Reading Conferences vs. O.J. Simpson
About every other month I meet with students in my school to talk to them about their reading habits - specifically for independent reading. Instead of meeting with their English teachers, students meet with me to build yet another relationship around books and reading. I’m a pretty big fan of these conferences. It is quite time consuming, but it is a great way to hold rich conversations about reading, recommend books, and get to know the students on an individual basis.
Students each set their own goals in order to work on their reading habits. Sometimes the students meet the goals. Sometimes they don’t. But they are usually extremely reflective (and honest!) about their habits.
Yesterday I was talking to a seventh grade boy about his reading habits. This is verbatim our convo. Because I wrote it all down as soon as he left because I thought it was so hilarious. “I’m sorry, Ms. Nelson, no offense, but I just don’t have time to read. I mean, I can never read on Tuesdays because I have a big night of shows. I can’t miss The People vs. OJ Simpson. Do you watch it? I think you’d really like it. Unless you’d rather be reading, I guess.”
Verdict? The boy is going to try and complete two outside reading books per month, and I agreed to watch the show on Hulu so we can talk about it in the future.
Case dismissed.