The author tells the story of a 5th-grade teacher who challenges her class to take on self-identities as readers. Students defined seven characteristics of what it means to be a good reader and considered whether those characteristics applied to them: Good readers read for fun, talk about books, usually finish the book they’re reading, can relate to the characters in the book, often choose a specific genre to read, read with few distractions, and read at least two books each month.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AfflerbachP.KimJ.CrassasM.ChoB. (2011). Best practices in literacy assessment. In MorrowL.GambrellL. (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.), pp. 319–340. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
2.
DonahueP.FinneganR.LutkusA.AllenN.CampbellJ. (2001). The Nation’s Report Card: Fourth grade reading 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
3.
FoertschM. (1992). Reading in and out of school: Achievement of American students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in 1989-1990. Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Statistics.
4.
GambrellL. (1984). How much time do children spend reading during teacher-directed reading instruction? In NilesJ.HarrisL. (Eds.), Changing perspectives on research in reading/language processing and instruction. Third Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 193–198). Rochester, NY: National Reading Conference.
5.
GambrellL.MalloyJ.MazzoniS. (2011). Evidence-based best practices in comprehensive literacy instruction. In MorrowL.GambrellL. (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.), pp. 11–36. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
6.
McKennaM.KearD.EllsworthR. (1995). Children’s attitudes toward reading: A national survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 30 (4), 934–956.
7.
MillerD. (2009). The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reading in every child. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
8.
MorrowL.GambrellL. (Eds.). (2011). Best practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
9.
ReutzelD.CooterR. (2013). The essentials of teaching children to read: The teacher makes the difference. Boston, MA: Pearson.
