40 Book Challenge

In the Beginning

I have been incorporating the 40 Book Challenge in my classroom for 4 years.  The first year I started was when I taught 4th grade.  A fellow teacher recommended Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer, and I was hooked.  This was the first and only year I taught 4th grade.  The years before, I had taught 5th grade, but only math and science.  This was my first experience with reading and independent reading.  Reading had always been my passion, but my school needed me to teach math and science, so when the opportunity came for me to teach something different, I took it.  The plan for that year in 4th grade was for myself and the teacher who recommended The Book Whisperer to teach language arts as well as incorporate social studies.  The other two teachers were assigned the math curriculum.  We decided to modify the 40 Book Challenge to the 24 Book Challenge.  We thought having 24 books as a goal would better fit with our 4th graders as opposed to 40 books.  Neither of us were impressed with what had been used for independent reading for several years which was AR points.  We wanted something different and we felt the ideas we learned from The Book Whisperer were what our students needed.  I wish I could say it worked like a charm, but to be honest, it was a big mess.  Even though Donalyn Miller strongly suggests in her writings to not use reading logs, we still felt they were necessary.  We were wrong.  We had trouble keeping track of who was reading what, and with several other instabilities among the grade level, we felt like we had gone down a crazy rabbit hole with no end in sight.

The 40 Book Challenge: For Real

The following year, I taught 6th grade ELA and social studies.  I knew I wanted to give the 40 Book Challenge a try again.  I should've reread the book, but instead, I went on Teachers Pay Teachers to see what resources supported this idea. There were templates from the product I bought which I used for students to keep up with their progress.  I had a file folder for each of my students and each time we conferenced, I pulled out their file to keep track of the books they had read.  It wasn't quite as "messy" as it was the year before, but I was still disappointed because not every student of mine loved reading by the end of the year like I thought they would.   I still thought it was better than AR points and goals, although they had the option of taking an AR test to prove to me that they read finished a book, or they could write a book summary in their journal. I was surprised by the amount of students who chose to take AR tests, but there were also several students who said that they liked the option of writing down a book summary.  These were the students who were never successful with AR.  With AR, they get one chance to prove that they have read a book and if they don't score an 85% or above, then they "failed."  I can't think of how discouraging that would be for a struggling reader.

Over the summer before the following school year, I reread The Book Whisperer.  I felt like I still believed in this concept, but I also couldn't help but wonder if I was missing something.  I finally decided to ditch reading logs.  My top reading student from the year before who had read about 60 books never turned in his reading log.  I kept reprimanding him for it and taking points off his homework grade, but then I realized that I was completely missing the point.  He was obviously reading.  He didn't need to fill out a reading log to prove that to me.  There were also students who were religiously filling out reading logs, but never finishing books.  So, obviously, the reading logs were completely pointless.  Another point I had missed from that year was that students needed more class time for independent reading.  This was a huge challenge.  I'll come back to this issue momentarily.

So, the following year began, but this time I decided to utilize Google drive for the 40 Book Challenge templates.  I had two 90 minute ELA classes, so I created a folder for each class.  Each student had their own template which I could access at any time.  Every time I had a conference with a student, I could add completed books to their digital template.  This proved to be much easier to organize than tangible files.  I also had the students fill out reading surveys at the beginning of the year via Google Forms.  I used these surveys for my introductory conferences with each student.  By the end of the year, it seemed that the students were more successful with their reading goals, although not every student had developed a love for reading like I wanted.

Back to the Drawing Board

This past year in school, I had to deal with a huge curve ball.  The 6th grade schedule changed from 90 minute blocks to more of a departmentalized schedule.  I was now sharing standards with another language arts teacher who had never heard of the 40 Book Challenge, however, she was very supportive.  The students were still going to have 90 minutes of language arts, but two 45 minute classes with two different teacher instead of one 90 minute class with one teacher.  I really had no idea how I was going to get the 40 Book Challenge to work.  My teaching time was literally cut in half and I had to make sure I was following through with my part in teaching the Indiana State Standards. The ideas and concepts from The Book Whisperer were things I still believed in, so I was determined to make it work.  One of the best moves I made this year was to utilize Google Classroom for the 40 Book Challenge templates.  The students had their document which I updated, but now they could check their progress through Google Classroom.  Whenever they asked me how many books they had read,  all I had to do was remind them to check Google Classroom.  I also broke up with AR completely.  The system updated and it took forever to load, so I used that as an excuse to stop using it.  Instead, I started using Whooose Reading.  I used the free version which worked pretty well for being free.  I love how the questions are all open-ended.  The students don't like this as much as AR because, well they have to think a little harder, but it's so much more than reading to pass a test.  Also, they are in control of the questions and answers.  If a question doesn't make sense to them, they can change the question.  They also are more in control of their answers.  With AR, they had to answer a certain number of questions, and too bad if a few didn't make sense, with Whooose Reading, that's not the case anymore.  Which is the entire point of the 40 Book Challenge...not to read to just pass a test, but to have students see reading as a process...as a lifelong skill.  When they read, they may not comprehend everything about the book they finished, but I guarantee you they gained something from reading any book that they complete.  I am hoping I convinced my school to go with the paid version of Whoose Reading to replace AR.

