" Hope is what starts as a feeling and a belief, about my students as learners, an grows into reality. It slowly changes from a vision in my mind to experiences in my classroom as we tend to the complicated act of reading with anticipation and joy rather than dread and the threat of a looming test."
I read this well-written and useful book after reading the author’s first book about keeping notebooks to improve student writing. She has continued in the same vein…writing clearly, using student work and her own experiences to help teachers learn more about reading, comprehension strategies and the ways in which we all go about helping our students become lifelong readers and writers. This is surely a goal that we strive toward daily. Through it all she is not afraid to admit that failure often leads to the best discoveries. She candidly shares her daily life in a classroom community. As she writes she shows her thinking on paper and makes great suggestions for teachers wanting to try reader’s notebooks with their students. As she explains, she makes it clear that the choices are yours, and that you must make the decisions that mean the most to you as you search for ways to make thinking deeply about what is being read a part of your students’ everyday experiences. A great starting point on your journey toward your goal – lifetime readers and writers.
I love the concept of notebooks to capture ideas, images, language, inquiry, thinking ... all too important to forget. I will be sharing Amy's titles with the teachers seeking a deeper understanding of the writers in their writing workshop, and, the reading-writing connection.
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