Rachel Whisman

This week concludes another school year for me. It feels like yesterday that I started with a fresh new bunch of students. Yet, here I am as I pack up my classroom for the summer. As I think back through this school year, I would love to share one reflection from this year that has made an impact both on my students and me. It is a simple one, and it is to read books to kids. 

As you read this, it might sound humorous that those words came out of my mouth. Aren’t teachers supposed to read books? Yet in the reality of public schools, the pressure to close the learning gaps in one short year makes teachers have to reprioritize their time. We have to get the lessons in, check for their understanding of their assignments, adjust along the way for misconceptions, handle misbehaviors as they arise, and breathe. It is like playing whack-a-mole. You hit one down, but another pops back up. These are all good things to do, but the weight of it makes the love for learning drag and creates a burden rather than an opportunity to utilize the skills that teachers have developed year after year. 

Therefore, reading books for fun can get easily lost amid all the work. A read-aloud of a picture book doesn’t seem that influential. However, incorporating a fun read-aloud during their five-minute snack time was a shift that I made that changed the success of my classroom.

Most of my students already enter my second-grade classroom with a deficit in knowing how to read. A lot of them are behind grade level. Let alone trying to activate their desire to learn how to read is a tough one. It wasn’t until I stumbled across Tony Reinke’s book, Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books, the summer before, inspired me, a teacher, to read as many books to my students as possible. Reinke encourages parents to do the following:

“Read your books in front of them, and read their books to them- but let your kids see you reading. Let them see the stack of books that you are working on, and let them see that reading is a high priority in your own life.”

Although not a parent, I heed his advice. Kids love what you love, and I wasn’t doing a good job of showing them my love for reading. Of course, I wasn’t going to read to them what I was reading at home, but I could read to them more. I could do a better job of showing them the joy of reading a book. That you can take a break, show how reading is a priority when other things are going on, even if it is just for five minutes. If they didn’t see my love for reading, would they develop a love for it?

In a world getting lost with the credibility of creativity that someone can bring to the table with the new technological advances coming our way, I encourage you to expand your horizons and encourage those around you by reading great books. From the classroom of beloved classics such as Frog & Toad or The Chronicles of Narnia to the hilarious adventures in Sideways Stories From Wayside School and Creepy Crayon. There is a journey that technology can’t mimic with the personality someone brings as they use their own unique, God-given expression, tone of voice, and pacing to ignite a world inside children’s minds to explore as you are their tour guide to point out the beauty, flaws, and more along the way. 

Reading is becoming a lost art, but I challenge you to fight against it. I’ve seen it beautifully change my classroom and my own love for reading. My students are eager for me to read the next chapter in a book. They beg for “Drop Everything and Read” time in the classroom. They want to show me what they’re reading and practice in front of me. Their minds are curious to find a new book in the library as well as spend time reading to or with others. It has been sweet this year to watch them grow in this. I learned that I couldn’t force kids to love reading if I didn’t set an example to them of the joy of it. Start small, but start somewhere and keep going.