Wild Readers!

The next book by Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer, is Reading in the Wild. It focuses on developing lifelong and independent readers who have internalized the skills and strategies and read for pleasure.

My challenge over the summer break is to look at how her approach would fit together with the approach of Daily 5 and Reader's Cafe as I have found these to sit well with the concepts contained in the Book Whisperer.

Research shows that reading for pleasure results in greater academic and financial success so we as teachers need to develop students with a lifelong love for reading or WILD readers.

Key characteristics seen in a WILD reader:
Finds time to read for pleasure
Models writing on the books being read
Participates in a reading community - real life or on-line
Has a preference within genres

Classrooms must be organised to encourage the reading habits of WILD readers and eliminate the counterfeit activities such as crosswords, reports and dioramas that guarantee that kids will avoid reading.