Skip to main content

I Love to Read

I don't mean I like to read, I mean I LOVE to read. I need to read. You know how some people say they feel naked or incomplete without their cell phone or watch? I feel that way if I don't have a book in my bag. Even if I'm going to meet a friend or something, you never know what's going to happen and you just might need a book!

Thomas Jefferson once said, "I cannot live without books," and although I've never really felt that he and I would have been best buddies, I understand that part of him well. I have books stacked by my bed, probably in my bed, on my desk, floor, tables, bathroom - I read on BART, while brushing my teeth, in the bath, sometimes while walking, and if there was a way I could read in the shower, I would. I just bought 36 books at our church book sale for $9, and 15 books from a homeless guy in the Mission District for $10. Oh, and checked out 7 more from the library next door to our school.

I am very different than my students in this way. Many of them didn't really have books in their house until their teachers started sending them home. They look at reading as something to be avoided, something scary, and in too many cases, something they are bad at and will always fail at. I'm sure reading experts would have a lot to say about the best methods to teach reading, and I'm sure I learned many of these methods at one point, but it seems that for a lot of these kids, what they need is encouragement that they can do it (it is AMAZING what saying "You're a smart kid," to them 4 or 5 times a day can do), finding books that are interesting, and showing them how much I love reading.

I am by no means the best teacher I know, or even one of them. I don't think teaching is my gift, necessarily, but I do think that relationships with difficult kids is. I love sharing my life (up to a certain extent, obviously) with them, and they feel so important when I tell them how my dog dug through the trash or some innocuous little detail like that. So, I've been trying to make a point of telling them how much I like to read, and how I read at every opportunity, and how many books I get from the library, and how I read more than almost anyone I know... and it totally works. They're getting all into it because that's what they're teacher does.

They have pointed out that maybe I should stop reading when I walk though, especially if I want to avoid spraining my ankle again.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh yeah, I so get the reading thing! My dentist once said to me, as I put my book down so he could actually examine my mouth, "you always have a book with you!" Yup... One of my favorite books as a kid was THE VELVET ROOM about a girl who sneaks into an abandoned house and discovers a library room inside - ever since I've wanted my own personal home library and, looking around at the shelves and shelves and piles and piles of books, I got it! One of my favorite quotes from TELLING SECRETS by Frederick Buechner is: "...books are my passion, not only writing them and every once in awhile even reading them but just having them and moving them around and feeling the comfort of their serene presence."
3:45 PM
Anonymous said…
Yeah, you may love to read, but I still have you beat in sheer number of books in our house.
4:27 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Volunteers

I had some of the most overqualified volunteers ever in my third grade class.  This may have had something to do with the fact that I shamelessly begged my friends to help in any way possible.  I think there were a few friends who I asked to come as soon as I met them, before I was entirely sure of their names.  Some of my volunteers included: -Someone with an MFA helping kids read -a PhD candidate in chemical engineering from Stanford helping with math -a PhD candidate in civil engineering from Cal helping with math -several PhD candidates in engineering from Cal teaching about construction (several years in a row) and helping with a field trip -my extremely talented brother bringing his drums several times -a friend from Pixar who got us tours three different years, once when they were no longer giving tours - and came to the class to sign the kids' toys from Cars . -a physical therapist (who I think has a masters') who helped the kids with reading -many athlet...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Difference a School Makes

Update:   9/28/26: If you are reading this, the spoiler alert is that things got much harder for Jorge after this, and we kept in touch over the decades, even as he’s been incarcerated. He’s getting out of prison in early 2027 and I’m raising money to help him start his life fresh because everyone deserves second chances. Please take a look! Wow. I've talked before about the two kids that a friend and I mentor in a way. I'll call them Jorge (the older one) and Luis (the younger). I had Jorge in my class in third grade and he has had it rough. He's the oldest of six children and was born when his mother was 14. His mom is frequently in rehab or jail, although she seems to have been out for the last couple of years. If she's clean or not is anyone's guess. Jorge helped his grandmother raise Luis. He's always been super over-responsible, stressed out, and had way too many adult responsibilities. About a year ago, Jorge started to crack. He was 13, which isn't f...
1 comment
Read more

Cinderella, retold (and much better)

A seventh-grade student rewrote Cinderella and I think it’s much better! The Dressmakers Once there was a girl named Cinderella whose mother died. Then her father married again, a woman who did not care for Cinderella. She only cared for her own daughters and her husband's fortune. Cinderella’s father made sure they were always fair to Cinderella but two years later,  her father died. Cinderella was left alone with her  stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella was treated like a house maid but got no money for her work. She had to make the meals, iron the clothes and more. But on some things, like cleaning the windows and floor, Cinderella had to clean them five times per day or according to her stepmother, they will not shine as much as they should.    Cinderella would often cry by a tree by her parents' graves. In that tree lived a little bird who Cinderella would talk with. She would talk to the bird about her stepmother’s many chores and little love for her, a...
1 comment
Read more