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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

secret readers


If you've been following along, you know that I'm at the Illinois Writing Project Summer Leadership Institute (We're live on twitter -> #IWPsli15 - but we're just getting started so not a lot of tweets yet!) Anyways, each morning we share stories from books we are inspired by, and today, Salina shared from the book above. This book was a Scholastic freebie! I posted the image above on Instagram and lots of people had a copy, so maybe there's a freebie out there for me somewhere? D100 - I'm talking to you! :-)

As Salina introduced the book, she was telling us a story about how she and her husband just had dinner with their new neighbors. Her neighbor is very into crafting jewelry as one of her hobbies. After the neighbor shared their story, she asked, "Salina, what do you do for fun?"

Her response was, "I don't know, I have to think about it." Luckily, the neighbor is super nice and let Salina off the hook, but this morning, as Salina is telling the story to all of us, and real talk: she really loves to read and that she was worried that her neighbor might not think it was a cool enough hobby, every one of us in class was erupting to giggles and comments like, "Secret readers!" and "Time for you to come out of the closet!"

Then, Salina went on to share this poem, from the book up above --
I mean, beautiful isn't even the right word (I don't have a lot of time to think about a better word right now!) but, it's a perfect poem, isn't it? Salina, who openly shares with all of us, who understands what a reading life is all about, wants a cooler hobby to share with her new friends.

I've often felt the same when my boyfriend and I are asked what we do for fun. He's a sports guy who loves fantasy baseball and loves movies, too. I, on the other hand, can't remember a movie (or a quote, for that matter) to save my life and what do I do for fun? Write a blog and seek beautiful works of art like the one above. We're so different, but I love that I have this amazing life as a reader and a writer! I think people on the outside of this literacy life maybe just don't get it. I know Hektor doesn't. It's not bad, but he would never revel in the poem I shared above, and he definitely wouldn't find the events of this morning's share time so funny, like the rest of us did.


So, friends, could there be any secret readers in your life?
How can we show all the others (our students included) what they are missing out on with this literacy life?

Perhaps I need a really great baseball story for the boyfriend!

Make sure to share your story with Two Writing Teachers!





Get the details for this challenge here!


5 comments:

  1. I love it! I'm NOT a secret reader! I totally get you!

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  2. I have a friend who chants to her students, "Learning English is super fun!" Indeed. We tend to love what we do well, and secret readers read well. Something clicks. We know the restful pleasure Kwame Alexander shares in the poem. I'm not a secret reader. Everyone who knows me knows I read, but many don't know that I read slowly (Props to Tom Newkirk for making slow reading cool!). I share this truth w/ students. Maybe slow reading is a metaphor for baseball, which I love. There certainly is a faithfulness to books among readers similar to the devotion a Cubs fan has for that beloved team. Anyway, good times w/ books await! For me today that involves reading "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin.

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  3. "writing every day is hard work...." I hear that. I am at a dead end today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a friend who chants to her students, "Learning English is super fun!" Indeed. We tend to love what we do well, and secret readers read well. Something clicks. We know the restful pleasure Kwame Alexander shares in the poem. I'm not a secret reader. Everyone who knows me knows I read, but many don't know that I read slowly (Props to Tom Newkirk for making slow reading cool!). I share this truth w/ students. Maybe slow reading is a metaphor for baseball, which I love. There certainly is a faithfulness to books among readers similar to the devotion a Cubs fan has for that beloved team. Anyway, good times w/ books await! For me today that involves reading "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the poem and the story! Reading really doesn't seem like a cool hobby, but when you think about it, it really is! Fortunately, everyone in my family loves to read, so we're all cool with it. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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