One of my greatest professional joys is hearing my former students share their love of reading. They may not come right out and say, 'Hey, Mrs. Siemens! I just happen to love reading. Thanks for making me do so much of it when I was in your classes." However, I see evidence of the reading habit as I scroll through, specifically, Facebook posts.
I am not a big fan of Facebook, especially when students check the latest items on the Newsfeeds during my classes, but I enjoy re-connecting with former students, former high school and college friends, and faraway relatives as well as sharing tidbits of news with current friends and colleagues. In this case, FB has given me the opportunity to view posts that often put a smile on my face.
Today, for instance, I was scrolling through and came upon a picture posted by a former student of her husband (another former student) and their son, reading a book that the sun had purchased at the school book fair. Not only did I smile because Joey was reading and because Kellie was posting it, but my heart swelled just a little to know that these two students are instilling the love of reading into their son by sharing it with him, but reading together.
I remember when my oldest daughter (now My Daughter the Librarian) was in first grade. She read well for her age and her teacher, Mrs. Chrzan asked her who had taught her to read. She replied, "My mom did!" I don't recall ever really teaching her to read; however, I did read to her often, every night before we turned off her light and probably more often through the day since she was always bringing me a book. I also modeled my own love of reading for her and her sister. Even though I was a busy mom, and during the school year my free time was practically non-existent, I always managed to read a few pages before bed, or first thing in the morning, or in the car when we were making hour-long trips to Lafayette. Our trips to the local library always found us carting home books for all three of us...and sometimes even Dad got into the reading groove.
Passing on the love can take many forms. Seeing a picture of Joey reading to his and Kellie's son----warms my heart.
I have always loved reading but I feel differently when it is something I HAVE to do. I am not saying I haven't enjoyed the reading in this class but I would rather do it on my oen time how I want to. My son fights me on reading. I have tried many times to get him interested in books and I think he is finally coming around. I read to him a lot when he was younger and I was a stay at home mom, but now its hard to find time to do it for leisure. He is in the Key program with the schools here in Kokomo and I think he is like me. If he is made to do it, it is not as fun. He is required to get accelerated reading points and there are certain levels that he needs to be reading in. He is like me and wants everything to be his choice. He is 9. My daughter is 2 and I try to read to her as much as I can or even have him read to her. I give her books to play with sometimes and she points and chatters.. maybe that's the best start I can give her. Curiosity is what has kept me reading and I hope that they get that from me!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up to now, reading has been a passion. I pick up a book, reads into it and finds that I just cannot put it down. When Gwen and I were young, our Mom would gather us on the couch before we went to bed and read us a chapter or two of the classic books such as Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick (my personal favorite), and all other sorts. The one book she read to me and I will always have the memory is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It is about a mother caring for her son as he grows up and all the things that comes out of being a mother and then in turn she gets older and her son gets older as well and stays by her side. It makes me tear up to think about how I will be when my Mom gets old and worrying about that I will soon lose her with old age. But in general, reading has always been my passion and I will share the passion and joys of reading with my children in the future.
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