I just finished reading the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller and basically… I was SO
inspired by Donalyn Miller’s passion for authentic, thoughtful, intentional
teaching and her commitment to teaching in a way that brings about real, life
changing, learning for her students. Ms. Miller shows us how she brings about
genuine learning that becomes internalized, as opposed to the kind of temporary
superficial learning that is often the result of unexamined teaching practices (
“unexamined wallpaper”) or practices is which the main objective is to produce
an acceptable score on a standardized test. She demonstrates the motivational power
of tapping into children’s interests and building honest, respectful, trusting
relationships with students.
Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:
When people criticize or question how she is preparing her
students for the negative experiences they will no doubt face as they move on
to other grade levels she writes…
“Why should I subject students to negative experiences now
in order to prepare them for negative experiences later?”
She also says, “The purpose of school should not be to
prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged
students now.”
AMEN!
This is often the frustration we feel in early childhood
education when there is pressure to be teaching preschoolers as if they were
kindergarteners or first graders, all of which is developmentally
inappropriate. What results is most
children feeling frustrated and they fail to see themselves as learners. I think we are doing children a terrible
disservice if children leave our classrooms feeling school is a negative thing.
I appreciate her stand on standardized tests. “I have no
issue with standardized testing per se; I believe that students who cannot pass
the minimal expectations set by these tests are not good readers. What I have
grown to mistrust is how the high-stakes nature of these tests has disrupted
quality reading instruction.”
I agree that accountability is necessary in this day and
age. However, when good teaching practices are being jeopardized in order to
guarantee high test scores, I think teachers and administration have a
responsibility to reevaluate those teaching practices and ask what is best for
the students “real” learning… Not just how do we get them to pass this test…
Miller has shown that with authentic, intentional, instruction, students will
pass those tests, no need to “teach to the test.”
I love that she addresses the use of promotional programs
that give out rewards…
And I love that she addresses practices that are left
unevaluated because they are “… so entrenched in school culture or a teacher’s
paradigm that their ability to affect student learning is never probed.” She
goes on to ask, “Are the activities and assessments we use accomplishing our
intended instructional goals, or are them simply what we have always done?”
Miller offers a priceless insight into her very successful Language
Arts program but more than that she gives us a glimpse into a reflective
teachers mind, helping us as teachers rethink not just how we teach children
about just one subject like “reading” but how we teach everything!
LOVE THIS BOOK!
We had a visitor from a zoo planned to visit our preschool classroom before winter break. She however, had a last minute job interview out of state so had to cancel at the last minute. This left us wondering what will we do? My partner in crime Miss Anna (who teaches preschool next door) said how about we dress up in the costumes she had sent and we will just be silly School Bears... Ok why not, I said... So we did. Miss Anna and I went to the "office" and left the students with our assistants. We did a quick change and came back into the classroom. We named ourselves School Bears and told the kids we were visiting children in schools because we liked to read with them and that we had heard that they were learning to read books. We asked them to help us read. I being the brown bear, read Brown Bear Brown Bear of course. Miss Anna read Polar Bear Polar Bear. Then for sure we had to go on a BEAR HUNT! We laughed and laughed and the kids had a blast. Some were unsure about us, some thought we were really School Bears, and some couldn't be fooled at all! One little girl told me "Miss Kelly, I know that was you because that bear had the same shoes on as you do." lol :) 
