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Creativity in the Classroom

The responsibility of ensuring the development and promotion of creativity in the classroom lies firmly in the teachers hands, and this is an aspect of education that must not be ignored. Rather than teaching students how to ‘borrow’ information from open sources, the teacher should encourage students to own ideas that are created within their own head. The whole point of education and motivation in the classroom is to enable a child to think for herself with the pool of knowledge at her disposal, rather than a mechanical feeding down of unnecessary and irrelevant information.

Encouraging creativity in the classroom is a skill not all teachers possess, and only the ones who have this trait are the ones who are fondly remembered by the students in the future. Moreover, teachers who actively do this are the ones who prepare their students for future success in the best possible manner. Teachers have to set examples for their students, so creativity in the classroom is something that must emanate from the teacher herself at the very beginning.

The Importance of Creativity
Classrooms are supposed to be fun learning centers, where the most important quality required is freedom of expression. By encouraging creativity in the classroom, a teacher is ensuring that the student has the ability to analyze a problem and think for herself, and is not swayed by orthodox and conventional rules. By promoting free speech, the students are more capable of expressing their thoughts and views regarding any anomalies. Read more on creative thinking.

This will ultimately prove fruitful in the child’s life, as they will use the concept of free thought and speech to take steps into areas they never dreamed of visiting before. If a child is encouraged to be creative from a young age, she will carry this quality with her all her life, and this quality will enable her to succeed in the ruthless corporate world as and when she is ready to step into it.

Promoting Creativity in the Classroom
So, how exactly does one go about promoting and developing cooperative learning in the classroom? It all depends on the mindset and the principles of the teacher, and the techniques that she is willing to apply to achieve this purpose. Here are some ways of promoting creativity in the classroom that can be adapted for each teacher and each classroom.

Encourage owning and creating ideas, and discourage borrowing and stealing answers. The idea is to teach children the importance of assembling their own thoughts and ideas, even if they are imperfect.
Always assign grades with some productive feedback about what to do in order to improve bad grades. Never undermine a child for lack of effort, because if she is getting bad grades it is solely your fault and responsibility.
Instead of demonstrating something to the children, have them practice it individually. A child will never learn the right way of doing something without doing it the wrong way first.
When a problem arises, it should be defined and analyzed before a structured solution is offered for it. This is a far better way of doing things than simply explaining an example. Read more on problem solving.
Discourage conformity and challenge the child to think for herself. Do not praise neatness and tidiness too much as this restricts the child from truly expressing herself.
Instead of making suggestions yourself, ask open questions. Let the flow of the interaction determine the course of action to be taken. You will be amazed at how often the end results of this process coincides with the very suggestions you had in mind.
Lastly, teach the child to follow their own minds rather than copying the answers from other places. Originality and uniqueness is far more valuable than a blatant duplicate of someone else’s work.
There are plenty of exercises and techniques that lay down the procedures one should adhere to in order to develop creativity in the classroom. These tools can be found in books, over the Internet or it can simply be acquired by experience.

Also see the following:
Importance of Education
Why do We Need Education
Society’s Influence on Education
A teacher is merely a facilitator for the children, and this role must be understood in its entirety. All the children are masterpieces in their own special ways, and the best qualities in them can only be honed if, there is enough creativity in the classroom, and only if, freedom of thought and speech are encouraged and rewarded with a compliment.

Tags: Classroom, Creativity

Teaching Reading in the Classroom

Teaching reading is a challenging career. For educators from elementary all the way through the high school level, there are always difficult situations to face for those that are teaching reading. Reading is different from many other subject areas because it is not quite as intuitive. Unlike math, where a child can see that one apple plus one apple makes two apples, learning to read requires more effort initially. Teaching strategies for reading must be methodical and orderly. This is why great reading teachers are so important.

For those teaching reading – any kind of reading class: elementary through high school – it is important to have a solid foundation for teaching reading strategies. One resource that can help with this effort is a Teaching Reading Strategies class. This kind of class should cover various different strategies to understand how to approach fiction and non-fiction, narratives, and international texts. Another area to cover when teaching strategies for reading might be to emphasize strategies students can employ before they begin reading a piece, as well as during and after. Learning before, during, and after strategies can help with content retention and help students become more efficient readers. When a student knows how to get the most out of a piece of literature, he or she will likely enjoy reading more (and maybe be encouraged to read outside the classroom as well!).

