The end of year posts and tweets were all about the best books of 2013. That was all fine and dandy, but the by the time I entered this "reading connection" I was reading the books many others read 6-8 months ago...behind the times!
This summer I started a Goodreads account, logging books read and starting a TBR shelf. I even started their Reading Challenge, clearly marking it summer reading because I was...behind the times!
2014 started and I was now ready to set reading goals and participate in challenges. I knew there were many books from 2013 that I still wanted to read, so I decided to join Carrie Gelson for the #MustReadin2014 at There's a Book for That.
I knew that nonfiction was a reading gap for me although I have over 500 nonfiction titles in my classroom. So, I decided to join Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy for her Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.
I set my Goodreads challenge and posted that on my blog. I was ready to go. Let the reading begin!
THEN this week I came across this post here on Twitter about not setting reading goals. And started reading tweets from Katherine Sokolowski and Colby Sharp about how setting goals were getting in their way of reading...
What! Am I behind the times again!
Would love to hear your thoughts on this - do reading goals get in the way of reading? I will be blogging more thoughts on this later.
I think you can go either way. I've participated in the Goodreads Challenge for years, but I kept raising and raising my number and stressing about reaching it. For me, I decided to take a year off from that.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I do talk to my students about goals, but encourage them to make them realistic. We also revisit them this week and readjust if needed. And the non-fiction challenge Allyson does is completely fun. I think you pick the challenges that work for you and move on from there! Enjoy!
Good morning Leigh Ann! First, I have to tell you that I LOVE the image you chose. I think you always have to do what's right for you. If there's one thing I've learned in my years of teaching, it's that there really isn't one right way to do most things. So, I say, look to yourself for guidance and decide what works for you. If it stresses you out, that's a sign to not do it. If it brings you joy, go for it. :) I want to join in the book blogs you mentioned. I was too tired to blog last night, but I'm hoping that I can get on board next week.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, did you have your kids do OLW? I would love to connect with other classes who are doing it. Can you email me at juliaajohnson at yahoo dot com? I'd love to touch base with you.