Creating Readers: Part I

The Mentor

A self-proclaimed “book whisperer,” 6th grade language arts and social studies teacher Donalyn Miller says she has yet to meet a child she couldn’t turn into a reader. On average, her students at Trinity Meadow Intermediate School in Keller, Texas, read between 50 and 60 books a year; last year, one of her students read 300 books. According to school lore, Miller's 6th graders have been known to become so engrossed in books that they walk into walls and insist on being photographed with their favorite books in class pictures. Even her former students return to borrow from her library, which has more than 2,000 titles and extends beyond her classroom into a storage closet across the hall.

And her methods have also produced more than anecdotal results: Last year, her students received a 100 percent passing rate on the reading portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, with 90 percent receiving a "recommended" score.

In this first installment, Miller explains some of her secret techniques. In Part II, look for her thoughts on encouraging boys to read; and in Part III, she will share “Thirteen Books You Have to Read Before You Turn Thirteen,” a list compiled by one of her former students.