This week I found myself thinking about my own reading.
At first, I told myself I really hadn't read that much this summer. Then I started making a mental list.
Books.
Articles.
Newsletters.
Recipes.
Reviews before buying something.
An audiobook while driving.
The list kept growing.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I had been telling myself a story that wasn't true. My reading life hasn't gotten smaller this summer. It had simply looked different.
That realization came after reading a recent article by literacy researcher Rachael Gabriel that explored the many ways people read.
As we begin thinking about another school year, it occurred to me that we sometimes do the same thing with our students.
We begin telling ourselves stories before they ever walk through our classroom door.
One of those stories may be that our students didn't read much over the summer.
The truth is, we don't know yet.
So instead of beginning with an assumption, what if we began with curiosity?
What counts as reading?
Books will always hold a special place in our classrooms. They build vocabulary, knowledge, understanding, empathy, and stamina in ways few things can.
They are also one part of a much larger reading life.
As I thought about this, an idea came to mind.
What if one of our first classroom conversations wasn't about the books students read over the summer?
What if we simply explored all the places reading shows up in our lives?
Books.
Recipes.
Comic books.
Instructions for a game.
Song lyrics.
Menus.
Maps.
Messages.
Magazines.
Websites.
Closed captions.
I wonder what else our students would add.
My guess is that, together, we'd create a list much longer than either of us could make on our own. Along the way, students might begin to notice something they hadn't noticed before, that reading has been part of their lives all along.
From there, we can introduce wonderful picture books, novels, poetry, informational texts, articles, and all the rich reading experiences we hope they'll discover this year.
Before we assume they didn't read, let's first help students discover all the ways reading is already part of their lives. From there, we can begin the year by growing the reading lives they're already living.
Gail
This article might be missing links that were included at the time of publication.
