Share a Story Day 4: Leisure Reading v. Homework

Do you know this story? Are worried about it? Have you lived it? Maybe lived through it and have some ideas to share? Then this is your day!

On Tuesday, in her post at Finding Wonderland, Tanita Davis explained that she saw Share a Story as an event for the "wee ones." Admittedly, our goal is to encourage people to read early and often ... but we also want to encourage a lifelong love of reading, and we have to get through puberty (and lots of homework) to get there.

So who better to host today's theme -- and share all of the facets of the challenge -- than Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, the dynamic duo of A Year of Reading and regular contributors to Choice Literacy, the "home on the web for K-12 literacy leaders." (emphasis mine)

Here's how Franki starts us off ...

As a classroom teacher, I have always struggled with reading homework.  I know that when reading is assigned, it feels like a chore to me, I don't like it and I go through the motions of reading and I don't want that for my students. But I also know that the amount of reading kids do, makes a difference.

Parents and librarians see the same thing ... we want to keep that passion ignited, but know that this is a mighty steep hill. Franki and Mary Lee have asked some of their blogging colleagues to talk about free v. assigned reading. They are also encouraging you to share your thoughts so that we can have a really great discussion!

Here's today's lineup.

• At A Year of Reading, Franki Sibberson shares a story (with link) about her then-6-year-old daughter Ana and her book choices.
• Franki also includes a link to Lisa Koch's article "My Son, Clark Kent" about the impact home reading had on her son. (Choice Literacy)
• AM Literacy Learning, Ann Marie Corgill interviews her eight-year-old nephew, Jack, about his reading.
• Sharon Taberski talks about "Reading for the Fun of It" on her blog, It's All About Comprehension.
• At Catching Readers Before They Fall, Pat and Katie share a post called "Puppies or NASA?"
• Cathy at Reflect and Refine tackles the issue of take home books and supporting students in choosing Just Right books in a variety of ways in her post, Real Reading.
• Deb Frazier at Primary Perspective show us how a tool like VoiceThread can help create lifelong readers in her post "Reading Like Readers -- Naturally."
• Katie DiCesare at Creative Literacy explores "Connected Learning Instead of Homework."
• Patrick Allen reflects on those mundane tasks he has asked children to do over the years in his post, "Repent....The Homework Taketh Away..."

Updated:

• At Educating Alice, Monica has a post about some recent homework that demonstrated a love of reading in "In the Classroom: Book Reviews."
• Carol, at Carol's Corner, is thinking hard about Reading Homework in high school.
• Sarah Mulhern talks about Writers Notebooks: Literacy Outside of School at The Reading Zone.
• At Literate Lives, Karen thinks about "What Does Reading Homework Look Like?"

Franki and Mary Lee got up extra, extra early to get this all lined up to go live before the first bell rang this morning ... do go over and give them a big thank you and maybe a (((hug))) or two.