The Nerdy Book Club: How

Teacher Readers Ignite

Classroom Reading

CommunitiesTCTELA 2013

Donalyn MillerAudrey Wilson-Youngblood

Cynthia Alaniz

www.slideshare.net/donalynm

@donalynbooks

Who is in your

reading communi

ty?

Benefits of Reading Communities

Increase how much you read.

Foster connections with other readers.

Challenge you to stretch.

Suggest titles for additional reading.

Encourage mindfulness about what you read and share.

Improve your enjoyment and appreciation for what you read.

Inspire you to write.

“Reading Teacher (RT): a

teacher who reads and a reader

who teaches”

Commeyras, Bisplinghoff and Olson (2003)

“Students should have guidance

and frequent opportunities to

work with teachers and other

students as a community of

learners, observing their

teachers as readers and writers.

—NCTE Position on the Teaching of English

Teachers who regularly read for pleasure

are more likely to use recommended

literacy

practices in their classrooms than those

teachers who do not engage in pleasure

reading.

They are more likely

to recognize that reading is a social

activity and to provide opportunity for

students to

talk about their reading.

Morrison, Jacobs, and Swinyard (1999); McKool & Gespass

(2009)

56% of unenthusiastic readers did not

have a teacher who shared a love of

reading, while 64% of enthusiastic

readers did have such a teacher.

Nathanson, Pruslow and Levitt (2008)

“…teachers who are engaged readers

are motivated to read, are both

strategic and knowledgeable readers,

and are socially interactive about what

they read. These qualities show up in

their classroom interactions and help

create students who are, in turn,

engaged readers.” Dreher (2002)

www.nerdybookclub.com

Every reader has value and a voice in our community.

“It’s a fact: people can survive

without books. People can

even have wonderful, full lives

without books. But they can’t

long endure without

community…”

—C. Alexander London