by Linda B. Gambrell
As a young child, I was very lucky to have a grandmother who was an avid reader and who spent many hours reading aloud to me. Snuggled up on her moss green sofa, we shared many good books. This was pleasure reading at its very best, even though one of my favorite books for these sessions with my grandmother was Compton’s Encyclopedia.
My grandmother was ahead of the times. She realized the importance of reading informational text aloud. Because my grandmother read to me from the encyclopedia about people from faraway lands, inventions and inventors, presidents, and many other informational topics, I sought out the encyclopedia and often spent time looking at the pictures and finding things I wanted her to read aloud to me.
Long before I could read, my grandmother read aloud to me not only from the encyclopedia, but also from the newspaper, magazines, and books that she was reading. I have vivid memories throughout my early childhood of my grandmother reading bits and pieces of books she was reading—particularly when she found a new or unusual word, an interesting description, or a turn of a phrase that she thought was well crafted.
She was a great fan of Mickey Spillane, and I was reading these mystery stories by the time I was a teenager—my grandmother and I had our own Mickey Spillane book club. Even as a young child, I think I realized how lucky I was to have a grandmother who was a reading model, mentor, and motivator.
Throughout my adult life, teachers, friends, and colleagues have played a significant role in my literacy life as models, mentors, and motivators. I always look forward to talking with special friends about good books. Bill Teale and I recently had an interesting conversation about the intriguing ending of The Life of Pi, which I liked and he didn’t much care for! Whenever I see my friend Nina Zolt, I can always depend on her to tell me about her latest “good read,” and she will often pass the book along to me.
Marilyn Burgess, a friend and former high school teacher, and I discussed The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini while sitting on the beach at the Outer Banks earlier this summer. A few days after returning home I received a copy of Hosseini’s new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which Marilyn had sent to me. How fortunate I am to have such wonderful reading models, mentors, and motivators!
How can we, as teachers, serve as effective models, mentors, and motivators for our students? In an article in the June/July 2007 issue of Reading Today, Richard Sterling, executive director of the National Writing Project, identified three important principles that underlie reform in the teaching of writing: 1) Teachers of writing should write themselves; 2) Teachers should use a broad range of techniques in teaching writing; and 3) Teachers should encourage students to write a lot.
As I read these principles, I could not help but think about how important they are to reading, as well as writing. Let me expand on these ideas as I describe the principles of pleasure reading and how they emphasize the importance of the teacher as a reading model, mentor, and motivator.
1. Teachers of reading should read themselves. When teachers read themselves they are better able to serve as active, rather than passive, reading models for their students. Being a reading model for students goes far beyond sitting at a desk reading so that students “see” the teacher reading. Rather, teachers who are active reading models talk with students about books they are reading.
For example, I remember the first time I shared my own reading with my third-grade classroom. I was reading The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, and I read aloud some of the passages about the astronauts and the rigorous training they received to prepare for space flight. My students showed such great interest that I continued to identify appropriate sections of the book to share with them in the days that followed.
Not everything that I read is appropriate for sharing with students, but in most cases I find ideas, passages, vignettes, and interesting vocabulary that are worthy of sharing. I believe that being a reading model for students is tremendously important, and I take advantage of opportunities to share my own reading with students, whether I’m in an elementary classroom or teaching a graduate class.
2. Teachers of reading should use a broad range of techniques to mentor students into the reading community. If we know anything about teaching reading it is that there is no one-size-fits-all formula. Teachers should be encouraged to help individual students and analyze what works for them. Teachers who are effective reading mentors support students in developing strategic reading behaviors that help them become proficient and independent readers who read for pleasure.
Teachers also mentor students into the reading community. Researchers who have explored the role of mentoring encourage teachers to build and maintain supportive, caring relationships with students through activities such as having teachers and students share appropriate aspects of their personal lives, eat lunch together in small groups, and participate in other activities that communicate to students that teachers are truly interested and concerned about the students’ experiences and not just their academic work (Battistich, Solomon, Watson, and Schaps, 1997; Pianta, Stuhlman, and Hamre, 2002).
What better way of forging this type of mentoring relationship than discussing good books with students? Teachers who are reading mentors play an important role in ensuring that their students develop the reading habit and become members of the reading community.
3. Teachers should encourage students to read a lot. Students need to have ample opportunities to read, and it is critically important that some time during the school day be devoted to pleasure reading—this demonstrates that pleasure reading is valued. Pleasure reading means reading what brings you pleasure and enjoyment, whether it is fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or any other genre. And today, more than ever before, we must recognize that pleasure reading can take place using many text types including books, magazines, newspapers, and electronic forms.
Teachers can inspire students to read widely as they share books and other texts representing different genres and text types. Children choose to read books that they know something about. As adults we do not walk into libraries or bookstores and ask, “Could you help me find a book I know nothing about?” No, what we do is look for books we know something about—a book a friend has recommended, an author we know, or a book we’ve read about in a book review.
As teachers, we encourage students to read widely when we introduce lots of books and read aloud a paragraph or two—encouraging students to read the rest of the book. Taking advantage of small bits of time throughout the school day to read a favorite poem, a fact from the Guinness Book of World Records, or an item of interest from the newspaper are all ways that teachers can support students in choosing to read for pleasure.
As teachers, we all hope our students develop into lifelong readers who read for pleasure. And every child deserves to have reading models, mentors, and motivators who support and nurture the reading habit.
P.S. A great book for sharing with students of all ages is Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Dell, 1994). This autobiography of two centenarians is filled with wonderful stories of family love and support. The stories of these African American sisters who lived through integration are humorous and touching and filled with insights about U.S. history. You will find many vignettes throughout this book that are perfect for sharing with your students.
Battistich, V., Solomon, D., Watson, M., and Schaps, E. (1997). Caring school communities. Educational Psychologist, 32 (3), 137–151.
Pianta, R.C., Stuhlman, M.W., and Hamre, B.K. (2002) “How schools can do better: Fostering stronger connections between teachers and students” In Jean E. Rhodes (Ed.). A Critical View of Youth Mentoring: New Directions for Youth Development: (pp. 91–107). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Promoting pleasure reading. (August 2007). Reading Today, 25(1), 16.
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