Incorporating Personal Development into the Classroom

Prior to starting this school year, I started thinking about how I could get my students to read more of what ACTUALLY was going to make a difference for them. While I know, as an English teacher, that literature is filled with great themes and lessons and that it allows the chance for analytical thinking, I couldn't help but consider that traditional fiction books are not the ONLY type of text that are beneficial for students to read.

And although self improvement books don't lend the same opportunity for analysis of plot, characters, and elements, I realized that many of my students - especially those going straight into their career path and not to college - would still benefit from these types of texts. Having discovered personal growth books and podcasts only three years ago, I constantly wonder what type of person I would have been throughout high school and college had I discovered these materials earlier on. The problem was... I didn't know they existed. I had never even heard of "self-improvement books" until after college, and even then, I was convinced that "I didn't need them."

So I decided to create a unit for my juniors and seniors in my Communications course around reading a book of this style, which got completely funded by a few friends and a total stranger through Donors Choose! When I saw that all my books had been purchased, I was SO excited to start this project with them!

Essentially, each student in the class is assigned one book for the duration of the term (9 weeks). Every day in class, students will read silently while taking notes in their journals or on sticky notes, looking for main ideas, key details, biggest takeaways, lessons, etc. At the end of the term, students will be required to put together a presentation (oral plus using one digital resource) to communicate about their book to the rest of the class. In their presentation, they will talk about what they learned, how they plan to apply it to their life, and they will give a review.

We started the class off with a book tasting. Some students were really excited about having the chance to read some of the books, while others were less than thrilled (as I expected). For the book tasting, I loosely separated the books into four different categories: mindset shift, overcoming obstacles, success habits, and increasing learning.

Students completed this graphic organizer while they rotated through stations. From there, I looked at their responses and assigned books. I tried to give each student one of their top three choices while also taking the student into account (many of my students I've had once or twice before, which makes it easier to know which books would be beneficial for them). If they didn't get one of their top three, I looked at books that were similar to their choices.

Once they got their books, they filled out this independent reading plan. This let them choose how many days a week they would read and divide out their pages to know exactly how many pages they must read a day to stay on track to finish in time to create their presentation before the end of the term!

Today was day one of reading, and so far, so good! If you want to see a full layout of the assignment description, you can do so here.

As always, let me know if you try this with your students!

Until next time,

Paige