Why I blog.

As an avid reader of a wide variety of materials, I'd like to share my impressions of books that I'm reading and information about my favorite authors.  I cannot imagine a world without poetry, fiction, biographies and history.  While I believe that some people have more of an innate desire to read than others, I also believe that many people who do not enjoy reading have simply not found the right book yet.  I grew up with a reluctant reader who discovered a joy of reading after high school, once he was able to select what he read.  He simply did not find a connection to the required reading at school, much as I would not have a connection to the books he now chooses to read.  

As a teacher, I am dismayed to hear that my students do not know that Shakespeare wrote comedies.  How many students do we turn off by selecting works that they cannot relate to and by refusing to explain the comedy contained in Shakespeare's tragedies?   How many students do we turn off by assigning summer reading that doesn't interest them and then following that up with a test once they return to school?   I have worked in schools in which students enjoyed summer reading because of the selected books and the "book celebrations" that take the place of tests.   Some of the books most often not returned to my bookshelf (and therefore ones that I repurchase) are ones with grammar that makes my hair stand on end, but students cannot wait to read the sequels!   We cannot get students to read books that exemplify excellent writing until we have allowed them to discover that books exist that they actually enjoy.

One of my favorite books related to education explains the differences between an avid reader and a reluctant reader.  The skills that avid readers take for granted can be taught through modeling.  Indeed, when I read to my daughter, I modeled prediction, visualization, connections to her life, and many other skills without thinking about doing it.  Simply saying "What's the quack-quack going to do next?" and pointing to the words as I read them set the foundation to the skills she would later need in school.  Students who were not read to as children can still learn those skills; teachers just need to model the internal dialog that avid readers have while reading much as a parent does with a young child.

While I won't ask what the "quack-quack" does next in my blog, I will write about my reactions and thoughts to books as I read them.  I hope this inspires others to pick up a book by an unfamiliar author or to suggest a new author to me.

Happy reading!