Title Talk Speed Dating

Our school hosted our first Title Talk Speed Dating event today during each of our grade level planning periods because we very much believe that we, as teachers, must be excited about books and reading in order for our students to be excited.  We are our students' reading mentors and must model a literate life which includes being familiar with children's literature so that we are well-equipped to match readers to books that they will not be able to put down!

We started with some decorations and an organizer so our teachers could track titles and jot down notes about specific titles (we may have also had Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" playing as teachers entered the Media Center).

We are very fortunate to have a principal who understands the importance of independent reading (with support) and trusts that this is the best and only way to grow readers.

Our incredible Media Specialist pulled a wide variety of titles from our Media Center shelves so that teachers could immediately check out titles and take them back to their rooms.

As we continue to make building our classroom libraries a priority, we were able to give 2nd and 3rd grade teachers the books we had purchased for them (this had been done previously with other grade levels and will continue in the future as funds allow)!

It's exciting to think about the impact that something like this will have on our students!  We heard great conversations among teachers, wonderful ideas about bringing students into the Media Center so they could "Speed Date" with books, and even "caught" a 3rd grade classroom implementing Speed Dating into their Reading Workshop this afternoon!