Favorite Practice #1 - What is my teacher reading?

In order to succeed we must build strong relationships with our students and minimize the barriers that divide us. There are countless approaches to take but one of my favorite practice is also my favorite thing about Explore Charter School. At Explore, every teacher's door has a simple sign saying:

Mrs. Teacher is currently reading ___________ by Author X. Next, she will be reading ___________ by Author Y.

It's a nice window into each adult as a person and may even spark some interest in a curious student who wants to know who this teacher is and why they would bother reading a book with a silly title like "What the Dog Saw".

I'll have to track down a picture of one of the signs. May need some help in doing it.

There are some places I would want to take this idea though:

1. The "currently reading" and "next" book is nice, but why not find a way to also have a list compiled of the teacher's life reading list. That way kids could see more of the books their teachers have read and be exposed to more titles.
2. I don't know if students enthusiasm for these signs matches my own, but they have to have strong incentives to motivate their interest here. Why else are you doing it if not for the kid?
3. Students need to do this for themselves too! I've seen lots of book logs, reading logs, reading journals or whatever you want to call them, but I don't love them as much as the life reading list because a) its easier to look back on a list of titles than a stack of reading summaries, b) the list is something that the student can take on and add to even after the classroom project is done.

Later, I'll plan to address my own plans for how to make this work.