How do your actions build a reading community?
My family donated Beverly Cleary’s memoir, A Girl from Yamhill, to a 4th grade teacher’s classroom. It was originally purchased for my daughter for Christmas. She hadn’t picked it up yet and didn’t plan on reading it any time soon. Plus we have the “too many books/not enough bookshelves” issue in our home right now.
A couple of days after the memoir was delivered, I caught up with the teacher and asked her about it. “Oh yes, I am looking forward to reading it.” She went on to explain that one of her students saw it and, also being a Beverly Cleary fan, wanted to read it.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“I told her that she could, but that I was going to read it first.”
I love it! How cool is it when a teacher prioritizes her own reading life in front of her students? I thought about some of the messages this one teacher's action conveyed to her classroom community:
My reading life is as important as anyone else’s.
I am not reading just to be a good role model; I genuinely love reading.
I have favorite authors and so should you.
There is no age limit to the literature we have access to in our classroom.
If we don't love reading, I don't know how we can teach readers. It is our choices that communicate our beliefs and values.
Suggestion: For one day this week, think about and list all of the choices you made in your classroom/school as it relates to literacy. Then ask yourself: What did I demonstrate for everyone about my life as a reader and/or reading in general?
If you are happy with the results, keep going! If not, it's never too late to change.
Thanks for reading. I'll be speaking more about my own reading life later this week on my newsletter --> readbyexample.substack.com. Sign up today!