Another method that might be covered while learning teaching strategies for reading is reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching is essentially a dialogue between the students and the teacher. The role of teacher alternates between the students and the teacher as they each pose questions to summarize, clarify, and make predictions about the text. This kind of exercise is a great way to deep-dive into a piece of literature while keeping class interactive. Reflective strategies may also be covered in a teaching reading strategies course. These strategies fall upon the teacher – he or she must analyze his or her efforts for teaching reading. Recognizing which teaching models are working and which are not is key to benefiting the students.

In addition to teaching reading, reading teachers must also help their students develop effective writing strategies to analyze the texts they have read. Writing is often neglected in reading classes; both teachers and students may push this priority to the side in favor of focusing on reading only. However, it is critical to understand the importance of effective writing so that students can eloquently state what they have read about. In order to fully appreciate good writing, students must also learn to write well.

Lastly, a comprehensive teaching reading strategies class should examine some of the current research with respect to teaching reading so that teachers can learn the most effective strategies when it comes to teaching reading. There are many different approaches to teaching reading, and it is helpful to explore them all when trying to develop your own curriculum. A class for teaching reading strategies will cover ways to integrate these strategies into your lesson plans and give good skills for application in the classroom.

Tags: Classroom, Reading, Teaching

Classroom Management Tips For Elementary School Teachers

Has your classroom environment turned from serene and peaceful to jungle fever? Are you out of control and at the end of your rope? All teachers find themselves out of control and unsure what to do next from time to time, even those who have been teaching for dozens of years. This can happen at any grade level, including the elementary classroom environment. Managing the elementary classroom can be daunting, and requires tons of energy and mounds of patience – not to mention better-than-average organizational skills. The classroom that is organized and filled with students who listen to and respect their teacher is a classroom that can almost run itself. Getting there (to this well-managed utopia) is an uphill journey that definitely has its rewards. Let’s look at the fundamentals of elementary classroom management.

Getting Organized

Organization is the number one key to a classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine. Files, forms and supplies are easier to find when labeled, and you definitely want a system that allows you to identify and locate records for your students, forms and more. By day one’s end, you should have a chart for seating that will allow you to identify your students easily. Having your lesson plans done up well in advance will allow you to plan each day more effectively. Keeping a calendar on your desk (the big kind with lots of room for writing) will keep you on task. Invest in some hanging files for your drawers, and keep a folder for everything. Some teachers have a plastic storage tote for each “unit” that they work on, and everything goes back into the labeled tote at the unit’s end, ready for next year. Find ways to get your “stuff” and your students organized and you’ll be on your way towards a classroom that you’re in control of.

Establishing Policies and Rules

What is a world without rules? Every “society”, including your classroom, must have an established set of policies and rules to go by. Absent all rules, chaos and disorder will ensue. Make sure that you establish your classroom rules and policies from the beginning of the academic year and follow through with them. Don’t get too complex, especially for younger kids, but have a few (less than five for grades three and lower) and as many as ten (for grades four and up) rules that are easy to understand and remember. Just because you have understandable rules, however, does not mean that all students will actually understand them. Begin your school year with an orientation session for the rules, and make sure that everyone does in fact know what you mean. You might even consider a short “quiz” to confirm that they know the rules. But more important than having rules in place is showing your students that you mean business. For example, explain to them that you expect them to respect you and each other, that they must complete their homework assignments, bring their library books back to school, etc., and when they do not, make sure that a fitting punishment is administered immediately and consistently. Also be sure to praise and reward students when they follow the rules consistently.

The chore of managing the elementary classroom can certainly be stressful, but with organization of yourself, your “stuff” and your students, and by abiding by set-in-stone classroom rules, it can be done much easier!

Tags: Classroom, Elementary, Management, School, Teachers, Tips

Classroom Management Tips For Elementary School Teachers

Has your classroom environment turned from serene and peaceful to jungle fever? Are you out of control and at the end of your rope? All teachers find themselves out of control and unsure what to do next from time to time, even those who have been teaching for dozens of years. This can happen at any grade level, including the elementary classroom environment. Managing the elementary classroom can be daunting, and requires tons of energy and mounds of patience – not to mention better-than-average organizational skills. The classroom that is organized and filled with students who listen to and respect their teacher is a classroom that can almost run itself. Getting there (to this well-managed utopia) is an uphill journey that definitely has its rewards. Let’s look at the fundamentals of elementary classroom management.

Getting Organized

Organization is the number one key to a classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine. Files, forms and supplies are easier to find when labeled, and you definitely want a system that allows you to identify and locate records for your students, forms and more. By day one’s end, you should have a chart for seating that will allow you to identify your students easily. Having your lesson plans done up well in advance will allow you to plan each day more effectively. Keeping a calendar on your desk (the big kind with lots of room for writing) will keep you on task. Invest in some hanging files for your drawers, and keep a folder for everything. Some teachers have a plastic storage tote for each “unit” that they work on, and everything goes back into the labeled tote at the unit’s end, ready for next year. Find ways to get your “stuff” and your students organized and you’ll be on your way towards a classroom that you’re in control of.

