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BOOK TIME FOR THE FAMILY
A Teacher's Kit for Implementing a Family Reading Program
Michelle Brewer and
Edward Francisco
Paper, $15.95
80 pages, 8½" x 11"
ISBN 0-89390-435-X
View Table of Contents
View Excerpt
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Ever wondered how to get parents to read with their children? Teachers know that family reading improves
academic performance dramatically. It turns family members and teachers into true partners in the educational
process. And family reading allows children to explore their emotions and raise their concerns in the
environment where it matters most: the home. This helps bring families closer together and produce healthier
children. The authors call this process "bibliocounseling." They have tested and proven its success
in their own schools. With this clear and concise resource, you can create a "Book Time" partnership
in your community. Learn how to get started, how to get parents involved, how to set up a class library,
and how to keep them reading!
About the Authors
Michelle Brewer is a classroom teacher and school counselor at Chilhowee Intermediate School in
Knoxville, Tenn. She received her bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Technological University
and her master's degree from Carson-Newman College. Edward Francisco is
associate professor of English and writer-in-residence at Pellissippi State College in Tennessee.
He received his degrees from the University of Tennessee. Brewer and Francisco regularly present
workshops on the Book Time concept.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Section 1: Book Time for the Family
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30 Minutes Can Make the Difference of a Lifetime
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Book Time for the Family: A Habit of Sharing
Section 2: Getting Started
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Planning Suggestions
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Contact with Parents
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Student Questionnaire
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Parent Meeting
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Parent Conference (Parent Questionnaire)
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The Contract
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Parent Workshop
Section 3: The Class Library
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How and Where to Obtain Books
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Setting Up the Class Library
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The Class Librarians
Section 4: How to Keep Them Reading
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Daily Reading Response Logs
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Phone Calls
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Reminder Notes
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Incentives
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Rewards
Section 5: Tips for Parents
Section 6: Developmental Issues and Suggested Reading
Works Cited
Foreword
The act of reading is a crucial part of any educational curriculum at any
grade level. Although debates over reading often center on the particular
books that should be read, hardly anyone questions the instructional and
moral value of reading itself. What is often missing is a framework that
articulates the purpose for reading. Ms. Brewer and Mr. Francisco’s
book
utilizes the concept of bibliocounseling, a technique that, in
its broadest application, allows children to explore their own ideas,
emotions, and concerns. As they note in their introduction, the authors see
that
stories can be used by teachers as “opportunities of revelation, [for]
in responding to stories, children reveal their most intimate problems,
anxieties, fears, and hopes.”
Bibliocounseling structures the act of reading so that children are
not alone. By involving parents and family members daily, bibliocounseling
establishes a consistent, meaningful dialogue centered on reading.
Educational
research shows that children’s interest in school is strengthened
when
school activities are integrated into their home life and supported by
their parents. Furthermore, research supports the notion that interest
and intellectual functioning are highly correlated. This book draws on
these educational principles and provides a very clear and interesting
format by which the act of reading becomes symbiotically bound to both
school and home.
The materials provided in this book could be used to develop the
children’s
interest in stories and books, no matter what is being read. By focusing
on particular kinds of stories, however, the book also addresses important
psychological principles from developmental psychology. Most
developmental
theories stress that a child’s emotional and intellectual growth
proceeds
through a series of stages. Each stage centers on a developmental issue
or crisis, which must be resolved successfully if a child is to develop
normally. Each crisis often produces fear and anxiety in the child; a
successful
resolution often involves the child and his or her parents confronting
the source of anxiety and fear and helping the child develop a safe
passage,
so to speak, through these emotional difficulties. Bibliocounseling provides
a very useful technique to help parents and children develop this safe
passage. By providing a thirty-minute period each day, bibliocounseling
allows parents and children to use the issues that characters confront
in stories to discuss, articulate, and even alleviate their own concerns.
This type of consistent, caring connection has been found to strengthen
a child’s character and provide resources that can be utilized
throughout
his or her life.
Teachers will find Book Time for the Family a useful supplement
to their reading activities, parents will be surprised at how it makes
reading rewarding, and children will be excited to understand that it
suggests
that stories do not live solely on the printed page.
Michael W. Smith, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor/Industrial-Organizational Psychology Program
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
President, TESTPrep, Inc.
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