Laurie Smith Blog Post #2 The Pleasure Principal by Nancy Atwell

I like the idea of reading being a "pleasure". It is supposed to be a pleasure, and some students just don't see it that way because they see it as just another way to be tested, questioned, and monitored.  It's more of a task that has to be done to get through school.  In this article it talks about the importance of a reading workshop.  Really getting students interested in reading things they want to read about or find interesting.  Introducing new books by doing book talks and letting them know it is ok to put down a book they have started but not finished if it turns out that it isn't as good as they thought it was going to be.  Atwell states that she lets her students in on the "secrets" of reading that all passionate readers know but are rarely told.

• The right to skip pages
• The right not to finish
• The right to reread
• The right to browse
• The right to read anything
• The right not to read something
• The right to escapism
• The right to read anywhere
• The right to read out loud
• The right to not defend your tastes
• The right to access to lots of books. (her students added this one)

We don't need to have SSR or DEAR to create successful readers.  They don't need to be bribed to read with a treat of ice cream or a teacher dunking booth if they read so many books in an allotted amount of time.  They just need to be taught how to read for pleasure and really get lost in a book.