Read to Someone

As I’m entering my 3rd year teaching middle school ELA and looking for that sweet balance of teaching reading, writing, grammar, vocab, speaking AND listening skills, all in a week, I’ve come across an awesome format from my colleagues called the Daily 5, which consists of these activities:

• Read to Self — independent reading
• Work-On-Writing — write about topics of your choice
• Read to Someone — read with a partner and check for understanding & practice fluency
• Listen to Reading — what it says lol
• Word Work — grammar and spelling stuff

My goal is that by November, my classes will look the way they’re supposed to look: students come in, they choose which of the 5 they are working on during our first round, and off they go. Independent, and their choices motivating them to learn.

I’ve already launched Read to Self, so students get to scatter themselves around the room, propping themselves on pillows (with a strong reminder to share and not fight over pillows), lying across the several couches I am fortunate enough to have in my room, and lying on the floor against more pillows. Some of them stay at their desks because at this point, they know how to choose a spot to be successful.

Some may think that all this independent reading can be done at home, but my students’ home lives are as diverse as they are. So what do they gain from these 20 minutes? A love of reading. And that stays with them for the rest of their lives.

I’m excited to launch Work on Writing next. But as I read more about the Daily 5, I learned that the one students most enjoy is Read to Someone, and I’m a little surprised. Wouldn’t that be a little annoying? I’d personally rather escape and be in my own world in a book — that is, until I remember, with a smile, who read to me all the time when I was little and made reading a shared and fun experience.

What felt like almost every night before bed, AK would read one of our favorite series to me: the Junie B. Jones books. I loved this time with my sister. She would get into character and bring Junie B. to life, acting out all the dialogue with Junie B.’s spirited relentless; I’d read the books on my own, but it was never quite the same. For me, AK was the voice of Junie B., and we’d spend many nights huddled next to each other on the bottom bunk, laughing about all the ridiculous situations she’d get herself into. Like hiding in a hamper and scaring her grandfather while he was putting on his dentures or getting in a fight with her best friend over a boy named Warren.

Looking at us now, our taste in female role models hasn’t really changed. We still die over Leslie Knope from Parcs and Rec, Rebecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Jane from Jane the Virgin.

So while I’m watching my students reading to each other, I’ll remind myself that those small moments together not only fun, but also building something far greater for their futures. And I have AK to thank for that. (:

— Nik