Book Choice Needed in High School

"Just as rigor does not reside in the barbell but in the act of lifting it, rigor in reading is not an attribute of a text but rather of a reader's behavior-engaged, observant, responsive, questioning, analytical." 
                                                                                                                      -Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst

And...

 Lynn Hagen retweeted

vickiboyd ‏@vickiboyd  23h23 hours ago

.@KyleneBeers & @BobProbst remind us rigor lies in the depth of attention the S brings to the text. Not in the text, itself. #BBLIT15

Rigorous reading comes from engagement, significance, relevance, not by making books harder. -@BobProbst #BBLit15 (Twitter June 2015)

Kids who actually read experience rigor.  Kids who fake read have no chance of rigor, no chance of becoming readers, no chance of deepening their own independence with texts.  

How do we convince high school English teachers that kids reading books of their choice (nurtured by competent teachers who know what individual kids can handle and who know books) is the real place rigor lies?  How do we encourage teachers to experiment with allowing more independent choice?  How do we get them to see student learning and growth as the central piece of quality instruction instead of the books the chose?

We must take the lead.  "We can't wait for others to shift their mindset in order to shift systems," tweets Jimmy Casas on June 28th, "We need to accept personal responsibility & shift."  All of us who already believe in the power of student choice need to do what we know.  

So, in my class next year, as I've already written, student book choice will be the grounding foundation of our reading work.  Thanks to Penny Kittle's Book Love Foundation, this will be a little easier this year.  I found out that I won one of ten foundation grants, and will get a whole classroom library tailored to the needs of my kids.  What a great way to be a role model in my building and district.  These books will allow me to get relevant, engaging books into the hands of my kids this year.  All year long.  

Now, my job has some significant parts to it:

1)  match kids to books
2)  develop thinking readers to wonder, question and most of all engage in the books
3)  grow these readers across the year

Next books on my list are Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Notice and Note and Reading Nonfiction by the same authors when it comes out in September.  I want this study to help me help my students engage more deeply with all texts they are asked to read.  

Ready to dive in!