For Teachers

From the Classroom – Developing Positive Reader Identities

By on August 25, 2025   /   For Parents, For Teachers, From the Classroom  

It’s back to school time, and the competition for any middle schooler’s attention is notably divided. Not only is there a new grade with new teachers with new classmates, but there are also new sports, new extracurriculars, and a whole host of other things (ahem…technology…) grabbing their attention. Let’s start the school year off right by focusing on developing positive reader identities in our middle schoolers so that they when they have a spare minute, they reach for a book instead of a phone!

Keeping Them Motivated

Part of the issue with middle schoolers seeing themselves as readers is motivation. Many of the texts middle schoolers encounter in school are non-fiction in nature, which provides a prime opportunity to find books that mirror the topics and interests that they will encounter in school as well as those that will follow them into high school. Check out School Library Journal’s 19 standout non-fiction books for middle schoolers for back to school. Middle schoolers can see that they can go to books (and not just the Internet) to learn more about what interests them!

Time Management

What’s that you say? You’re middle schooler is saying they don’t have time to read? Instructional Coach Gretchen Taylor encourages middle schoolers to solve their own problems when it comes to time management. The goal is to help them see that being a reader means you read on a regular basis and it’s built into your regular schedule. Her students came up with the following list of action steps:

  • Write out your daily schedule and make appointments for reading
  • Always be prepared with reading material
  • Consider audiobooks as a reading option, especially if you know you’ll have extra time in the car or waiting around between activities
  • Make some time on the weekend if your weeks are especially busy

Approaching Books

Finally, invite middle schoolers into books from the very first page with this simple teaching routine from Jason DeHart:

  1. What do you notice about this world? Does it sound like the world you know or a different kind of place?
  2. Who are the characters? Who do you think is the protagonist and what do you think makes it so?
  3. What do these characters want and what seems to be in their way?

Readers ask these questions to be more motivated to find out what happens in books, and sometimes middle schoolers need extra help in figuring out how readers approach books.

As you could tell, this is all about helping our middle schoolers think about what it means to be a reader, how to make time for reading, and trying to find books to keep them reading. As you get your schedules in order this fall, talk with the middle schoolers in your life about making sure their burgeoning identities – often connected to all the activities they do – also involves reading!

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The World Book

By on August 21, 2025   /   Articles, Book Lists, books, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

“What’s your favorite book?“

That’s one question that often gets asked to authors during author visits or events.

That is a tough question for me.

To some, though, it’s an easy question, and many of the authors list their favorite book titles without hesitation. I’ve always been envious of the people who express such resolution and love for a book or books, especially when it comes to naming the books from one’s childhood.

I had a tough time learning to read. It was a struggle. I’d look at the page of text and see an overwhelming mishmash of words and letters. I’m sure that now I would have been diagnosed early and prescribed a program for my reading disorder, but those things were rare in early 1970s education. Especially in a lower-middle-class Catholic school, and even more so for an early elementary school kid who seemed to keep his head above water in class.

I was lucky, though. I had parents and a few teachers who noticed my problem and put me on the road to reading. My most vivid, non-recess, non-field trip, non-playday memories of first and second grade are when my teacher or a volunteer aide would pull me aside to another room and work with me on the Controlled Reader projector.

 

In a dark, quiet, and empty classroom, I learned to focus on the left word of a sentence and move slowly to the right. I practiced and practiced from one filmstrip to the next on moving my eyes from left to right. I worked on image strips to practice moving my eyes right to left. I practiced all this without moving my head. And guess what?

Things got better!

Reading was possible.

(There’s a really cool 2018 Wired story by writer Lisa Wood Shapiro on how she works to overcome her dyslexia and how technology is helping people become readers.) 

We didn’t have a boatload of books around the house when I was growing up. I learned to be a better reader through the assistance of my teachers and parents, but still struggled through the middle grades to be a bonafide reader. I loved The Jungle Book. The Disney movie captivated me from a very early age. We had a series of illustrated classics with about twenty pages of text per illustration. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Treasure Island, a few other titles I can’t remember, and The Jungle Book.

I loved that book.

But I never read that book.

I picked the book off the shelf a thousand times. I looked at the pictures a thousand times. Each time I tried to read that book but I reverted to seeing each page as an intimidating blob of letters and words. Frustration would set in, and I’d snap the book shut and return it to the shelf.

