Book Choice: Student-Selected Reading in Secondary English Language Arts and Reading Classrooms

• In Event: Research in Reading and Literacy SIG Virtual Paper Session

Abstract

The tension between ideal reading and ideal reader has affected English literature teachers throughout the history of American education. As contemporary teachers grapple with this tension, many turn to new, often unstudied, strategies to encourage students to read and to adopt an identity as a reader.
This descriptive multiple case study explores one such strategy, book choice, through interviews with and artifacts from three veteran teachers. They implement book choice in a variety of ways, many of which do not align with book choice as it is defined in the literature. These convergences and divergences draw attention to the nuances of the practice and create an opportunity for discussion of who faces more barriers to its implementation.

Author

• Jess Smith, Bellarmine University
  Presenting Author