Me & Reading

It's funny, I'm a reading teacher but I HATED reading growing up.  I'm not exaggerating.  I loathed it.  As a kid it was difficult having a sister who had a book glued to her hands at all time.  We would go to the library together and she would have a huge stack of books to plow through for the week and I would get maybe 1 or 2 but I wouldn't feel excited about anything I found.

I was never a terrible reader, I can't tell you when I learned to read or whether it was hard for me or not.  I don't think it was.  I don't recall having a tough time with it, I just really disliked it.  My main gripe looking back is the book lists.  We would have summer reading lists- books we were required to read over the summer.  We would also have book lists for the school year.  I don't recall having a choice in the matter.  THAT is what bothered me most.  I had no interest in any of the books I was made to read and therefore either didn't pay attention to them or didn't read them.  Somehow I got by.

I went to an all-girls Catholic school for high school.  In order to be admitted to the school there was an "interview" with the principal and my parents and myself.  I was honest with Sister Edward Mary, I told her I disliked reading.  But I remember her asking if there was anything at all I enjoyed to read.  It turns out there was one thing- magazines.  I always have liked the layout of a magazine, not too long, not too time consuming, high-interest articles, etc.  That was when I realized I don't hate reading, I just prefer to read something short on a topic I choose.  It wasn't until my senior year of high school when I had an amazing English teacher that I started wanting to read.  I found books I enjoyed and shared my list of to-reads with my teacher...something about her and her love of reading sparked my love for reading.

The love I discovered started slowly.  I would read a book here or there.  Then in the summers I would really take off with books.  Eventually I started reading "full-time," daily.  Most days it's how I wind down and relax before going to sleep.

I teach reading to let kids know that it's okay not to LOVE reading.  It's okay to have another subject to love, I did.  I also teach reading to help foster a love of reading in them.  I want to show them what I didn't get as a studentnever make my students read a book they don't want to- the trick is to get them to want to read what I'm having them read!  I've taught all subject areas and reading allows me to get to know my kiddos on a different level.  I find out their interests, what they love and hate.  I can connect with them through books which is really powerful.

Looking back now, it's funny to me that I didn't love reading, I sure do now!