Skipper's Blog Post #1 Reading Essentials by Reggie Routman Share Your Reading Life

This chapter was very interesting to me because I do not think about sharing my reading life with my students because I haven't had much of a reading life.  I have never been someone who loves to read for fun.  As a child, I didn’t really learn to read until 5^th grade.  I could read enough to get me by, but I couldn’t read much more than that.  I was in the gifted program from 1^st grade on, so my teachers weren’t concerned with my lack of reading ability.  There was nothing that said that children could be gifted but have difficulty in an area.  My 5^th grade reading teacher was different though.  She noticed my lack of reading ability and lack of desire to become a better reader so she took it upon herself to help me find my love for reading.  She taught me how to look for books that I enjoyed in the library and helped me get hooked on reading.  From that point on, I practiced reading because I wanted to and became a better reader.  Since that experience I have read out of necessity for my job or education and I read things that I enjoy as a way to escape.  I am very thankful for my experience in 5^th grade and hope to pass that on to my students.  After reading this chapter, I now want to share more with my students about my reading life.  I want to instill the love of reading in them that I didn't have as a young child.