Skip to main content

Growing Readers

"I can't stop reading this book! I've never liked a book this much before!" 
- Lexie, English 2, first period.

Beautiful, musical words to my English teacher ears! I grinned for hours after Lexie told me that last Friday, especially since the book she's referring to is my absolute favorite young adult book, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. I've read it three times. Only three! I guarantee I'll read it again too. There's just something about those words in the most amazing combinations that grab me every time! My co-teacher, Mr. Barb, tells me it's because I am the main character, Lennie. Maybe. I've never had a sister. I played the flute rather than the clarinet. But in some ways, I guess I get her. And one day, when I grow up, I want to write like Nelson does. One day...


So selling this book to my sophomore readers is rarely a problem. I gush over it every time I talk it to them; I just can't help it! And finding a reader who loves it like I do simply makes me giddy.

 It also reminds me again why choice reading is so very important. Lexie wouldn't have read any book if I selected it for her. She would probably oppose most of the books taught in a traditional English 2 class. But, with this story, I've got her. Now, she'll follow me to book after book. She's certainly a selective and picky reader, so it'll take trying several each time for her to find the next option - like trying on clothes at the mall. But if I've got her with Lennie and her dead sister and her conflicting love for two boys, why can't I ultimately take her to Daisy and her "love" for two boys? It is possible. And, in the mean time, Lexie just may read 4 or 5 or 10 books this semester! Isn't that better than all those years students left my class having read only the two I picked (if they even read those)?

 Yeah, I doubt myself often as I work through this first year in several million where I'm teaching sophomores again. I worry that we are moving too slowly or covering too little. I search constantly for the right thread to weave my crazy ideas together for these kids. But in the end, I know we're doing something awesome. They are. They bug me for book talks regularly. One of them has already done one for us! And they dive into books each day with little prompting from me. They talk about them and get excited about them and seek recommendations when they finish. 

 They are becoming real, growing readers. And I love it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Friday, Friday!

Last Friday, I drove home wiped. Drained. Empty yet full. It was a day like no other, and I hope to relish in it for a while. First period began with our Friday dance party. Yes, you read that right. The 1600 hall at Hebron High School begins Fridays with Rebecca Black's YouTube classic "Friday"! We sing, we dance, we embarass students as they enter class. We have so much fun! And while those kids may hang their heads as they pass, they also get a tiny chuckle out of their teachers being fools and letting loose. It's good they see us this way. During class, the dreaded moment arrived. A student I taught as a sophomore and had the pleasure of teaching again as a junior withdrew. He'd warned me it was coming. I tried hard to persuade him not go to, even offering to call home and pass on that persuasion, but no. It was happening. Moments before his departure, he handed me a letter I'd assigned a week earlier and asked me to read it while he was still there...
Post a Comment
Read more

Witnessing Growth

I'm still feeling it. Aching limbs. Dreamy, wistful staring. Frequent Twitter checking for inspiration. Frantic starting of too many books. Jotting of one more new classroom idea.  It's the NCTE hangover.  I was extremely fortunate enough to attend the National Council of Teachers of English conference in St. Louis this year. It was my third conference and first time to present. I was anxious and nervous, excited and, to be honest, a little bit sweaty, and it was the coolest experience!  The books! The authors! The electric energy of thousands of giddy English teachers! Those teachers are the ones who made presenting a dream, smiling up at me and nodding as I told my stories and shared my students' experiences.  But that wasn't the best thing that happened. The best thing was my friends. This year, I traveled with five colleagues, five amazingly intelligent, hilarious, witty women. We fit together nicely; two awaken before the roosters, two at a "normal...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Fish Tale

Last weekend, I went fishing with my dad. I packed the kids in my silver mommy van, waded through the 5 o'clock Friday traffic, and arrived at Lake Fork in time to meet Dad coming off the water. He'd found the "honey hole" and snagged two - one over six pounds, the other over seven! He knew where to take us the following day. Saturday, he took out Ian, my ten year old, first at six AM. Ian going out for his first official early morning bass fishing with Pops is enough to melt my daddy's girl heart, and as expected, they had a blast. After they came in for lunch, Emily, my seven year old, and I crawled into the boat with Ian and my dad, and we returned to Lake Fork, the Big Bass Capital of Texas for another round.  Initially, we cruised around in the hot Texas October sun. We found solace in the shade of an old bridge. We "wet a hook" as Dad would say but, sadly, with no luck. Then, evening hit. Fishing frenzy time. Dad returned to the "honey h...
4 comments
Read more