The
A-Street
Bruins,
a
special
group
of
students
at
Forest
Park
High
School,
recently
needed
a
reservation
to
enter
their
fourth-period
classroom.
That's
because
their
teacher,
Ashley
Tayon,
transformed
their
classroom
into
a
café,
complete
with
tables
decked
out
with
restaurant
tablecloths,
flowers
for
ambience,
and
paper
place
settings.It was all part of Tayon's sixth annual book-tasting event designed to help her students learn about book genres and discover which ones they loved the most.
"Any time I can dress in a costume or transform my classroom into a different atmosphere, it just elevates the learning process," said Tayon.
Tasting refers to students reading small portions of a book to determine whether the genre appeals to their reading interests.
As students finished sampling their book, Tayon walked around the classroom dressed as a chef holding a platter of books ready to offer students their next book-tasting.
"It goes to the saying of not judging a book by its cover. A student might not read a book because of its cover, so it allows them to open it up, read a page, and see if it's an interest of theirs or not," Tayon explained. "As Dr. Seuss says, 'The more you read, the more you know and the more places that you'll go,' and that is exactly what I'm trying to do here throughout this book-tasting."