Learning to read was a difficult task for me. I was always what teachers term a ‘slow learner.’ However, I came from an environment rich in print. Both of my parents read the newspaper nightly. My mother kept a towering stack of books by her bedside. We read together as a family every night, well into my elementary school years. By fifth grade I had a voracious appetite for books, although at that time my undeveloped tastes leaned toward the romantic fiction. Despite how much time I spent reading outside of school I hated assigned school reading, where the novels were invariable hard to relate too, difficult to read, and ended sadly. Not to mention that we would break apart and analyze every aspect of the book, thereby further draining the experience of any pleasure. Currently I teach second grade in a low income predominantly Hispanic school, and while my students are exposed to a much wider variety of interesting books, I seldom see the hunger I had at that age for reading. Reading ability is not only an integral part of education and a predictor of success in school, but a means by which every child has access to learning beyond their own life circumstances. I am passionate that my students find a love of literacy, if for no other reason than I know they will be learning long after they leave my classroom.
Rebecca Ashby