Welcome!
Welcome to the Reading topic page. The purpose of this page is to engage and connect librarians in active dialog about reading topics in order to strengthen and stretch our thinking and practice. The resources found on this page are intended to spark interest and elicit discussion on various topics related to reading. It is not enough for us to read articles and books, listen to podcasts, or watch webinars. Instead, we must actively engage with this content AND connect with other practitioners and experts to discuss our thoughts, learnings, misconceptions, and questions. This page will be a place for you to dig deeper and to connect with other librarians as we grow both personally and professionally.
Melissa Thom
Teacher Librarian
Melissa Thom
Teacher Librarian
Helping Students See Themselves as Readers
by Melissa ThomEvery single day, middle school students visit my library hoping to find a book to read. I greet each one with a friendly smile and enthusiastically ask if they know what they are looking for or if they are just there to browse. If they reply that they are there to browse, my follow-up question is always, "Would you like any recommendations?" Surprisingly, they often say yes, and we are off and running! But, when I reflected on the informal chats I was having with students, I realized I was only interacting with a small percentage of the students who willingly visited the library. What about all the other students who did NOT visit the library and/or did NOT consider themselves readers? Read More >>
Video
![Strategies for Cultivating Students' Reading Identities [25:50]](https://schoollibraryconnection.com/assets/mediaserver/SLC/2277/2277071s.jpg)
Melissa Thom expands the ongoing conversation about helping students discover their reading identities in this conversation with educators Tom Bober, Franki Sibberson, and Steve Tetreault. The group discusses practical strategies for helping students discover themselves as readers, and overcoming the requisite challenges that can arise.
Video
![Helping Students Discover their Reader's Identity [25:10]](https://schoollibraryconnection.com/assets/mediaserver/SLC/2275/2275519s.jpg)
As students develop into deep readers, so does their reader's identity. In this video, Melissa Thom is joined by librarians and authors Jennifer Scoggin and Hannah Schneewind to discuss how to help young readers along on their journey to discover their own identities as readers, and how that awareness can serve them as they explore new literature both in and out of school.
Article
At the beginning of every school year, Melissa Thom asks ELA teachers to assign a "Readers Interests and Attitudes" survey to help her understand her students' interests and reading practices and use that information to inform her programming. Use her questions as a jumping off point to establish a reading survey for your school community.
Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will create a personalized reading profile that they can use to help them choose books that they will enjoy reading. Using the reader's profile graphic organizer as a guide, students will identify books, authors, and series that they have loved, as well as determine their reading preferences, personal hobbies, and interests.
Article
Franki Sibberson, a fifth-grade teacher, shares her conversation-starting lesson—modeled on her exploration of her own reading identity—that helps her students recognize and develop their sense of themselves as readers.
Article
Tom Bober became a librarian because he wanted to help students in his school learn to love reading. He quickly learned there are many different challenges that come with being a building leader in the quest to help develop children's reading lives. In this article, Bober offers valuable resources that can support librarians in their efforts, and strategies to help connect students with books they will want to read.
Article
Bibliotherapy is a therapeutic approach to supporting mental health using literature. It is one of the embedded programs that forms our library's mental wellness foundations.
Feature
As educators, we can undermine students' willingness to read when we let our own reading prejudices take precedence over encouragement. By imposing rules and guidelines for what "counts" as reading, especially for supposedly "independent" reading, we create a perfect recipe for destroying interest and motivation.
Lesson Plan
In this SEL lesson from Suzanne Sannwald and Ashley Worth, students learn more about personal growth by exploring an aspect of their choice through an independent research and reading project.