Grace College
I love children’s books. During my four years of college, I have frequented yard sales to build my library with all the cute, creative children’s books I could find. When I was assigned to a sixth grade classroom for my student teaching, I realized how few books I had for that age group. Therefore, I was very excited when chosen to receive a package of 50 books from the Middle Grades Reading Network to use in my classroom.
I love to read and love the imagination and visualization that accompany reading. Since I spent the better part of my childhood in the Central African Republic, where adult literacy rates are below 50 percent, I love the fact that I have the ability to read and write. Because we live in a country where most people can read, I want to impress the same appreciation that I have for reading onto my students.
While I was student teaching, my fiancé spent the year teaching in the Philippines, and he told me about a small orphanage near his school. I got in touch with the headmaster and teamed up with her to challenge my students to use their ability to read to benefit others. It was really exciting for me to see my students not only seize the opportunity to help others but also to expand their own learning. Some of my students read double the number of pages beyond my expectation. I was also delighted to send more than 25 books to the Filipino orphanage.
It was rewarding to broaden my students’ reading styles with the book, Day of Tears, which is set up like a script for a play. During the first few days we read the book in class, my students neither liked nor understood the style. We discussed the style as well as the content so that students could follow along with the story. Each student received a script, and we read a chapter or two each day. At the beginning, I had to read one of the characters because students were reluctant to volunteer to read. By the end of the book, however, students were fighting over who would read the characters, and all but one student passed the review quiz with a score of 80 percent or higher.
I was excited to receive the gift of books for my classroom and appreciate all I learned through this experience about middle school students and reading.
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