I am lucky that in the school district where I work,
teachers put together a 2-day workshop for new and current teachers to come and
think together before the school year begins.
It’s simply called Leadership Academy.
I do think of these people as leaders because like many of us educators,
this is all done on their own time and with no monetary reward.
Dave Stuart, Jr. was the keynote speaker. He is an teacher, father, educational blogger
and author of the ebook These Five Things, All Year
Long. He shared a story about
Warren Buffet asking his pilot to write down 25 professional and personal
goals. Dave invited the audience to do
the same and gave us a time limit.
I quickly began jotting down my goals. The next part of this activity was to put a
star next to the 5 most important ones.
And after that…
He shared Warren Buffet’s admonition to ignore the rest of
the list. The idea is that working on
any of the other goals will take time and energy away from the top 5.
So, it’s in the spirit of less is more that I am narrowing
down my focus from three questions to one.
Instead of:
- How can I help my students build a reading life with purpose?
- Can I help my student build reading connections with a more capable buddy outside of the classroom experience?
- Can goal setting be used to build independence and confidence with reading?
I want to think more deeply about question number 1. I need to start by examining what my current
purposes are for reading. And NerdCampMI reminded about the most
important reason. As you might have
guessed, it’s not easily measured and doesn’t make up any of the current standards
or testing questions. And I’ glad it
doesn’t.
I was reminded how to find joy in reading again. Instead of
just reading to find information, I remembered to read to find the joy in life.
In her last post, Josie asked:
What are you currently reading that supports your questions
about teaching and learning?
I just finished reading the illustrated chapter book, Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Tricia Springstubb and let me tell
you why this character makes me happy. Tricia
Springstubb has created a character that finds beauty and fun wherever she
goes. Cody is the epitome of the phrase
“the joy of life.” New visions of
ordinary things take form through her eyes.
These are just a few:
- she is proud that her teenage brother’s number one talent is sleeping
- she has pet ants outside her house
- she meets a boy calling for his grandma’s deaf cat
- her favorite fact is that the lining of the gut replaces itself every three days and this means you may have your own new talents
My big revelation about my reading life didn’t come from
standards or a district curriculum. It
came from the discovery of a shared look at the beauty of life.
I need to be ready to listen so I can get to know my
students’ reasons for reading and to help them experience this delight in the
discovery of literacy.
What’s the best book that you’ve read this summer and what
does it show about your reading life?
