Igniting a Passion for Reading

I started the first three chapters of Dr. Steven L. Layne's Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers back in the fall, but I just now got back to it and completed it. However, I think now was actually a better time in the year for me to read the majority of the book because I am at the stage in the year where I am looking ahead to what my literacy block will look like next year. My schedule will be different, and I have been considering what I will include and how I will break down the time alloted.

In his book, Layne dedicates a chapter for each of the following areas: targeting aliterate readers (those who can read but do not have a desire to do so), knowing your students, book chats, read alouds, modeling, book discussions, reading lounges, celebrating books, author visits, and a sample quarterly plan. I loved that at the end of each chapter, with the exception of the last, he had a reflection called from the trenches followed by contributions from authors discussing memorable teachers in their literacy lives.

Reading his ideas to foster a love of reading leading into life-long readers was a great way to reflect on current practices and a new lens to consider ideas that have been simmering for quite a while with regards to planning for next year. Many of the ideas were not new concepts, but it was the idea of seeing it again at a different phase in my career, making me realize that it is a good book for pre-service teachers, teachers in their first years, as well as teachers with years of experience. Whether it is seeing the ideas for the first time or to remind ourselves of important concepts in our personal teaching philosophies, reflecting on or reworking strategies we use in the classroom, this book opens up a good dialogue.