It's the weekend and I should be writing. Instead I've been playing Grandmother, which happens to be my all time favorite job at the moment. I'm working to grow a romance reader. I gave my granddaughter my new e-reader to play with just now. I opened it to a Jane Austin novel and she sat for about an hour reading before she became bored. She's only ten, but it's never too early to start them reading.
I teach 8th grade and for the last couple of years my students have been much better readers than in previous years. This is a very good thing. I credit the improvement to our school system's all out effort to increase our students reading ability. This year in particular, we are using the strategy of having an AR book always at hand.
For years, we went with no children carrying library books around with them, until now with the demands set forth by the state of Georgia under the guidance of No Child Left Behind, every child at our middle school is expected to take an AR book to every class. It had been years since I'd noticed children actually using free time in class to read, but this year it is happening! Our students are reading. They are carrying big thick books with them and they are reading!
The effort to increase our student's performance on standardized testing is paying off for the authors who toil to create the books our children read. A whole new crop of readers are emerging like butterflies struggling from their cocoons. It is magic to see! Watching my granddaughter go from a struggling reader to an avid reader has been nothing short a miracle. She's a bit young yet for the good stuff, but when she's old enough, she'll be ready.
