Honestly, as a teacher, I have tried to stay away from sharing too much about my personal life. I want the students to get to know me in the beginning with the basics, but my own personal experiences I share sparingly because I do not want to ever come across in a way that might make kids feel like I am bragging. Also, since I do not teach reading, I do not stop to talk about reading except when using a book to introduce a new math topic.
My reading repertoire is not as vast as some teachers. Yes, I did read my 100 books when taking Children's Literature. Yes, I do read to my own child often. Yes, I love to read magazines, but I do not pick up a book and read for pleasure....unless it is one inappropriate trilogy that I was sucked into by some friends. Yep, peer pressure forced me to read. So talking about reading might not be as impressive as others.
If I were to stop and take note about what I do that is centered around reading then that might be a larger topic. I do love to go to Barnes and Noble and browse. I could spend hours looking at books and magazines. I do have books that I might like to read. I am drawn to informational text or non-fiction than fiction. I probably should just be honest and tell my students so that I could have a connection with those that are like me.
One thing that I love about this chapter is discussing the importance of having a personal library. For one thing, I think if students had an interested in keeping their own personal library then they might take care of mine. I never thought about encouraging this, but I will. Especially, when it is time for a Scholastic book order or time for the Book Fair, this may be a good time to mention this.
While I may not read as much now, I do remember a time, when I had to read some classics in High School and College. I remember many things about those books. I take time to watch every movie version that has been made of the books. This would be something fun to share.
There was a lot to take away from this chapter. So many things that were mentioned were things that I had never thought about. There were several checklist in this chapter that could be very useful for my literary training.
Laura, sharing your personal life with your students is more about sharing experiences and how they made you feel and what you took from the experience. Your students will pay attention more than they ever do and hang on your every word! Many who haven't had as many experiences will dream about one day having those experiences themselves. We never want our students to be satisfied with where they are in any aspect....we want them to dream and dream BIG! That is where their drive for self-improvement will begin to take shape. I have never had a student appear jealous of any experiences I have shared with them! They all (no matter what their situations) have experiences worth telling and sharing, too. As a science teacher, you can share some of the non-fiction books that you enjoy! There are so many non-fiction (and even fiction) books that would compliment your curriculum and build relationships with your students. While you're teaching, share when you have used the math skills you are teaching. Share the experiences you have had with the science content you teach. Your students will have a way to connect to the content and most importantly connect with YOU!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura,
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite points that Routman makes in this chapter is the importance of sharing our reading lives with our students. While we may not feel our reading lives are very interesting or notable to our students, we are in fact their best reading model because we are the teacher in front of them. We want to use our reading experiences and our reading interests to model for our students how to choose a book, how to get lost in one, what we learn from them, why we want to discuss them, and what we do with what we gain...All of these not only motivate our students to read but they provide opportunities for them to see a reader who chooses to read. I am glad that you found the strategies and the checklists helpful. Sincerely, Dawn