Reading & Literacy

The Teacher as Reader

By Mary Ann Zehr — June 18, 2009 1 min read
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Who wants to learn to read from a teacher who doesn’t read much herself? It seems there’s no danger of a child being in that situation if he or she has Donalyn Miller as a teacher. She’s a 6th grade language arts and social studies teacher in Texas, who is otherwise known as “the book whisperer.”

Now that school is out, Miller has set for herself a summer challenge of reading a book a day. In a blog entry this week, she reviews Tillmon County Fire, a novel by Pamela Ehrenberg, set in Appalachia. She also interviews Ehrenberg on the blog via a Q&A.

I’m sure this will all be fodder for her to recommend Tillmon County Fire to some kids this coming school year. But I hope she allows reading to be pleasure as well as work this summer.

For my summer reading list, I’ve been thinking of picking up a collection of “This I Believe” essays that NPR has produced in a book. I’m fascinated by what people articulate as their core values when answering such an open-ended question, “What do you believe?”

Readers, I welcome you to share the titles of books you have on your summer reading list and why those books intrigue you.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.