Book Review: "The Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller - 9 views

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  #1 Gina Dettloff on 13 Feb 12

   

  I enjoyed "The Book Whisperer" because I liked her ideas, but mostly because I felt as though I could relate to her as a person. I've often found that the best ideas comes from "the trenches", and not necessarily from the "corporate expert". Miller puts those thoughts to ease, and has a wonderfully conversational dialogue with the reader. The book is not only a delight to read, but is also helpful - between the chapters the book contains whispers -which are her activities/suggestions she has used within her classroom. For instance, one of them is a student interest activity survey which every student fills out at the beginning of the semester/year. From this survey Miller HAND SELECTS (can you say WOW) books for each and every student- like a prescription if you will. Each student gets their own stack, geared just for them. To check up on their reading, Miller assigns a Readers Notebooks where student and teacher have dialogue about the books each student is reading at least once per week.
  Fascinating but she declares an "enemy" which stops students from wanting to read - and refreshingly it is not parent, student, teacher, or administrator - but is really all those corporation online package "systems" that schools buy into, filled with information from "experts".
  In a nut shell, she allows students a large chuck of time to read in her class, everyday, and this decision is supported by her administration, which is the reason she can implement this system in her class.
  As a great bonus (at least I thought so) in the back of the book she lists the books her classroom "library" contains - cutting out a significant amount of work for a teacher that would want to emulate the same in their classroom.
  I stopped for a second when I got to their quote..."I have purchased every book in our class library with my own money".
  That is an extreme commitment, and one that would require teachers to make some pretty significant sacrifices. Her reasons for doing so are quickly explained, mainly because then she can do what she pleases with them, but STILL. For my own giggles I went online to amazon to see what a few of the books she suggested were going for, and what I came up with was that "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen was used for 10 bucks (ouch if you see how many book she has purchased in her library), but "Inkspell", which is part of the Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke was only 1 cent (obviously a little more pocketbook friendly).
  In the end, I was inspired by Miller. Regardless if you are ready -or are able - to make the financial and administrative adjustments to be a "book whisperer" yourself, an easy thing to try is the student survey she suggests. Taking into account students' suggestions and insights is a GOOD thing - it shows that a teacher values their opinion, and this can only ignite conversation and learning.
  
  Below is the link to see the book on amazon, if interested.
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470372273/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I enjoyed "The Book Whisperer" because I liked her ideas, but mostly because I felt as though I could relate to her as a person. I've often found that the best ideas comes from "the trenches", and not necessarily from the "corporate expert". Miller puts those thoughts to ease, and has a wonderfully conversational dialogue with the reader. The book is not only a delight to read, but is also helpful - between the chapters the book contains whispers -which are her activities/suggestions she has used within her classroom. For instance, one of them is a student interest activity survey which every student fills out at the beginning of the semester/year. From this survey Miller HAND SELECTS (can you say WOW) books for each and every student- like a prescription if you will. Each student gets their own stack, geared just for them. To check up on their reading, Miller assigns a Readers Notebooks where student and teacher have dialogue about the books each student is reading at least once per week. <br /> Fascinating but she declares an "enemy" which stops students from wanting to read - and refreshingly it is not parent, student, teacher, or administrator - but is really all those corporation online package "systems" that schools buy into, filled with information from "experts". <br /> In a nut shell, she allows students a large chuck of time to read in her class, everyday, and this decision is supported by her administration, which is the reason she can implement this system in her class. <br /> As a great bonus (at least I thought so) in the back of the book she lists the books her classroom "library" contains - cutting out a significant amount of work for a teacher that would want to emulate the same in their classroom. <br /> I stopped for a second when I got to their quote..."I have purchased every book in our class library with my own money". <br /> That is an extreme commitment, and one that would require teachers to make some pretty significant sacrifices. Her reasons for doing so are quickly explained, mainly because then she can do what she pleases with them, but STILL. For my own giggles I went online to amazon to see what a few of the books she suggested were going for, and what I came up with was that "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen was used for 10 bucks (ouch if you see how many book she has purchased in her library), but "Inkspell", which is part of the Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke was only 1 cent (obviously a little more pocketbook friendly). <br /> In the end, I was inspired by Miller. Regardless if you are ready -or are able - to make the financial and administrative adjustments to be a "book whisperer" yourself, an easy thing to try is the student survey she suggests. Taking into account students' suggestions and insights is a GOOD thing - it shows that a teacher values their opinion, and this can only ignite conversation and learning. <br /> <br /> Below is the link to see the book on amazon, if interested. <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470372273/ref=rdr_ext_tmb" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470372273/ref=rdr_ext_tmb</a></div>

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  #2 Anna Scott on 27 Feb 12

   

  I have heard a lot about this book in recent months. The hand selection of books is amazing. I could not imagine doing that for my students. I like a lot of the ideas that you wrote about like the readers notebook and surveys. I am glad I read your review. Now I have more information about it and it sounds pretty inspiring. This will definitly be on my "to read" list! Thank you!

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I have heard a lot about this book in recent months. The hand selection of books is amazing. I could not imagine doing that for my students. I like a lot of the ideas that you wrote about like the readers notebook and surveys. I am glad I read your review. Now I have more information about it and it sounds pretty inspiring. This will definitly be on my "to read" list! Thank you!</div>

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