Opinion
Education Opinion

The Next Chapter

By Donalyn Miller — September 30, 2012 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Four years ago, Education Week Teacher (formerly Teacher Magazine) invited me to appear as a guest columnist for their Ask the Mentor series. I had never written for publication and I was thrilled about the opportunity to share my ideas about inspiring children to read. One column turned into three and Ed. Week invited me to join their regular bloggers. The Book Whisperer blog led to the publication of my first book, The Book Whisperer, and I have been writing, sharing, and learning with you ever since.

I will always be grateful to Education Week , who took a chance on me--an unpublished, unknown, suburban teacher with unusual ideas about reading instruction. Education Week provided me with a voice and initial audience for my writing, and I have benefited from our partnership. Although I still have a lot to say and a lot to learn, this post will be the last installment of The Book Whisperer blog. I have enjoyed writing for Education Week and I look forward to collaborating with them in the future if the opportunity appears.

For now, I will continue contributing on a regular basis to The Nerdy Book Club blog. When my friend, Colby Sharp, and I started Nerdy last year, we had no idea what an incredible, vibrant community the blog would become. I believe in Nerdy’s mission--that every reader has value and a voice in our community. The Nerdy Book Club invites teachers, librarians, administrators, literacy coaches, authors, illustrators, booksellers, parents, children, and all readers to share their love of reading and participate in a committed community focused on encouraging children to read more and celebrate books.

Reading Nerdy’s daily posts from diverse voices representing every possible corner of the reading world feeds my teaching heart, challenges my thinking, and helps me discover new books and resources for my students and me. I invite you to join the conversation and contribute your ideas, too.

In addition to Nerdy, I will continue to co-write a monthly column with Alyson Beecher for Scholastic’s Principal to Principal E-Newsletter. Our column focuses on school-wide reading initiatives like book clubs, book talking, and promoting reading throughout the school day--providing both classroom and campus-wide suggestions.

Through social media like Twitter (My tweet ID is @donalynbooks) and Facebook (The Book Whisperer page), I find daily support and learning from thousands of professionals using social media to enhance our teaching and advance our learning through collaboration. I look forward to learning with you in these forums.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for reading this blog, sharing it with others, and contributing comments over the years. I have grown as a teacher and a writer because of you. We are colleagues, united in our common goal--to improve children’s lives through reading and books. Our shared journey will continue.

The opinions expressed in The Book Whisperer are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.