How did you become a lover of books? Or a bookworm, or a life long reader, whichever term you prefer.
I think about this a lot, as I am, in a way, an introduction for many students into stories. I teach a pivotal grade where students begin to realize books are portals to magical lands, and the gateway to adventures. Some have already figured that out, some view books as a drudgery they must get through at school before they can go home and do the fun stuff. Technically, my job is to teach them how to draw out knowledge and understanding from books and use it in their school work. I also personally feel my job is to teach kids how amazing books are. My hope is that students will leave my classroom with a love of reading which will sustain them throughout their life.
The question is, how?
I think back to my childhood, a dreamy time where fact and fiction wove together and seemed inseparable. Books were everywhere in my childhood home. Shelves in the living room towered over me, full to the brim with books I loved and books I did not yet know. My mother was my teacher, and reading aloud was a part of our daily routine, as was reading to ourselves. Not all of my siblings grew up to be voracious readers, but it was hard not to be in such a house. I became a reader because books were everywhere, because going to the library was an exciting event to look forward to, because it was a red letter day to get your own library card. When you have access to books innumerable, when they are celebrated and enjoyed by the adults in your life, it is hard to not become a reader.
I am not so naive as to assume my students have the same background. I watch them pull out a book on the first day of school and consider very carefully what to do with it. With many side glances at me, they open their book, usually the right way around the first try, and read the a page. Some start at the beginning and end at the end. Some skip around, reading a page here and a page there, wondering what the fuss is about. Some pull out a book from their backpack, tattered and well loved. Some hunt for the perfect book on my classroom shelves that is not too babyish, but with enough pictures, for half an hour.
They do not have the same background or the same type of home as I did. So I do my best to become the place of books. I am always on the hunt for books for my classroom library, it is ever expanding and changing as my students change from year to year. I read to them, and read to them, and read to them. I feel funny as I attempt to do all the voices, but when I look up an avid listener invigorates me to keep going. I give them time to read every day with no distractions, nothing else on their mind except the book in front of them. At this time of year, in my classroom you will find readers of every sort. The audio book listeners, the I-spy book lovers, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans. Most of them have figured out what all the fuss is about.
But will it transfer from year to year? Will they go to the next grade with a book in their hand? Or will it end as soon as summer begins? I don’t know.
All I can do is teach them how wonderful books are and encourage them to read and read and read no matter what. I hope that will be enough.
Shaina Merrick
The Beauty of a Story 