Laura Emory Post 5 Routman Chapter 3: Share Your Reading Life

     I enjoyed reading the ideas and suggestions Routman had for us to share our love of reading with students.  I love talking with my students about the books I read at their age and what books I still love to read.  Unfortunately, I am not a big reader during the school year, but I read a lot during summer and winter break.  I do however read nonfiction texts like magazines, newspaper articles, recipes, crafting articles, and things that I can access on the internet.  Students look up to us as educators and look to us for direction, so we must talk with them and be open and honest as we guide by example.  I share with my students what I am reading and we often discuss the last text we read, but I have never thought to bring in the books to show them or to keep a reading log to share with the students.  I also love the idea of having a book club in the classroom.  We have used Padlet this year to share with others what we are reading and why we enjoyed it, but it is so much more personal when we can talk face to face. 

     Another aspect of this chapter that I liked was the section on respecting parent’s busy lives.  We often ask parents to sign off on homework or a reading log, but they are busy just like we are.  If we can teach our students and model what we expect from them, they will be able to complete these tasks without the help of their parents.  As a school of leaders, we must find new and exciting ways for our students to lead, and allowing them to help their parents out is a great way of showing leadership at home!