Do you have a classroom library?  Do your students use it and love it?

Today I read the article Why I Scrapped My Classroom Library on the We Are Teachers website. You may have seen it, it is being widely shared on Facebook.

My reaction was instant and negative.

Just don’t do it!

The author, who goes by the name Captain Awesome (so no one will throw tomatoes at her when she posts this article?) is a seventh grade English teacher at an urban charter school for students who are refugees and immigrants.

She outlines the reasons she dropped her classroom library and describes what she is doing instead. I taught seventh grade English for many years and was a reading specialist in several districts. I can vouch for the fact that many other teachers and I experienced vastly different experiences than Ms. Awesome.

Classroom libraries can be a transformative tool that helps turn apathetic readers into readers.

Creating readers is crucially important because nothing, and I mean nothing, will help a student to become a better reader than actually reading. Give students guidance, time to read and choice in material and they will improve reading skill. And for those who care about such things, standardized test scores will also increase. I’ve have personally seen this success over and over and was able to increase student scores in an entire district by implementing a successful independent reading time.

The bottom line is that the more you read, the better you read.

Things didn’t work out that way for Captain Awesome. Her library was a mess of random books, pretty much anything anyone donated and old coverless, dog-eared books. It doesn’t sound enticing, and it turned out not to be. Her students would just grab a book off the shelf and pretended to read. They chose kindergarten books or books that were too difficult.

These negative results are not the fault of a classroom library. They are the result of a classroom library left to chance. These are the results of students left on their own to figure out what to read and a teacher who didn’t give the right kind of guidance.

Here is my response to Captain Awesome.  Her original comments are shown in the headings:

It is impossible to keep track of books. 

It’s true you need a system to organize and keep track of books. For years I wrote my name on the books and gave each student an index card and had them sign out the book by writing the title on the card. When they finished, or determined it was not the right book, they put it back on the shelf and crossed the name off the card. You do have to show the students how to replace the books and how to work the system. Yes, you have to remind them. Yes, you will likely lose a few books, but I found that I lost far fewer than I expected.

It doesn’t support choosing a book in the way that works for all my students.

Classes are diverse and one book doesn’t fit all. You need to have a variety of age appropriate books and consider the interests and reading levels of your students. Once that is in place, you need to know the books you have so that you can help students learn what they like and what is appropriate. Read sections of the books orally to grab their interest. Give book talks. Ask for recommendations from students and let them talk about the ones they like. A classroom library is just a bunch of books until a teacher brings it to life.

It discourages real reading.

I disagree. In fact, done well, classroom libraries encourage real reading. Real books, with real stories and interesting plots will motivate students to want to read. The teacher’s role is to model what good reading looks like and create a culture where students value reading. Then give them time to read and expect that they read.

It may seem like an impossible task, but it is not. I would encourage Captain Awesome to read Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and Nancie Atwell’s In The Middle: A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading and Adolescents. Teachers of younger students who want to create readers should read The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy in the Elementary Grades.

Here is what Captain Awesome did after she got rid of her classroom library and my response:

She got rid of the sad, raggedy novels.

Good, who wants to read those?

She bought multiple copies of 35 different books including a variety of genres and reading levels.    

For the same money, she could have bought several hundred new books, including books of a variety of genres and reading levels. She could have replaced the ratty old, donated and inappropriate titles with books the students would have actually liked to read.

She gave students interest inventories and assessed their reading levels. 

Kudos. This is a good step. Knowing students’ interests and reading levels would have also helped independent reading time to be more productive. When you know students’ interests and reading levels, you can help them to choose appropriate books. Students often do need guidance, especially if they are not already real readers.

She formed small groups to read and discuss the novels. 

I have nothing against this practice. In my world, this is called reading instruction. Reading teachers have been doing this since the dawn of time. Reading and discussing books in small groups can be very beneficial and is a great way to model and teach skills. It is not however, independent reading. Independent reading also builds skills such as fluency, independence, reading stamina and motivation. Unlike group instruction, independent reading also builds life-long readers.

She set expectations for reading. 

Captain Awesome assigned students a certain number of pages to read each week. Students need to know what the expectations are. What were her expectations for their independent reading time when they chose books from the classroom library?  Good independent reading programs also have built in expectations.

Students are talking about their books.

Students will talk about and share books they like. Did they have opportunity to talk about the books they read before? In a culture that values reading, the students and the teacher often discuss and share books with each other.

She is planning to spend some time reading aloud to students who are struggling. 

I applaud this. She says, “I’m convinced that if I can draw them into the story, they’ll start reading it on their own.”  They absolutely will!  The same thing happens if you draw them into the books in your classroom library.

She chose “really great books” for her literature groups.

Why would you have really bad books in your classroom library?  Why would you think they would want to read old, nasty looking, developmentally inappropriate books? Great books are the key to a successful reading program and a successful classroom library.

Final comments:

I hope that Captain Awesome has a great year and that her students love their literature circles. I hope they all find success and learn to love reading. And I hope that someday, she will take what she learned from her group reading experiment and apply it to a classroom library.

How many books will they read in literature circles in a year?  5?  8?  How many books will they read if they also have the opportunity to read fun, interesting books that they chose?  20? 30?  In good independent reading programs, teachers report having students who read 40 books a year!

The more you read, the better you read.  I would stake my professional reputation on it.

What about you?  Do you have a classroom library?  Is it effective?  Would you get rid of it?  We’d love to hear your thoughts.

My best,

Michele