Travis Lueth

Almost all of last years donations in one shot.

At the beginning of the last school year, I put out a call to action to the people in my life. I shared an Amazon Wish list with a robust list of modern, diverse titles meant to engage readers across a spectrum of skills and experiences. The response blew me away. It blew the minds (and might have sparked a little jealousy) in the minds of the other teachers at my school as well. In total, a little over 60 books were donated to my classroom library.

It was all part of a little rebellion on my part. I had just come home from a week in Austin at the 2018 International Literacy Association Conference in Austin where I had spent 5 days being inspired by the idea that if we give kids books about them, with characters that look like them, and live lives like them than they will be much more likely to engage with reading. But most importantly, we needed to give them dedicated time to just read. Time everyday for them to read whatever they wanted, no matter what it looked like and what it was about, as long as they were reading. And that most importantly, we had to stop fearing that someone would walk in and see kids that were “just reading”. It’s a reading class. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing!

But I’m happy to report that, IT WORKED. It wasn’t wall to wall success, but there were successes. Kids read. They enjoyed reading. They finished books, often for the first time in years. I almost cried when one of my students, very proudly, told me they finished a book for the first time they could ever remember. Some even finished whole series.

A lot of our titles are sourced from the Project Lit Community’s Annual Reading List.

And so I’m asking for your help again, to help grow this idea in my classroom, because it’s starting to catch on with the other teachers at my school as well. And also to help grow this idea at my wife’s school. Below, you’ll find a link to an Amazon wish list. If you’re feeling generous and willing to help out, I ask that you sort the list by priority. The books listed as Highest and High Priority, are the ones we are most interested in adding to our libraries for this year. You’ll also notice that most books only have a requested quantity of TWO. This way, her and I can each get one copy for the classroom, then gauge its level of success and interest with students, and finally use district and Title 1 funds to order additional copies of the titles we think are doing best with students.

As the weeks march on towards the end of summer and the beginning of school, I’ll be sharing more details about the reasons why this is important, why it matters to teachers, students, and schools, and how research proves that this approach to reading classrooms helps cultivate better students, lifelong learners, and better citizens of the world. So check back each week to see what we’re talking about, share this with other teachers who also teach reading and English, and if it’s right for you, feel free to donate a book or two off the list.