Getting back to giving the students class time for independent reading.  I still struggle with that...even more so this past year with my class time being cut in half.  I was able to give students more time for independent reading the first semester than I was the second semester.  During the first semester, I tried to begin class with about 10 minutes of independent reading while I met with at least three students.  This replaces "bell" work for me.  Donalyn Miller explains that "busy work" doesn't benefit students the way that independent reading does.  So, instead of giving students "busy work" at the beginning of class, they knew they were supposed to read.  Whenever I had to cut this time short, they groaned and complained because they actually began to enjoy reading.  However, with the second semester comes standardized testing.  By the time we return from Christmas break, I have to hit the ground running with the standards that still haven't been covered in order to prepare the students for the test.  So, there really was not nearly as much time as what was needed for the 40 Book Challenge.  I encouraged the students to keep reading at home, but most didn't.  Also, this was the first year every student had their own Chromebooks, so instead of utilizing time during homeroom to catch up on reading or any other assignments from other classes, most students were busy wasting time on mindless games.

The Benefits

While my version of the 40 Book Challenge is still a work in progress, I do believe there have been more positive outcomes than negative.  Conferencing with my students has allowed me to have good rapports with my of my students.  Through conferencing, I was able to get to know who they were.  I could also tell anyone on any given day which books my students were reading.  Sometimes the conferences were not about books....sometimes they would open up with me about their crummy homelives or bullying issues they were having with some of the other students at school.  Had it not been for the book conferences, I don't know if they would've opened up with me about their problems outside of the classroom.  There have been several times I would report straight to the counselor's office as soon as class was over to discuss a student I had concerns about after a conversation we had during a book conference.  I am a strong believer in positive relationships between a student and a teacher being the key to a student's success, and theses book conferences allow those relationships to bloom.

This student proudly completed the I Survived series for the 40 Book Challenge

Another positive experience I have found with the 40 Book Challenge is bonding with my students over books.  I am a huge Harry Potter fan.  This year I transformed my class to reflect Hogwarts as much as possible on my small budget (cough, cough, what I could afford out of my own pocket).

The Magic of Words!  This was a Teachers Pay Teachers Find.  Each poster has an example of a specific type of figurative language from the HP series.  When one of my students completed the series, he pointed to the different posters and explained how he got the meaning. 

It's kind of hard to see, but there are floating candles coming from the ceiling.  This was a fun Pinterest idea.  

My class library.  It's been a work in progress for the past 4 years, but  I am always very proud of my collection.  

I developed a Harry Potter Book Club.  When a student finished a HP book, I would add their name to a list displayed under the book's picture, and then they would receive a small prize for completing the book.  The prizes would reflect something from the story that they would only get having read the book.  For instance, for The Chamber of Secrets, they would get a sock, for The Prisoner of Azkaban they would receive chocolate kisses.  For fellow fans out there, the prizes mentioned need no explanation :).  One of my students was so motivated by my HP book club that he finished the entire series in less than one complete grading period which is less than 9 weeks.  This student was a troubled kid with a terrible home life.  He didn't get along with the other teachers, but he and I developed this amazing rapport.  At the end of the school year, he had read 70 books.  I've also bonded with students over the Lunar Chronicles, The Magisterium Series, and the Serafina series to just name a few.  Books have that power.  They bring people together in ways not possible without their existence.

The Chamber of Secrets Award: a sock

The Prisoner of Azkaban Award: Dementor Kiss Away (chocolate kisses)

The Goblet of Fire Award: a plastic dragon

The Order of the Phoenix Award: a galleon (plastic coin)

My Two Cents

My advice to any teacher out there that wants to give the 40 Book Challenge a try: read The Book Whisperer first.  If you try this without reading Donalyn Miller's book, you are going to become frustrated with the messiness the first year you do this.  You more than likely will give up.  After reading her book, you will still have lots of questions, but you'll be ready to start.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Whisperer-Awakening-Inner-Reader/dp/0470372273

 Secondly, expect that first year to be a big work in progress.  There may be some ideas from Miller's book that don't work for you or the demographic you are teaching.  That's ok.  Take what you can and modify the challenge to best fit your students.  One modification that I am making this next year is to do away with the book generes.  I haven't found much success with the genres, and I have observed with my students they seem to be more of a hinderance rather than a tool to encourage a love of reading.  I might have them customize their genere goals, or maybe encourage completing series for some students who are into books with a series.

One final piece of advice is to try to get parents on board with the 40 Book Challenge as much as possible.  I encourage the parents to read books with their children.  Kids still need that bonding time with parents, and sitting down and reading a book together or even at the same time, offers so much in terms of good quality time between parent and child.  Also, if parents can show their children that they support the 40 Book Challenge goal, students are more than likely to meet and may even read over that amount.  I still have parents that don't see this goal as important, and it really reflects on their child's success in my room.  So, that's still a work in progress for me as well...to try to help my parents to see the lifelong benefits of developing lifelong readers.