I like broccoli, but it hasn’t always been that way. I remember staying at the dinner table for hours, showing my dad how stubborn I was, by not eating my broccoli. Now I eat it all the time: in soup, with potatoes, plain, with peanut butter, ok not really with peanut butter…you get the idea.
I told my classes something the other day, that from the looks on their faces, they had never heard before.
It is OK to quit books.
I repeat, it is OK to quit books…Sometimes.
I have told my students that they can quit a book, if they have a reason to quit the book. Quitting a book every once in a while is ok. To be honest, there are to many good books in this world to waste time reading ones that we don’t like.
Now, if we are consistently quitting books; there is something wrong with the reader not the books.
Like many of your children, I did not like to read when I was younger. I should say, I did not like to read what I was forced to read. It may be a stage, or just the growing pains of life, but being forced to read The Giver, Old Man and the Sea, My Fair Lady, The Scarlet Letter, and other classics did not appeal to me. I have since read those books, and absolutely love them now. I had to grow or mature into those books. Seventh Grade is the beginning of that maturing process.
Finding a good book is an important part of the maturing process. It only takes one good book to open our eyes, clear our minds, and let our imaginations run wild. During Literacy on Tuesday, we will discuss how to find a good book.
So…like books…broccoli, my once dreaded nemesis and I have become friends.
It may take all year, but my goal and hope is to help your students love books.