Establishing Policies and Rules

What is a world without rules? Every “society”, including your classroom, must have an established set of policies and rules to go by. Absent all rules, chaos and disorder will ensue. Make sure that you establish your classroom rules and policies from the beginning of the academic year and follow through with them. Don’t get too complex, especially for younger kids, but have a few (less than five for grades three and lower) and as many as ten (for grades four and up) rules that are easy to understand and remember. Just because you have understandable rules, however, does not mean that all students will actually understand them. Begin your school year with an orientation session for the rules, and make sure that everyone does in fact know what you mean. You might even consider a short “quiz” to confirm that they know the rules. But more important than having rules in place is showing your students that you mean business. For example, explain to them that you expect them to respect you and each other, that they must complete their homework assignments, bring their library books back to school, etc., and when they do not, make sure that a fitting punishment is administered immediately and consistently. Also be sure to praise and reward students when they follow the rules consistently.

The chore of managing the elementary classroom can certainly be stressful, but with organization of yourself, your “stuff” and your students, and by abiding by set-in-stone classroom rules, it can be done much easier!

Tags: Classroom, Elementary, Management, School, Teachers, Tips

Can You Return to the Classroom?

Teaching is one of those jobs that never goes out of style. Technology careers change, retail jobs diminish as more and more stores go digital, but the classroom will always need a teacher in it. If you left a teaching career to pursue something else, but are now ready to re-enter the classroom, here are some tips you can use to get your foot back in the door.

One of the first things you may need to do, depending on how long you have been out of the classroom, is update your skills. If you have been out for a long time, technology has changed. You need to learn what is in the new classroom so you will be able to utilize the technology available to you. You can, perhaps, work as a para professional for a year or become a substitute in your district of choice. This will help you get a feel for the district and get to know some people who can help you get a full time job.

You also need to make sure your certification is up to date. If you have let it expire, contact the department of education in your area to find out what you need to do to renew it. This might involve paying a fee or taking a test. Do this early, because many states have a backlog of paperwork, so it may take a while to get your certificate, and almost all jobs for teachers require a certificate.

One of the things to watch for as you re-enter the teaching field is a change in pedagogy. What you taught years ago may not be the popular way to teach things now. This may be difficult for you to handle, especially if you had a lot of success with the old methodology. Some schools welcome a variety of teaching styles, but some require you to stick close to the curriculum. Learn about pedagogy changes by looking over new curriculum.

There are teacher training classes you can take called returners courses. These will re teach you the skills you need to know before you can successfully re enter the classroom. Look for one of these classes offered at a reputable location or from a well known online program.

Also, searching the Internet can be extremely useful in helping you retrieve information about your teaching status. The Internet can provide resources for you to share your experiences with others as well as introduce you to a new network of teachers who might be in similar situations as you. It might be helpful to search social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to help you find other people who can talk to you and guide you through the reinstatement process.

With the proper research and training, re-entering the classroom can be a smooth transition for the teacher who has taken an extended leave. If you are ready to start teaching again, get the information you need, and start sending in your resume. Soon you will be back in the classroom guiding young minds to learn great things.

Tags: Classroom, Return

Can You Return to the Classroom?

Teaching is one of those jobs that never goes out of style. Technology careers change, retail jobs diminish as more and more stores go digital, but the classroom will always need a teacher in it. If you left a teaching career to pursue something else, but are now ready to re-enter the classroom, here are some tips you can use to get your foot back in the door.

One of the first things you may need to do, depending on how long you have been out of the classroom, is update your skills. If you have been out for a long time, technology has changed. You need to learn what is in the new classroom so you will be able to utilize the technology available to you. You can, perhaps, work as a para professional for a year or become a substitute in your district of choice. This will help you get a feel for the district and get to know some people who can help you get a full time job.

You also need to make sure your certification is up to date. If you have let it expire, contact the department of education in your area to find out what you need to do to renew it. This might involve paying a fee or taking a test. Do this early, because many states have a backlog of paperwork, so it may take a while to get your certificate, and almost all jobs for teachers require a certificate.

One of the things to watch for as you re-enter the teaching field is a change in pedagogy. What you taught years ago may not be the popular way to teach things now. This may be difficult for you to handle, especially if you had a lot of success with the old methodology. Some schools welcome a variety of teaching styles, but some require you to stick close to the curriculum. Learn about pedagogy changes by looking over new curriculum.

