Norma Blanton – Blog Post #2  Share Your Reading Life (Ch 3. Routman)

I really like the idea of this chapter.  Like the author, reading is a big part of who I am as a person.  I’m not happy if there isn’t a stack of unread books by the bed.  Barnes and Nobel is my favorite place and family knows to give me books as presents.  I keep a bag of books and magazines under my desk at school just in case I find a few minutes to read.  But I have never thought of sharing that part of who I am with my students.  I think it is because I teach the youngest students, and I’m not sure I could it would matter to them.  And I certainly couldn’t share my latest favorite genre……true crime. 

I do love the idea of sharing my reading habits and how I choose books, my personal library and my favorite authors.  I am fully aware that many of my students come from homes where reading isn’t a priority.  Many of the parents I have taught say that they dislike reading.  Sometimes it goes back to limited education or a bad experience.  I have had parents tell me that they can’t read to their children.  I always tell them to read in Spanish!  The experience and bonding that takes place when a parent reads to their child transcends language.  And bilingual readers will get the best job any day.

So our challenge is teaching the love of reading when we may be the only person our students see reading.  I remember a few years ago letting students choose a book after they had completed a certain number of lessons in SRA.  I’ll never forget the student who lovingly looked over the pile of books several times before carefully choosing one on animals.  He had the most reverent look on his face.  What he said stopped me cold.  “Thank you Ms. Blanton, I am so happy…..now I have 3 books!  It is easy to forget that the thing that gives me so much pleasure is not easily accessible to all.    

I wish that as teachers we had an opportunity to share our “reading lives.”  Maybe we could take a portion of one of our classes to talk about what we love to read, favorite authors and characters.  I bet we would learn much that we didn’t know about each other, and that one exercise could change perceptions, build bonds, and create shared experiences.