Reading in the Wild
vhinkleReading in the wild
The Five Non-Negotiables
Time to Read
Choice
Response
Community
Structure
by Donalyn Miller
What is Wild Reading?
Readers who read in the midst of their daily lives. Readers who read beyond what is expected of them at school and intertwines it with the what else interests them. It's part of who they are. School does not always allow for this nor do some teachers think it's important in the grand scheme of things.
"Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes a place for that" (2011) John Green
| Percentile | Time Spent Reading | No. of words read per year |
| 20 | .7 minutes | 21,000 |
| 80 | 14.2 minutes | 1,146,000 |
| 90 | 21.1 minutes | 1,823,000 |
| 98 | 65 | 4,358,000 |
Children must read a lot in order to attain even minimum levels of reading achievement.
Imagine schools where band, choir, debate, and athletics participants were not given practice time during the school day yet were still expected to perform.
Community Conversations
Wild Readers find time to read around the edges. Reading in between classes, at lunch, before bed. Help your students find those edge times to read.
"You never know when you might have an emergency reading" Don Miller
Fit Read Alouds into Class Everyday
"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents" Emile Buchwald
Read alouds should include fiction and non-fiction books.
Reading the News, February 2005
Wild Readers Share Books with Others
Student Readers Chime In
"It's important to have other readers to talk to because of you were the only reader, and no one else talked--thebook, the emotions, the characters, would remain secret"--Abby, sixth grader
"What is your bottom line? what do you want to happen for your students? Now, how does what yo do every day serve that bottom line?" Jeff Wilhelm
Embarrassed about reading
17% of students surveyed
Intellectual Snobs
Bookworms
Nerds
Books that build communities
- Communities That Read and Write
- Communities That Value All Members
- Communities That Have Fun
- Communities That Care about the World
conferences
Conferring, what's the point!
Formal conferences were too difficult to manage in my classroom. I had too many kids, not enough time, and didn't know what to do during conference time anyway. What are my goals? Fostering relationships.
Golden Gate BRidge Conferencing
