The Book Whisperer: A Book Study

I started reading this book with excitement {and some apprehension}.  I mean... I teach the babies and she teaches middle school (I'm shuddering just thinking about that). But guess what??? Introduction and chapter 1 in, and I am hooked! This book is great amazing PHENOMENAL! It truly is about "awakening readers in every child" and I'm feeling the need to be more intentional with my readers' workshop block to more effectively encourage life-long readers. She's changing my approach to this chunk of the day and I haven't even read the second chapter. 

This phrase made me squirm because it is SO TRUE: 

"The structure of the workshop drove everything that I did, and it left me frustrated.  Instead of finding my own way, I was now bent on channeling those master teachers.  If I was unable to follow the step-by-step lesson plans laid out by reading experts because of the unique needs and personalities of my students, my own teaching style, the time constraints of my instructional block, or access to resources, I felt like a failure" (17).

But more then feeling validated in this, I already feel a connection to this writer - a teacher who clearly LOVES to read the way I LOVE to read. And, I must say, I have high expectations for the rest of this book - she has SUCCESSFULLY spread her love of reading to her students year after year and that is what I most aspire to do ~ right from the start, with my kinder-babes! 

More words and phrases that inspire me from Danalyn Miller (author of The Book Whisperer):

"When you take a forklift and shovel off the programs, underneath it all is a child reading a book" (3).  

"I know from personal experience that readers lead richer lives, more lives, than those who don't read" (11).

"I transformed my classroom into a workshop, a place where apprentices hone a craft under the tutelage of a master...I should guide them as they approach their own understandings" (15). 

And last, but not least,
"Reading is both a cognitive and an emotional journey.  I discovered that it was my job as a teacher to equip the travelers, teach them how to read a map, and show them what to do when they get lost, but ultimately, the journey is theirs alone" (16).