A Question for Self-Reflection

I was doing my nightly rounds through Pinterest (I love summer vacation!) when I stumbled across a blog I’d never visited before. As I read a few of her posts, Pernille Ripp asked this question “Would you like being a student in your own classroom?” What a profound question! I had never really thought about this before. Yes, I’ve tried to put myself in my students’ shoes before, but never had I considered how I would feel if I were a fulltime student in my classroom. As I make my grand plans for the school year I will keep this question in mind. To help myself to remember, I made this sign.

I hope, upon deep reflections, my answer will be a booming “YES!”

Traveling Library

Each week, my students create class books. They are usually about a subject we are studying or a response to a book we have read. Here are some of the books that we make. Every student contributes a page, we add a front cover and then we staple or bind the book together. Each book is put into the bucket we call our “Traveling Library.” 

Each day as we leave for lunch, we grab the library to take to the cafeteria with us.  When the students finish eating, they entertain themselves with a good book. The rules of the Traveling Library are taped to the outside of the bucket. We use these:
    1.  Choose only one book at a time.
    2. Read quietly.
    3. Take good care of the books.
    4. Have fun!

We add books to the library all year. The students are always proud to publish and enjoy having the chance to read their books every day.