The “Reading for Pleasure” high school elective course

Is this for real? This can’t be for real!

There’s really a high school English teacher in Oklahoma whose full-time job is to teach a course called “Reading for Pleasure?”

And it’s really true that 300 students take the class every year?

It seems too good to be true, but apparently, Claudia Swisher really does exist.

I’m very impressed!

Ms. Swisher’s blog — Fourth Generation Teacher — gives details about R4P, an elective that she founded more than 15 years ago. In the class, students read a lot and then respond to what they’ve read. Ms. Swisher reads during class, gets to know her students, promotes books she likes, and responds to her students’ writing.

That’s pretty much it — there’s nothing too fancy. And that’s what I like most about Ms. Swisher and Reading for Pleasure. There are few distractions. The spotlight stays fixed on the students and their reading lives.

Maybe I’ll be fortunate someday to teach a class like Reading for Pleasure. Please check out Fourth Generation Teacher and let me know what you think!

What do you think?