Lately, a common refrain I hear even amongst my most favorite and most fabulous teacher friends is that teaching isn’t fun anymore. They are feeling beat down and overwhelmed by the need to teach central message, to track character, to analyze language and do close readings and be all Common Core-y.
I feel you. Teaching is hard and feels like it’s getting harder. There is so much public finger pointing and tedious paperwork. There are scary and unsupportive evaluation systems and a general sense that no one is listening to us. There are assessments and assessments of assessments and then meetings to talk about those assessments.
I have also heard from many trusted friends and admired colleagues that, as a result, their reading instruction feels tedious, overly challenging for students, and less fun. They have become bogged down with graphic organizers and lengthy lessons that rob students of the chance to fall into their own independent reading. When I hear this, I want to drop everything, shake my fist at the sky and scream, “Nooooooo!” (I have a flair for the dramatic.)
The Common Core State Standards in and of themselves are not “fun.” They are dense and, frankly, a bit of a dry read. But what set of standards aren’t? The joy and fun don’t come from the Standards themselves, they come from us, from YOU. Joy and fun come in the form of engaging book choices and dynamic conversations about reading. It’s all in the presentation and sticking to those things we value most about the teaching of reading: finding great texts, talking about that those texts, and luxuriating in the act of reading.
The teaching of reading is about introducing our students to engaging stories, authors and topics they might not have considered before. Stay up to date by following resources on Twitter such as The Horn Book, Classroom Bookshelf or by using the hashtag #kidlit. International Reading Association’s Choices puts together an annual list of the best children’s and young adult literature. Get on Pinterest and scour other teachers’ boards for lists of titles aggregated by author, subject, grade level or theme. Look for lists of award winners, read book reviews on HuffPo Books or The New York Times, or just ask your students what is hot right now. You might be surprised by what you discover.
Teaching reading is engaging in thoughtful conversations about texts make you lose track of time. Once you provide your students with strategies for determining the central idea, for finding information, for following the character, for uncovering the meaning of new vocabulary. Take that new learning and talk about it! We need to let our students use what they know as readers to talk about what they are reading in authentic ways that get them excited about reading more.
The teaching of reading is about allowing students to fall in love with what they are reading. We need to provide them with the time to feel what it is like to sit and read. That time is a gift in the midst of their school day and should be treated that way. In order to keep this time sacred and fun, student choice must reign supreme. If students are exclusively “assigned” various readings, reading becomes a chore or another “to do” on the list.
I guarantee you if you dedicate yourself to re-discovering the fun of digging into juicy ideas like debating the central idea of a great story, or tracing the development of a thrilling character, or uncovering the answers to questions about topics you are passionate about, teaching will become fun once again. Our students are following our lead and we owe it to them to protect them from all the shenanigans outside our classroom walls that threaten to bring us all down.
Jennifer Scoggin (a.k.a. Mrs. Mimi) is the director of the Connecticut branch of LitLife and a consultant in schools. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has been an IRA member since 2011. She's the author of Be Fabulous:
The Reading Teacher's Guide to Reclaiming Your Happiness in the Classroom and It's Not All Flowers and Sausages: My Adventures in Second Grade, which sprung from her popular blog of the same name.