Riveting Results™ suggests that there are times in the school year for students to do just that. But, reading whole class books is an invaluable way to engage all students in the joy of reading and to make steady progress in reading skills.
When the whole class is reading the same book, the teacher can focus more on students' individual needs and can also bring the class together in a variety of socially satisfying ways. The common text is a uniquely powerful focus that puts every student, no matter his or her background, on the same playing field during classroom activities.
When an individual chooses his or her own book, it is necessarily a gamble, and that individual can't know whether or not the text will serve the purposes he or she hopes it will. Books that are part of the Riveting Results program are guaranteed to both hold students' attention and provide the instructional experiences necessary for a range of student readers to make progress on their skills.
