Ashley Blackwelder Blog Post 3: Routman Ch. 3

This chapter made me want to improve my reading life! As I imagined how I would share my current reading habits with my students, I realized I needed to get a new "now" book...and a "next" book, too! Initially, I started thinking about how I would struggle to make my reading life seem real and appealing to a class full of students; I haven't finished an actual book since the summer. But then I started thinking about Routman's statement, "It's almost impossible for me not to read," and started thinking about my current reading habits from my "teacher of struggling students" and "technology integration specialist" points of view. I realized that the same is true for me, when I really think about the reading that I do. When I am eating breakfast in my quiet kitchen before my family wakes up, I'm scrolling through blogs on parenting or teaching articles. When a new magazine arrives in the mail (usually People, Southern Living, or Parents), I sprawl out on the playroom floor, reading cover to cover, while my child scatters her toys around me. I keep a Pinterest board of books I want to read. My favorite time with my daughter is when we read her two bedtime stories each night, usually her most recent picks from the public library (which may be her favorite place in the world). So, no, I'm not currently reading a novel...but I am pretty much constantly reading something. When I think about that in terms of our kids who struggle, or simply think they don't like to read, I think that my "reading life" can actually offer a lot. Do magazine articles count as reading? Of course. The latest post from The Honest Toddler? It's reading. It's a conversation I think I would actually love to have with the students I've taught for the past few years--an honest discussion about why we may not be reading as much as we wanted to, an opportunity to validate the reading they were doing, and the chance to help them explore a variety of texts and find something they truly wanted to read.

I also love the idea of having the students take ownership over their reading records. It's such a simple idea, and it makes so much sense. When the students know that the record-keeping is mostly for their own information--and that their teacher is trusting them with it--their reading experience in class can change drastically. The same goes for modeling reading and record-keeping strategies with them. It seems like a simple, obvious thing...but it's something we don't always take the time to do. We've got to let kids see what we really do as readers, and how we find pleasure in it, if we're going to expect them to do the same.