong goal; mine was an inquiry: 鈥淭his year,鈥� I wrote, 鈥淚 will create content structured for high-level learning so that students will deepen their thought process about the stories and characters they read as demonstrated in their reader鈥檚 notebooks and conversations.鈥�

To the naked eye, a reader鈥檚 notebook is an ordinary spiral-bound notebook. However, over the course of a school year in my classroom, the notebook takes on its own identity. It becomes a space for students to reflect on what they are reading, and when students look back over their entries, they witness their growth as readers. 

The notebooks allow me, as a teacher, to take a genuine look at what reading strategies students absorb and what books they鈥檙e interested in. Here鈥檚 how to make the reader鈥檚 notebook meaningful in your classroom.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls 

In their book , Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser share that when they asked students why they thought the reader鈥檚 notebook was important, students answered with remarks like 鈥淭o show the teacher I did my work.鈥� 

At the beginning of the year, I occasionally meet students with a similar mindset. Instead of thinking deeply about reading, a student may be stuck in 鈥渁ll done鈥� mode, meaning they鈥檝e read silently, and that鈥檚 all they鈥檙e going to do. 

Sometimes reader鈥檚 notebooks become places to glue dittos (duplicated worksheets); these may look educational but don鈥檛 promote deep connections with texts. The goal of my reader鈥檚 notebooks is to create spaces where students can express themselves instead of merely filling out worksheets. 

At times, teachers assign specific days for students to use notebooks, but I prefer to have a more fluid approach. During independent reading times, I place the notebooks next to my students. Some write reflections when they have an emotional reaction. It鈥檚 common for me to read, 鈥淚 was shocked when鈥︹�� or 鈥淚 think鈥︹�� Reading this language helps me see what they connect to. When the students go about it this way, the notebook is woven into the fabric of reading time and fosters more meaningful engagement.

Launching The Notebook

To implement the reader鈥檚 notebook, decide in advance when you鈥檒l want students to use it. For example, it鈥檚 important to me that my students write about books they鈥檙e going to discuss with partners, so I have the students get them out from their bins in advance of that work. 

Similar to a writer鈥檚 notebook, the reader鈥檚 notebook has to become a special space. To make each notebook warm and inviting, encourage your students to decorate their covers (my class had a sticker session). 

Then, to give students more experience with the notebook, model specific reading and note-taking strategies during interactive read-alouds or groups. For example, at the end of an interactive read-aloud, I may say, 鈥淪top and jot. What鈥檚 the author鈥檚 message?鈥� Because students have practiced using the strategy during an interactive read-aloud, they can use it independently in their notebooks. Another strategy that I like to teach involves asking students what advice they may have for the main character of a story. This always helps my students think deeply about the character.

It鈥檚 important to remember that writing looks different for everyone. We should celebrate students鈥� thoughts about the stories they read. I frequently say to my students, 鈥淲hich entry are you proud of this week?鈥� They choose, and I hang the passage on the wall of my classroom. While drafting, revising, editing, and publishing work hold a value in the writing process, the reader鈥檚 notebook isn鈥檛 a book report; it allows us to celebrate the journey instead of the end result.

Scaffolding and Assessment

Many teachers are familiar with the use of sentence starters鈥攗sing phrases as prompts for reflection. My opinion on them is mixed. I want meaningful reflection that comes from the hearts and minds of young readers. If a student feels successful reflecting with a meaningful sentence starter like 鈥淚 predict鈥︹�� or 鈥淚 wonder鈥�,鈥� then I view the sentence starter as scaffolding. However, I want my students to make intrinsically motivated choices about which strategies they use, so I don鈥檛 assign particular sentence starters, instead allowing students to pick which ones resonate; as my students grow as readers, their thought processes around these scaffolds develop as well. 

While a running record of student reflections may show me how the student answered questions about a passage of text, the reader鈥檚 notebook also shows me what specific reading strategies they can independently use. This type of documentation allows me to use the notebooks as a form of meaningful assessment.

Reader鈥檚 notebooks help me reflect on ways I can adjust my instruction. And they help me build more choice into reading curricula, since I get a sense of what resonates with my students. Reading is about planting seeds of knowledge. Reflecting in reader鈥檚 notebooks is an opportunity to watch those seeds grow.