I know I should have said something to my parents or teachers. I should have sought help. But I was a big, shy kid and didn’t want to trouble anyone with this embarrassing problem.

Then something wonderful happened. A salesman came around the house and convinced my parents to buy a set of the World Book encyclopedia. My parents made a difficult decision to spend money we didn’t have on this set of books. They even splurged on the annual yearbook!

I found my reading life in those encyclopedias. Schoolwork forced me to open them, but the magic of information given in short bursts of text and pictures contained within was pure magic. Something clicked in my reader-brain. I figured it out.

I slowly became a better reader and a smarter kid. The set of World Book encyclopedias led to the Guinness Book of World Records, which led to comics, which led to the Hardy Boys, which led to eventually reading The Jungle Book. And you know what? It was as fantastic as the story I held in my head all those years.  

So next time I’m asked at an author event what my favorite book was, I have an answer.

The World Book.

Hands down.

After my Dad died and my Mom was preparing to move out of their house, she called and asked me what I wanted of their stuff. I know her idea of “stuff” meant furniture, dishes, etc., but without hesitation, I said I would like to have the World Book encyclopedias and yearbooks they’d used for the previous twenty years as a decoration on top of their kitchen cabinets.

My Mom laughed and thought I was joking, and she thought that until her eventual death. She’ll never know how important those books were to me and how huge a role they played in making me who I am today. I probably never really knew how much of a sacrifice it was for my parents to invest in buying this set of encyclopedias and the annual yearbook every year. These books are history. Part of our history.

I’m a firm believer in letting kids read what works for them. I’ve cut my reading teeth on baseball box scores, cereal boxes, baseball cards, etc. 

Reading is reading is reading is reading.

Reading is indeed a superpower.

 

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Notes of Hope when the world is too much

By on June 28, 2025   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Teacher Tips, Writing  

When it seems like the world is just too much for our kids, when we witness hurt, fear, loneliness, a middle schooler’s loss of family or friends, it’s time to spread some hope. This is exactly how Libby, who comes from a long line of bullies, fights her reputation after finding a stone painted with the words Create the world of your dreams, in Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden. In searching for ways to create that world, Libby, a lonely and art driven middle schooler, sets off a chain reaction of notes of hope when she writes You are awesome on an index card and leaves it outside for someone else who might need a bolster to find.

My own decision to create Notes of Hope with my students came as a project at Mount Mary University to coincide a visit from Diana Chao, originator of Letters to Strangers, to speak about “the largest global youth-run nonprofit seeking to destigmatize mental illness and increase access to affordable, quality treatment, particularly for youth.”

Letters to Strangers, recognizing that it often takes one voice to raise us up, collaborates with student clubs on campuses to write anonymous, heartfelt letters to share vulnerabilities and offer support for others who fight through difficult times.

My class, a group of future teachers, social workers, art therapists, and communication majors, was studying Young Adult Literature. We focused that semester on the literature of mental health and hope. We created origami envelopes using craft cover stock and wrote and decorated notes with ribbons, drawings, and our messages. We wanted to spread the word that creating the world of your dreams, can happen one note of hope at a time. Our Notes of Hope were included as part of the centerpieces at the speakers’ lunch. But my students found the exercise so uplifting that they created over 100 notes and saved some for friends and family, and dropped many more throughout campus knowing the found notes would bolster someone’s day.

Notes of Hope created by students at Mount Mary University and St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee

I repeated this activity with a high school group at St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee, and again, the group experienced an amazing day of peaceful sharing as they designed their notes and wrote hopeful phrases. While I strongly encourage students to write their own words, they were allowed to share those of artists and authors. Although many students began with published words of wisdom, as they personalized their notes, they wrote their own words offering praise for strength and calm and supporting those who struggle with self- esteem and mental health issues. This is an activity that would surely be successful with all ages.

 

In preparing students for this activity, we read Braden’s novel and studied the work of Letters to Strangers. I also created a sample note with Emily Dickenson’s poem:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

Notes of Hope isn’t the only effort to stamp out loneliness and bullying and hate. Author Braden developed the Local Love Brigade where Vermont residents send out postcards to support Vermonters experiencing hate. In an interview for the vt digger, Braden explained her motivation. “Love can be seen as a soft and gentle emotion, but it can also be fierce and strong and powerful. That’s really what we’re channeling here.”

I’d love to see what you and your students create to spread hope and create the world of your dreams. Drop me a line and I’ll post your photos. (aangel@aol.com).

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