A Developmentally Appropriate Approach: Awakening the Inner Reader

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. Donalyn Miller, a sixth grade language arts/social studies teacher in Texas, provides a student-centered teaching plan to kindle reading. Unlike other teachers, who teach whole-class novels (i.e. the entire class reads the same novel), Miller argues that for reading to become internally motivated, students must have free reign over which books they read. Students are encouraged to read different genres, and class-time is allotted for kids to read. Optimally, the goal for each student is to read, at minimum, forty books per school year. 

What I love about Miller's approach is that she doesn't make excuses. The potential exists for the inner reader to be awakened in every child. All that is needed is for someone - a parent, librarian, or teacher - to spend time with the child, and show that reading is important. Choice is important here. Students shouldn't be forced to read what the teacher demands. A love of literature will come later. All that is important in the beginning is awakening a love of reading. Once that reader button is primed, books will remain a central part of life.

Both Miller and Lesesne argue that reading-rewards programs kill students’ internal desire to read. This is, of course, not new; psychological theories have proved this time and time again. What I don't understand, however, is how few teachers really grasp this concept. I'm reminded that my brother's grade two teacher used a rewards program. My brother read the most books in class that year. However, they were externally (not internally) motivated. When the external motivation was later removed, he didn't read as heavily as before. 

I’ll admit that initially I was quite skeptical of endorsing free voluntary reading.  Shouldn’t teachers and librarians encourage kids to expand their horizons, and push them to read classic fare? How can we engage culturally with others, if we haven't read the same texts? After reading numerous books on implanting a love for reading, my thoughts have considerably altered. Researchers including Teri Lesesne, Donalyn Miller, Stephen Krashen and Edward Sullivan show that it’s acceptable, even superior, to let kids choose their own reading material. Mandating that kids read certain texts before they are developmentally ready is poor policy, and is most often responsible for leading kids down the path of alliteracy. After all, if the majority of student reading is limited to teacher-chosen texts, most will leave class unmotivated to read on their own. A persuasive article on the damage caused by foisting classics on students before they are developmentally ready (“Killing Mockingbird), can be found at Miller’s “Book Whisperer” blog: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2007/11/.