I have had a few small wins this week.
We have just started independent reading
I am starting where I always do
at the back of the room
I have just opened my current read,
Amari and the Night Brothers,
I am startled by B's voice
"Miss,” she says,
"I read that whole book last night.
You know the refugee one I got at the library?
I've read two books this week.
I’m really proud of myself.
I never read two books in a week.
I need to go to the library.
Please miss.
I really need to go."
He is absent at least once a week
And mostly disengaged when he is there
Yet he has loved our most recent class read
REFUGEE by Alan Gratz
Has listened to the entire audiobook.
Sometimes when I was teaching other things.
I have pretended not to notice.
Today, in that brief minute
Between independent reading
And the mini-lesson
His voice stops me.
"Miss, do you think REFUGEE is a movie?"
I tell him I don’t think it is,
Not yet anyway.
“I think it would be a really cool movie,” he says.
“All those different times and places.”
The girls come back from the library.
“Look, Miss, look what we found.”
They hold up ROOM TO DREAM
the third book in the FRONT DESK series.
They are excited to have found a companion volume
To our current read aloud.
I am excited that the read aloud has stuck
One of my goals is that kids will meet
New favorite authors
And be exposed to worlds
Different from their own.
"Miss," says G.
who is regularly described as a "handful,"
After I have just finished a mini-lesson
on how characters change
From the beginning of the book to the end.
"Do you think that’s always true?
What about books like NO DAVID.
Does David change?"
I am a little startled by her question.
I have to think for a minute.
"I don’t really know.
What do you think?"
And we have a five minute reader-to-reader conversation.
And maybe my favorite.
Miss,
Do you think
We could ever have a day
Where all we do is
Independent reading?
Absolutely.
We could absolutely do that.
2 comments:
This post has made my day. I believe you have readers blossoming in your classroom. Absolutely!
I love this glimpse into your room and all of the ways you've invited your students into vibrant reading lives. Now I'm thinking about whether David changes at the end too!
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