Atwell Response

I agree with a number of comments Nancie Atwell makes in the article taken from The Reading Zone. It's absolutely essential that our students develop a passion for reading and a "satisfaction for books"; and many of the Reader's Workshop components can assist teachers in developing this love for reading in each one of their students. Despite Atwell's beliefs of disregarding all reading acronyms in the classroom (S.S.R. and READ), with the implementation of S.S.R. in our middle school English classrooms, students are encouraged to experiment with their reading interests and eventually efficiently select those books they are more inclined to enjoy (via exposure to various authors, genres, themes, etc.). The block schedule in our English classrooms has lent itself well towards the ability to give students "personal reading time" that will eventually lead to life-long readers. As Atwell's article states, students claim they want time to read at school; and the incorporation of S.S.R. gives students this opportunity.

As with many of the new ideas we have been presented with this year, I often find myself believing that it is essential that there is some sort of balance with new educational philosophy and traditional educational philosophy. For example, Atwell feels very strongly about giving students the autonomy of choosing their own books. To reiterate my previous claims, I agree with Atwell's claim here. However, I feel there should be a balance of student-selected books and teacher-selected books. As Kelly stated in her response, one must take into account the demographics of Platte City. Many of our students will attend two or four year institutitions. In order to fairly prepare these students for college and the work force, students must be able to take a teacher-given novel or text (many of which are classic literary novels) and completely dissect the novel, identifying and examining various literary elements. Furthermore, when students enter the work force, they must have the capability to read an employer-given text (memo, directions, book, etc.) and comprehend/apply the information given. In other words, not all reading material one is given throughout life is "fun reading"; therefore, we must provide our students with a balance of student-selected reading material to develop a passion for reading and teacher-selected reading material to prepare students for college and the "real world".