It was August 18 of 2021. I felt the hope and excitement of so many parents, children and educators. Our schools were opening their doors, without the option of remote learning, for the first time in over a year. As much as I hoped for the best, it took just a few weeks to see that Covid19 had wreaked academic havoc on our youngest students.
I had a new position, working with second graders, in an effort to help them recover from lost learning due to the pandemic, and to help close this achievement gap (that just grew wider), I knew that small group research-based reading instruction just wasn’t enough. If they were going to become readers, they needed to want to read, and I knew that if I wanted them to love books, I needed to become the role model they so desperately needed. I made a decision to stop watching television and I became a voracious reader who can tell her students that she absolutely loves to read and mean it.
I made a colorful board displaying the covers of the books I was reading and I added more printed cutouts with each new book read. I meticulously went through my collection of children’s books and made a pile of those that were worthy. I searched online for the best picture books from the past few years, immediately drawn to two award winners whose authors bravely broached timely topics: We are Water Protectors and The Undefeated. I received funding for a project on Donor’s Choose and added relevant highly acclaimed picture books to my collection.
I meet with five groups, five days a week for thirty minutes. As soon as my students walk into my room, we stand in front of our growing display of printed book covers and the chatter is immediate. They look for new titles, eager to know about the stories I am reading and why. They get excited when I finish a book and they love to reminisce about the ones we have already read. As soon as I show them the picture of today’s cover, we head over to the carpet where the book is waiting for us to open its pages.
When the story is over, it is time for them to read, and this looks different depending on the day. Every other day, I listen to one student read, paying close attention to that student’s fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. On those days, the other students sit around a rectangular table covered with all the books we have read so far. They can read alone, together, aloud or silently, the choice is theirs.
Afterwards, everyone meets at the Guided Reading table, where I support them on their journeys to becoming readers. On the opposite days, when I am not first meeting with a student from their group, we go right from the carpet to the Guided Reading table.
Every day, before students head back to their classrooms, we revisit our book display and see what we will read tomorrow. As they leave, there is a genuine heartfelt goodbye with an eager anticipation to meet again tomorrow.
My students have forced me to be accountable and for that, I am grateful. I cannot remember a time in my life that I have read as much as I am reading now. The benefits are undeniable and I will never again lose my way. I understand that as a reading teacher, I must be a role model first and to empower these children, they not only need to know how to read, they need to want to read.