Reading Heroes

This past weekend I enjoyed the long awaited treat of being able to attend the Kaleidoscope Conference. It was as good as I hoped it would be. I left inspired. I also left with a long list of books I'd like to read soon!


One of the speakers I listened to was a man named David Bouchard. He is a former teacher, a writer, and a Metis. He had a lot of little lists of things to remember (how to raise a reader: Read to them, Rule the TV, and reach into your pocket and buy books). One of the other things he talked about was how it just takes one book to get a kid hooked on reading and you have to work hard to keep providing them with great books so that they do get hooked. He also talked about how kids need reading heroes - someone who inspires them to read and love reading.

Today at school I did reading fluency assessments with my class. I took the time to ask almost every one of them if they like to read, and what they like to read. It was interesting to me that when I asked them about what their favorite author was, or what their favorite chapter book was, many of them said their favorite author is Roald Dahl, and their favorite chapter books are The Witches and The Twits.



We are reading The Witches in class, and The Twits is the book we picked for Grade three book club this month. It made me stop and think for a moment. Maybe I really am doing it?! Maybe these kids are becoming addicted to reading thanks to things I have chosen to do with them.




I hope so! The conference this past weekend really reminded me how important reading is, and helped me recommit to spreading the love of reading to others. It's nice to get such positive feedback so soon after recommitting to the great cause of reading!