There are teacher training classes you can take called returners courses. These will re teach you the skills you need to know before you can successfully re enter the classroom. Look for one of these classes offered at a reputable location or from a well known online program.

Also, searching the Internet can be extremely useful in helping you retrieve information about your teaching status. The Internet can provide resources for you to share your experiences with others as well as introduce you to a new network of teachers who might be in similar situations as you. It might be helpful to search social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to help you find other people who can talk to you and guide you through the reinstatement process.

With the proper research and training, re-entering the classroom can be a smooth transition for the teacher who has taken an extended leave. If you are ready to start teaching again, get the information you need, and start sending in your resume. Soon you will be back in the classroom guiding young minds to learn great things.

Tags: Classroom, Return

Can You Return to the Classroom?

Teaching is one of those jobs that never goes out of style. Technology careers change, retail jobs diminish as more and more stores go digital, but the classroom will always need a teacher in it. If you left a teaching career to pursue something else, but are now ready to re-enter the classroom, here are some tips you can use to get your foot back in the door.

One of the first things you may need to do, depending on how long you have been out of the classroom, is update your skills. If you have been out for a long time, technology has changed. You need to learn what is in the new classroom so you will be able to utilize the technology available to you. You can, perhaps, work as a para professional for a year or become a substitute in your district of choice. This will help you get a feel for the district and get to know some people who can help you get a full time job.

You also need to make sure your certification is up to date. If you have let it expire, contact the department of education in your area to find out what you need to do to renew it. This might involve paying a fee or taking a test. Do this early, because many states have a backlog of paperwork, so it may take a while to get your certificate, and almost all jobs for teachers require a certificate.

One of the things to watch for as you re-enter the teaching field is a change in pedagogy. What you taught years ago may not be the popular way to teach things now. This may be difficult for you to handle, especially if you had a lot of success with the old methodology. Some schools welcome a variety of teaching styles, but some require you to stick close to the curriculum. Learn about pedagogy changes by looking over new curriculum.

There are teacher training classes you can take called returners courses. These will re teach you the skills you need to know before you can successfully re enter the classroom. Look for one of these classes offered at a reputable location or from a well known online program.

Also, searching the Internet can be extremely useful in helping you retrieve information about your teaching status. The Internet can provide resources for you to share your experiences with others as well as introduce you to a new network of teachers who might be in similar situations as you. It might be helpful to search social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to help you find other people who can talk to you and guide you through the reinstatement process.

With the proper research and training, re-entering the classroom can be a smooth transition for the teacher who has taken an extended leave. If you are ready to start teaching again, get the information you need, and start sending in your resume. Soon you will be back in the classroom guiding young minds to learn great things.

Tags: Classroom, Return

Create An Inviting Classroom Library

When I support a school district with improving reading and motivating middle school students to read, I always interview dozens of students from each grade during my first two visits. I find that middle school students are candid, and these interviews often spotlight students’ needs and provide me with the data I need to work with administrators and teachers.

David (pseudonym) was the first seventh grader I interviewed on my first day at his school. When I asked him how I could help improve his reading, he blurted: “Give me words. Oh, yeah,” David added, “and stuff I can read.” Indeed, when I reviewed David’s standardized testing and the Independent Reading Inventories teachers had administered in the past, David and too many other students at this school had weak vocabularies and were so far behind their grade level that they weren’t able to read the grade level anthology in language arts classes and the textbooks in science and social studies.

Outside of school David read “some comics,” but not books or magazines. “Man, I don’t touch those,” he told me.

The language arts classrooms in David’s school had no libraries. Moreover, the school’s library was inadequate and manned by parent volunteers who were not there all the time and who lacked the training and authority to order books and magazines. Readers like David, who needed access to books to practice reading to enlarge their vocabularies and background knowledge, lost reading ground each year. The first initiative teachers, parents, and administrators rallied around was to raise money for rich and varied classrooms libraries. I helped them understand that immediate access to books, magazines, and graphic novels at a wide range of reading levels in a classroom library would enable students to choose books that interested them, books they could connect to and enjoy (Cunningham & Allington, 2003). Immediate access to materials they could and wanted to read would provide the practice reading students needed to become better readers.

It’s wrong to assume that books and other reading materials are available to all children in the United States. Moreover, differences in access to books cause gaps in reading achievement. Now let’s explore ways to make the classroom library not an “add on” to curriculum or a luxury item for independent reading but an embedded literacy strategy, one that promotes independent reading.

