Anita Branum- Blog Post 1: Share Your Reading Life
I love to read
and I want my students to feel the same way about it. Many times throughout the school year when I
am sharing a read-aloud, I will say “this is one of my favorite books”, the
students will respond with, “You say that a lot.” I get so excited when I am
sharing a book that I love and it makes me happy when a student returns from
the library with the same book because they enjoyed it.
The quote by the
author that stood out to me in this chapter was, “While excellent teaching is
essential, without time to practice and read extensively, students will not
become readers.” This reinforces how I
must build time into my day for students to practice and it must be books they
enjoy and have chosen for themselves.
I know from my own children, they were not always enthusiastic about
books they were assigned but they would devour books they had picked out themselves.
Last year, I had
the privilege of being part of the book club “Readers are Leaders” at our
school. The club met one day a month
after school. Students were allowed to
pick a novel to read and then meet to discuss the book. It was great listening to students discuss
the novels and even though they didn’t like all the books they could share in
the discussion and have their ideas heard.
One of my favorite
teacher moments was at a parent-teacher conference last year. A mother shared with me that her daughter had
never really enjoyed reading until her second grade year. She shared that her daughter would make them
sit on the sofa in the evening while she stood in front of them, holding the
book like a teacher, and reading in a very dramatic voice. She told her parents, “That’s how my teacher
does it.” Her mom shared with me how her
daughter’s love for reading had exploded.
That story made my year!!!
This chapter
reiterated what I already knew, in order to teach a love for reading, you must
love to read!!!
I think it is wonderful how such a simple thing as sharing books that you love can encourage students to be readers as well. It reminds me of what my mother said, "you get more bees with honey, than with vinegar." Making reading a sweet, enjoyable time turns them on to reading. Helping them to see and believe and be a reader makes all the difference in the world. They may not come to us as readers but our love for them and for the wonderful books we can share certainly can make them into the readers we hope they can be.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story you shared at the end of the blog! How cool. :) I also find it funny when students will want to pick the book that I had just read aloud to the class once I am finished with it. I also love to show them books during our library time that I feel they would enjoy, because they were books that I loved when I was there age.
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