Drop Everything and Read

They have spoken. After an experiment in my class, where I allotted a substantial amount of time every day for sustained silent reading, my kids have given their opinions.

• I used to hate reading but now I don’t. I mean, coming to this class full of readers inspired me to read.

• This class changed my opinion of reading because it has so many interesting books, and my attitude toward reading is that I like books and I’m going to keep on reading until there’s no more books.

• Well before people tried to convince me to read but I said no. But you have convinced me because you show that you read a lot. Thanks to Richard and Manny, they have persuaded me to read.

I’ve mentioned before that my son’s sixth grade teacher gave me a new attitude toward teaching reading. An avid reader herself, she used her love for books, plus strategies from The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, to create life-long readers in her students.

Late in the school year I adopted some of her strategies. I gave my kids plenty of “D.E.A.R.” time every day. That’s an acronym for Drop Everything And Read. We spent at least a half hour a day reading in silence—sometimes 45 minutes, and toward the end of the year, an hour.

During DEAR time, I conducted two main activities: conferencing with students, and reading my own books. Our best times were when I read along with them. For some reason, it brought an already quiet class to a silent class. How can I teach my kids the value of reading if I don’t respect that time myself? DEAR time gave me an opportunity to read more of the books that they’re interested in.

Anyway, they loved it when I would chuckle at a funny part or gasp at a shocking part. They would always ask, “What happened?” And I would fill them in without giving away the plot. Invariably any book I was reading during DEAR time became one of the most popular books in our classroom library.

My other activity during DEAR time was one-on-one conferences with my students. We would discuss their reading goals, what books they wanted to read, what they were having difficulty with, and what their successes were. Our school uses an online reading quiz program called Accelerated Reader that tests students on reading comprehension. During our conferences, we would assess their progress toward their Accelerated Reader goals and revise their strategies to meet those goals. The Accelerated Reader quiz reports gave us a data-driven springboard for conferencing.

One of the most significant factors in developing an enthusiastic reading crowd was giving my students book-talk time and a chance to give oral book reviews. They discussed what books they liked and what they wanted to add to our library. With every wish list came a new box of books, infusing their enthusiasm with a shot of energy. It started with the day that the Magic Treehouse books arrived—everyone read them. The next month, a box of Goosebumps books came—and then everyone was reading Goosebumps. And with the coming of Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid—my students were hooked for life. Their enthusiasm and desire to read was validated by my effort to get the books they wanted into our classroom.

Last week, I gave them an end-of-year questionnaire asking them to evaluate our reading program. The response was overwhelming. Kids who didn't like to read became readers. Kids who already liked to read were grateful for the focus on their favorite activity. We learned that when you drop everything and read, the classroom becomes quiet, and the kids care about what they're doing. And here is one final opinion from my student Peter, who I mentioned in a previous post:

• Reading is fun. Last year I didn’t like reading. Now I love to read.