Inspire Students to Read With Your Classroom Library

With schools using government approved basal anthologies – one grade level text for all – those learners who need the most reading practice to improve don’t have easy access to books. Like Richard Allington, I believe that readers who struggle need to read as much, if not more than proficient readers. That’s why I believe that if more schools put classroom libraries at the top of their wish lists, they could make it happen and meet the needs of all students.

A library should be one of the first resources schools buy. I want books to be central, and reading them the heart and soul of every middle school classroom. Books should be the first thing that catches students’ attention when they enter a classroom, and they best serve students when they are arranged to “sell” themselves, not unlike how you find them displayed in a good bookstore. I organize and label my books and book shelves by genre because I find that middle school students look first for a favorite genre – and then for a beloved author or one recommended by someone. I separate fiction and nonfiction genres into categories such as realistic fiction, suspense, biography, nature books, and so on. Come up with your own ways of organizing your books that reflect your students’ reading interests. Here are the genres I suggest you collect:

Poetry: this includes fiction written in free verse such as Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes, The Taking of Room 114 by Mel Glenn, Witness by Karen Hesse, and Carver by Marilyn Nelson.

Short Texts: short stories, fairy and folk tales, myths and legends such as Kathleen Krull’s Lives of Extraordinary Women and Lives of the Athletes, Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton, Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard and Dorothy Evslin, and Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes.

Fiction: realistic, historical, letters, diaries, suspense, fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels and comics. Here are a few books my students rate as topnotch: California Blue by David Klass, Crash by Jerry Spinelli, Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, Somewhere in Darkness by Walter Dean Myers. A few all-time favorite authors are Richard Peck, Diana Wynn Jones, Avi, Barbara Cooney, Walter Dean Myers, Gordon Korman, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Nonfiction: informational chapter books and picture books, biography and autobiography, diaries, letters, journals. Black Whiteness: Admiral Bird Alone in the Antarctic by Robert Burleigh, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, Confucius: The Golden Rule, and Lincoln: A Photobiography both by Russell Freeman are titles students repeatedly check out. Beloved nonfiction authors are James Cross Giblin, Russell Freedman.

Suspense, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Series, Graphic Novels, Magazines: In addition to the above categories, I also include a section on horror and suspense, romance and “girlie” books (my students’ name for these), comics, graphic novels, and magazines. Each year students bring comics and magazines for their peers to check out. I always permit students to choose what they enjoy and find interesting. Through book talks by me and their peers, most students branch out from comics to books. That’s why my library contains books by R. L. Stine, Stephen King, Carolyn Cooney, John Bellairs, and Joan Lowry Nixon. Authors of series that are frequently passed from student-to-student are Gordon Korman and Aiden Chambers.

It takes time to build a large and varied classroom library. You can ask your PTA to raise dollars for books, you can apply for grants, and you can order titles from book clubs and use your bonus points to enlarge your library. Make sure that you create appealing displays that shout to students, “Read! Read! Read!”

Keep Book Displays Dynamic
Books in a neat row with spines showing save space, but it’s not an ideal display for book-browsing. Here are some strategies for enticing young readers to pick up a book:

Create clear, colorful labels above each section (mysteries, biographies, etc.).

On each shelf, place two to three books with covers facing outward.

Use your entire classroom. Set up displays on window sills, line some up in the chalk tray of your chalkboard, on an extra table, on your desk, or on the top of bookshelves.

Change displays every five to six weeks and take a few minutes of class time to point out each new crop of books that arrives. Pique students’ interest by sharing the genre, author, cover photo, and if you have time, read the text on the back or inside cover. Advertise books so they invite students to browse and explore genres and authors that are new for them.

When my students write about their personal reading lives, they give high marks to classroom libraries. Christa Doerwaldt notes, “I love having a library in our classroom! It has books at our reading levels, and it is easier to see what books are there than in a big library.” And Alice agrees when she explains that “A library in class really helps me because I have so many books at the tip of my fingers.”

Knowing students’ interests early in the year can empower you to help them select books that will motivate them to continue to read. Also, negotiate a way to keep track of books that have been checked out. Here’s a system that works for me.

Tips for Keeping Track of Library Books

Put your name in each book.

Record each book title in a data base on your computer.

Create a check-out system so students can take books home. I use a notebook where students write their name, the book’s title, the date checked out, and date returned. Students can keep books up to a month.

If a student fails to return a book, I work with that student. Most of the time students return books. However, it’s wise to accept that there will be some books lost each year that you may have to replace.

Have students shelve returned books.

Since most schools have small to no budgets for classroom libraries, you’ll have to be creative to enlarge your collect. Here are some suggestions:

First: Ask parents to donate books they no longer need.
Second: Mine those yard sales and your local good will store.
Third: Ask your parent organization to do some fund raisers to purchase books.
Fourth: Use book clubs and build your library with the bonus points you receive.
Fifth: Visit local business and ask them for contributions to books for classroom libraries.

