Principal's Hot Picks
From the desk of Alice….
In every school I have ever gone in, there are students who can read but choose not to. These students know how to call words, they understand what they read and they even think critically–when they decide they want to. They can be a challenge because the barrier to reading is not in the reading process. Instead, the barrier to reading is motivation. We call these students alliterate instead of illiterate because it’s their motivation that is getting in the way of reading. If you work in schools, I am sure you have met a few of these students.
One low cost and simple way to get kids excited about reading is to share our thinking with them about what we love to read. What attracts us to a cover, a title, a magazine? What books made an impact on who we are or made us consider new ideas or perspectives? What picture books stick with us so much that we read them over and over again? What authors or topics do we look forward to reading about?
While we cannot control whether students have books at home or make trips to the library or bookstores, we can initiate conversations around text. We know that when students are in our buildings, they are a captive audience and we can choose to talk to them about what we are reading and why. They are going to talk…why not talk about texts?!?
Kim Fleming, the princpal of Pilot Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina, has created Principal’s Hot Picks.
Principal Fleming started with a window display including the covers of texts. (She borrowed this idea from Igniting a Passion for Reading by Steven Layne). Not long after she posted her display, the students naturally started talking to her about “hot picks” as she was in the hallway.
“I like how you (principal) want people- everybody, to engage in reading. Every time you go to the library, kids always get the Principal’s Hot Picks….even the little ones, ” said Jade*, a 5th grade student at Pilot Elementary.
Because of the rave responses, Principal Fleming has expanded to a larger spot in the media center.
The “Principal’s Hot Picks” do several things. Principal Fleming is sharing with her students a love of texts. She is revealing her interests and creating natural and positive reasons to talk to students about academic things. She is also allowing students to get to know her through her reading material. She has become a model for students on what readers look like and what they talk about.
Principal Fleming is also modeling for her staff how to be an instructional leader by taking time to choose titles and chat with students about reading. Not for an assignment. Not for a grade. For no other reason than just loving reading.
What a gift for her school! How are you modeling for your students? What you are NOT talking about can speak just as loudly as what you ARE talking about. Consider making time to talk about your Hot Picks!
Jade went on to tell Principal Fleming, “we should read together some time…we should put up posters about a Book Club. I could start that.”
*not her real name