Ep 53: Reading Genre Wheel was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best audio automated transcription service in 2021. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.
Hey, teachers, if you have a classroom and a commute, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Rachael, and I want to ride along with you each week on your ride into school. This podcast is the place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and just want to enjoy their job more. Let's go.
We like what we like. I always order the same chicken dish at my favorite Indian restaurant. It's delicious and it's not worth the risk to order something different and end up not liking it. Plus, the gazillion options on the menu always overwhelms me. I just don't feel like taking the time to review each item. Are you like that, too? It's human nature to gravitate toward what we know we will like. But, if I'm being honest, every time I order takeout from my favorite Indian restaurant, I wonder what am I missing? Which of the other dishes on that menu would blow my mind and be so amazing? I'm not willing to try it because I like what I like now. Several months ago, my husband brought home some food that his Indian coworker had made from home. She's a great cook and she makes the most amazing Indian food. Often she'll bring it in to share with her co-workers. Now, this, of course, is before covid when we could actually share food. When he brought some home for me to try, I loved it. I had been missing out big time. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on abandoning my oldie but goodie menu option any time soon. Now I have two options to order from the next time I do takeout. You might be asking, Rachael why are you talking about Indian food? Simple, really. It's all about trying something new. When we try something new, we just might like it, or better yet, we just might love it.
In this podcast episode, we're going to be talking about those students who always stick to their favorite reading genre and rarely dabble in any other. We all have those students who will only read The Magic Tree House books, or a mystery book, or you fill in the blank. They like what they like and rarely deviate from it. But, what if there was an amazing reading genre just waiting for them that they would actually love if they gave it a chance! It's our job as teachers to expose our students to a variety of genres throughout the year to turn our students into well-rounded readers. Now, many of you know that I have a Members Resource Library. It's a free resource library for upper elementary teachers. If you're not already a member, I would encourage you to sign up. Like I mentioned, it's free, and you can do so by heading over to the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/53. The reason I mention it in today's episode is because there is a free resource in there that has been by far one of the most downloaded resources in the entire library. It's a reading genre wheel. I'm going to be talking about that and how we can use it to encourage our students to try a variety of reading genres. It's a very simple tool and it's something that you can begin using right away. Before we get into the nitty gritty on how to use that tool, let's first quickly discuss the importance of reading a variety of genres.
Helping our students to explore a variety of genres not only makes them a well versed reader, but also makes them better readers. Here's just a few perks to having genre savvy students. Number one, different genres will expose students to different sets of vocabulary terms that are genre specific. Students will come across very different words and phrases in a science fiction book then they would in a historical fiction book. Both are equally important to expanding and developing their vocabulary. Exploring varying genres will also expose students to different story and text structures. Take graphic novels versus poetry or mysteries versus informational. These are vastly different in how the text and the information is presented to the reader. We want to make sure that our students are exposed to all of those different structures so that, should they be presented with one later on down the line, they have seen it before and have had some experience on how to navigate the text. In addition, reading a plethora of reading genres will give students a taste of different writing crafts, which of course can then influence their own writing. We talked last week in Episode 52 all about how students can use an authors writing as inspiration for their own writing. When we give them more genres to pull from, we're going to give them more inspiration to influence their own writing. Reading different genres also helps to contribute to a student's social and emotional growth. I think we all could agree, after a year like 2020, we could all use a little social and emotional growth. The more variety a student reads, the deeper the understanding a student will have about social and emotional issues. They learn new ways of expressing thoughts and feelings through the characters and topics in the books that they read. Finally, new genres can inspire young readers and help them develop new passions and interests that they may not have otherwise been exposed to. Of course, the list can go on and on and on, but I'm sure you get the point.
Reading a variety of genres is important in your students reading journey. Enter in the Reading Genre Wheel. When students use a Reading Genre Wheel to track their book variety, it's easy to see which genre they are die hard for and which ones they totally neglect. It's a quick assessment for both you and the student. It helps encourage them to venture out and try something new from their wheel. If you've never seen my Reading Genre Wheel before, let me describe it for you. It's essentially a large circle divided into several sections, similar to a pie graph. Each section of the entire circle is labeled for a genre. You have a poetry section, a mystery section, a science fiction, a historical fiction and so on. Inside each section are small little circles. Each of those small little circles will represent one book that they read from that reading genre. Here's how it works. Each student receives their own Reading Genre Wheel to keep in their readers notebook, folder, or wherever you have them keep their reading materials. Each time a student completes a book, they'll color in one of the smaller circles within the reading genre section on their wheel. Each genre will use a different color. For mystery, they could color in each mystery book that they read with green. They can color in each poetry book that they read with red and so on. This Reading Genre Wheel is a great visual for students to see which books that they are reading and which ones that they're completely neglecting. As several months go by, they might say, 'Hey, I haven't circled any of my science fiction circles. Maybe I should choose that type of book'. Next, as your students fill up their wheel, you're going to provide them with additional wheels throughout the year. It's okay that they fill it up. They're just going to get a fresh one and start over again. During your reading conferences, you can refer to this wheel often and encourage students to read from different genres that you see have been neglected on their wheel. You might even make it a challenge to complete one circle from each genre before going back and repeating.
Here's a quick tip. Whenever I would use a reading genre with my students, I would also have a class Reading Genre Wheel that I enlarged on bigger paper. I would put it near our reading area where I would do our mini lessons. Each time we read a book as a read aloud, I would also complete a circle within our Reading Genre Wheel. Again, it was a constant reminder that I wanted them to read a variety of genres and that I would be doing the same in our mini lesson read aloud. I would just make it part of the students reading routine. At the end of our reading time, they would pull out their Reading Genre Wheel when they've completed a book and they would circle in one of the circles on their Reading Genre Wheel. It really is just a simple tool. It's a great visual and something that you can refer to to encourage them to continue reading new genres.
Now, if you already own my readers notebook, whether it's the printable or digital version, you already have access to this Reading Genre Wheel because it's included in that resource. If you don't have the readers notebook, you can still get the Reading Genre Wheel over in our FREE Members Resource Library over at classroomnook.com/resources. I will link to it in the show notes so that you can get your hands on it.
All right guys, that's it for me today. Really short and sweet today. I always like to send you in the classroom with an actionable tip. Hopefully this is something that you can begin using in your classroom right away if you are not already and see some benefit and some increase in your students genre selection.
Thank you so much for joining me today. If you haven't already left a review for the podcast, take a quick second to do that now before you head off into the next part of your day. I will be back here again next week with another episode. Bye for now.
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