Make sure that you let your principal know what you plan to do.

Tags: Classroom, Create, Inviting, Library

Create An Inviting Classroom Library

When I support a school district with improving reading and motivating middle school students to read, I always interview dozens of students from each grade during my first two visits. I find that middle school students are candid, and these interviews often spotlight students’ needs and provide me with the data I need to work with administrators and teachers.

David (pseudonym) was the first seventh grader I interviewed on my first day at his school. When I asked him how I could help improve his reading, he blurted: “Give me words. Oh, yeah,” David added, “and stuff I can read.” Indeed, when I reviewed David’s standardized testing and the Independent Reading Inventories teachers had administered in the past, David and too many other students at this school had weak vocabularies and were so far behind their grade level that they weren’t able to read the grade level anthology in language arts classes and the textbooks in science and social studies.

Outside of school David read “some comics,” but not books or magazines. “Man, I don’t touch those,” he told me.

The language arts classrooms in David’s school had no libraries. Moreover, the school’s library was inadequate and manned by parent volunteers who were not there all the time and who lacked the training and authority to order books and magazines. Readers like David, who needed access to books to practice reading to enlarge their vocabularies and background knowledge, lost reading ground each year. The first initiative teachers, parents, and administrators rallied around was to raise money for rich and varied classrooms libraries. I helped them understand that immediate access to books, magazines, and graphic novels at a wide range of reading levels in a classroom library would enable students to choose books that interested them, books they could connect to and enjoy (Cunningham & Allington, 2003). Immediate access to materials they could and wanted to read would provide the practice reading students needed to become better readers.

It’s wrong to assume that books and other reading materials are available to all children in the United States. Moreover, differences in access to books cause gaps in reading achievement. Now let’s explore ways to make the classroom library not an “add on” to curriculum or a luxury item for independent reading but an embedded literacy strategy, one that promotes independent reading.

Inspire Students to Read With Your Classroom Library

With schools using government approved basal anthologies – one grade level text for all – those learners who need the most reading practice to improve don’t have easy access to books. Like Richard Allington, I believe that readers who struggle need to read as much, if not more than proficient readers. That’s why I believe that if more schools put classroom libraries at the top of their wish lists, they could make it happen and meet the needs of all students.

A library should be one of the first resources schools buy. I want books to be central, and reading them the heart and soul of every middle school classroom. Books should be the first thing that catches students’ attention when they enter a classroom, and they best serve students when they are arranged to “sell” themselves, not unlike how you find them displayed in a good bookstore. I organize and label my books and book shelves by genre because I find that middle school students look first for a favorite genre – and then for a beloved author or one recommended by someone. I separate fiction and nonfiction genres into categories such as realistic fiction, suspense, biography, nature books, and so on. Come up with your own ways of organizing your books that reflect your students’ reading interests. Here are the genres I suggest you collect:

Poetry: this includes fiction written in free verse such as Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes, The Taking of Room 114 by Mel Glenn, Witness by Karen Hesse, and Carver by Marilyn Nelson.

Short Texts: short stories, fairy and folk tales, myths and legends such as Kathleen Krull’s Lives of Extraordinary Women and Lives of the Athletes, Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton, Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard and Dorothy Evslin, and Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes.

Fiction: realistic, historical, letters, diaries, suspense, fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels and comics. Here are a few books my students rate as topnotch: California Blue by David Klass, Crash by Jerry Spinelli, Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, Somewhere in Darkness by Walter Dean Myers. A few all-time favorite authors are Richard Peck, Diana Wynn Jones, Avi, Barbara Cooney, Walter Dean Myers, Gordon Korman, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Nonfiction: informational chapter books and picture books, biography and autobiography, diaries, letters, journals. Black Whiteness: Admiral Bird Alone in the Antarctic by Robert Burleigh, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, Confucius: The Golden Rule, and Lincoln: A Photobiography both by Russell Freeman are titles students repeatedly check out. Beloved nonfiction authors are James Cross Giblin, Russell Freedman.

Suspense, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Series, Graphic Novels, Magazines: In addition to the above categories, I also include a section on horror and suspense, romance and “girlie” books (my students’ name for these), comics, graphic novels, and magazines. Each year students bring comics and magazines for their peers to check out. I always permit students to choose what they enjoy and find interesting. Through book talks by me and their peers, most students branch out from comics to books. That’s why my library contains books by R. L. Stine, Stephen King, Carolyn Cooney, John Bellairs, and Joan Lowry Nixon. Authors of series that are frequently passed from student-to-student are Gordon Korman and Aiden Chambers.

