Igniting the Reader Inside You
From the desk of Keela…
Everyone’s book is out there somewhere. You know, the book that ignites the reader inside of you. Some discover it at a young age, others later in life, while others may never discover it.
I feel one of my responsibilities, as a teacher, is to help create life-long readers by fostering moments where my kids can discover their book at an early age. This is why read-aloud time in my class is my most precious and valued time of the entire school day. It’s a magical time of the day when we get to meet and interact with characters in a book, when we feel like we have made new friends. And as we approach the last chapter, we lay our book down and stop reading just for a couple days because we are not ready to say good-bye to our newfound friends.
I select my read-aloud books very carefully. It has to be something with which I feel a strong connection. If I’m invested in the book, there is a chance they will too.
This week in particular, I am swimming in assessments. I have spent every spare moment of the school day finishing up my quarterly assessments, but the highlight of this week for me is our finishing the last chapter of our current read aloud, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. Over the years I’ve discovered the recipe for creating excited readers in my class is a fantastic read-aloud followed by a book celebration.
During this particular book celebration my classroom was transformed into the banquet hall of a castle. Throughout the day we discussed our favorite moments of the book, giggled over Despereaux’s extra large ears (he’s a teeny tiny mouse with larger than average mouse ears), mapped our favorite characters, and made our very own crowns because we were all royalty for the day. At lunch we join our friends (the characters from our book) around our very own banquet hall table for soup! You should know that everyone in the Kingdom of Dor loves soup, so this was a key element of our celebration. Through my teacher goggles, nothing beats watching my kids experience this book with all of their senses.
I have enjoyed numerous book celebrations during my years of teaching and each celebration is just as unique and special as each child and class. I have seen more readers sparked through book celebrations than any guided reading group or literacy circle could create. They are, without exception, worth every ounce of extra work and energy required to make them special.
As a teacher, I know our days are overwhelmed with endless lists of tasks to be completed by the end of the school day. But let us not forget that our read-aloud time in class should be bubble-wrapped and protected. To me it’s a sacred time and nothing should take its place.
Perhaps Kate DiCamillo says it best when she wrote these words: “Once upon a time,” he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.” May we instill the power of these words in our students.
Keela Gallagher is a guest blogger for ERG. When she is not blogging, she creates excited readers in her 1st Grade classroom at The Downtown School, a public magnet school in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School system.