It takes time to build a large and varied classroom library. You can ask your PTA to raise dollars for books, you can apply for grants, and you can order titles from book clubs and use your bonus points to enlarge your library. Make sure that you create appealing displays that shout to students, “Read! Read! Read!”

Keep Book Displays Dynamic
Books in a neat row with spines showing save space, but it’s not an ideal display for book-browsing. Here are some strategies for enticing young readers to pick up a book:

Create clear, colorful labels above each section (mysteries, biographies, etc.).

On each shelf, place two to three books with covers facing outward.

Use your entire classroom. Set up displays on window sills, line some up in the chalk tray of your chalkboard, on an extra table, on your desk, or on the top of bookshelves.

Change displays every five to six weeks and take a few minutes of class time to point out each new crop of books that arrives. Pique students’ interest by sharing the genre, author, cover photo, and if you have time, read the text on the back or inside cover. Advertise books so they invite students to browse and explore genres and authors that are new for them.

When my students write about their personal reading lives, they give high marks to classroom libraries. Christa Doerwaldt notes, “I love having a library in our classroom! It has books at our reading levels, and it is easier to see what books are there than in a big library.” And Alice agrees when she explains that “A library in class really helps me because I have so many books at the tip of my fingers.”

Knowing students’ interests early in the year can empower you to help them select books that will motivate them to continue to read. Also, negotiate a way to keep track of books that have been checked out. Here’s a system that works for me.

Tips for Keeping Track of Library Books

Put your name in each book.

Record each book title in a data base on your computer.

Create a check-out system so students can take books home. I use a notebook where students write their name, the book’s title, the date checked out, and date returned. Students can keep books up to a month.

If a student fails to return a book, I work with that student. Most of the time students return books. However, it’s wise to accept that there will be some books lost each year that you may have to replace.

Have students shelve returned books.

Since most schools have small to no budgets for classroom libraries, you’ll have to be creative to enlarge your collect. Here are some suggestions:

First: Ask parents to donate books they no longer need.
Second: Mine those yard sales and your local good will store.
Third: Ask your parent organization to do some fund raisers to purchase books.
Fourth: Use book clubs and build your library with the bonus points you receive.
Fifth: Visit local business and ask them for contributions to books for classroom libraries.

Make sure that you let your principal know what you plan to do.

Tags: Classroom, Create, Inviting, Library

Create An Inviting Classroom Library

When I support a school district with improving reading and motivating middle school students to read, I always interview dozens of students from each grade during my first two visits. I find that middle school students are candid, and these interviews often spotlight students’ needs and provide me with the data I need to work with administrators and teachers.

David (pseudonym) was the first seventh grader I interviewed on my first day at his school. When I asked him how I could help improve his reading, he blurted: “Give me words. Oh, yeah,” David added, “and stuff I can read.” Indeed, when I reviewed David’s standardized testing and the Independent Reading Inventories teachers had administered in the past, David and too many other students at this school had weak vocabularies and were so far behind their grade level that they weren’t able to read the grade level anthology in language arts classes and the textbooks in science and social studies.

Outside of school David read “some comics,” but not books or magazines. “Man, I don’t touch those,” he told me.

The language arts classrooms in David’s school had no libraries. Moreover, the school’s library was inadequate and manned by parent volunteers who were not there all the time and who lacked the training and authority to order books and magazines. Readers like David, who needed access to books to practice reading to enlarge their vocabularies and background knowledge, lost reading ground each year. The first initiative teachers, parents, and administrators rallied around was to raise money for rich and varied classrooms libraries. I helped them understand that immediate access to books, magazines, and graphic novels at a wide range of reading levels in a classroom library would enable students to choose books that interested them, books they could connect to and enjoy (Cunningham & Allington, 2003). Immediate access to materials they could and wanted to read would provide the practice reading students needed to become better readers.

It’s wrong to assume that books and other reading materials are available to all children in the United States. Moreover, differences in access to books cause gaps in reading achievement. Now let’s explore ways to make the classroom library not an “add on” to curriculum or a luxury item for independent reading but an embedded literacy strategy, one that promotes independent reading.

Inspire Students to Read With Your Classroom Library

With schools using government approved basal anthologies – one grade level text for all – those learners who need the most reading practice to improve don’t have easy access to books. Like Richard Allington, I believe that readers who struggle need to read as much, if not more than proficient readers. That’s why I believe that if more schools put classroom libraries at the top of their wish lists, they could make it happen and meet the needs of all students.

A library should be one of the first resources schools buy. I want books to be central, and reading them the heart and soul of every middle school classroom. Books should be the first thing that catches students’ attention when they enter a classroom, and they best serve students when they are arranged to “sell” themselves, not unlike how you find them displayed in a good bookstore. I organize and label my books and book shelves by genre because I find that middle school students look first for a favorite genre – and then for a beloved author or one recommended by someone. I separate fiction and nonfiction genres into categories such as realistic fiction, suspense, biography, nature books, and so on. Come up with your own ways of organizing your books that reflect your students’ reading interests. Here are the genres I suggest you collect:

Poetry: this includes fiction written in free verse such as Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes, The Taking of Room 114 by Mel Glenn, Witness by Karen Hesse, and Carver by Marilyn Nelson.

Short Texts: short stories, fairy and folk tales, myths and legends such as Kathleen Krull’s Lives of Extraordinary Women and Lives of the Athletes, Her Stories by Virginia Hamilton, Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard and Dorothy Evslin, and Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes.

Fiction: realistic, historical, letters, diaries, suspense, fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels and comics. Here are a few books my students rate as topnotch: California Blue by David Klass, Crash by Jerry Spinelli, Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, Somewhere in Darkness by Walter Dean Myers. A few all-time favorite authors are Richard Peck, Diana Wynn Jones, Avi, Barbara Cooney, Walter Dean Myers, Gordon Korman, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Nonfiction: informational chapter books and picture books, biography and autobiography, diaries, letters, journals. Black Whiteness: Admiral Bird Alone in the Antarctic by Robert Burleigh, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, Confucius: The Golden Rule, and Lincoln: A Photobiography both by Russell Freeman are titles students repeatedly check out. Beloved nonfiction authors are James Cross Giblin, Russell Freedman.

Suspense, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Series, Graphic Novels, Magazines: In addition to the above categories, I also include a section on horror and suspense, romance and “girlie” books (my students’ name for these), comics, graphic novels, and magazines. Each year students bring comics and magazines for their peers to check out. I always permit students to choose what they enjoy and find interesting. Through book talks by me and their peers, most students branch out from comics to books. That’s why my library contains books by R. L. Stine, Stephen King, Carolyn Cooney, John Bellairs, and Joan Lowry Nixon. Authors of series that are frequently passed from student-to-student are Gordon Korman and Aiden Chambers.

It takes time to build a large and varied classroom library. You can ask your PTA to raise dollars for books, you can apply for grants, and you can order titles from book clubs and use your bonus points to enlarge your library. Make sure that you create appealing displays that shout to students, “Read! Read! Read!”

Keep Book Displays Dynamic
Books in a neat row with spines showing save space, but it’s not an ideal display for book-browsing. Here are some strategies for enticing young readers to pick up a book:

Create clear, colorful labels above each section (mysteries, biographies, etc.).

On each shelf, place two to three books with covers facing outward.

Use your entire classroom. Set up displays on window sills, line some up in the chalk tray of your chalkboard, on an extra table, on your desk, or on the top of bookshelves.

Change displays every five to six weeks and take a few minutes of class time to point out each new crop of books that arrives. Pique students’ interest by sharing the genre, author, cover photo, and if you have time, read the text on the back or inside cover. Advertise books so they invite students to browse and explore genres and authors that are new for them.

When my students write about their personal reading lives, they give high marks to classroom libraries. Christa Doerwaldt notes, “I love having a library in our classroom! It has books at our reading levels, and it is easier to see what books are there than in a big library.” And Alice agrees when she explains that “A library in class really helps me because I have so many books at the tip of my fingers.”

Knowing students’ interests early in the year can empower you to help them select books that will motivate them to continue to read. Also, negotiate a way to keep track of books that have been checked out. Here’s a system that works for me.

Tips for Keeping Track of Library Books

Put your name in each book.

Record each book title in a data base on your computer.

Create a check-out system so students can take books home. I use a notebook where students write their name, the book’s title, the date checked out, and date returned. Students can keep books up to a month.

If a student fails to return a book, I work with that student. Most of the time students return books. However, it’s wise to accept that there will be some books lost each year that you may have to replace.

Have students shelve returned books.

Since most schools have small to no budgets for classroom libraries, you’ll have to be creative to enlarge your collect. Here are some suggestions:

First: Ask parents to donate books they no longer need.
Second: Mine those yard sales and your local good will store.
Third: Ask your parent organization to do some fund raisers to purchase books.
Fourth: Use book clubs and build your library with the bonus points you receive.
Fifth: Visit local business and ask them for contributions to books for classroom libraries.

Make sure that you let your principal know what you plan to do.

Tags: Classroom, Create, Inviting, Library