Never asked us to get a certain book, didn’t frown on comic books or say a book was too hard. Just let us pick and helped lift them up on the counter. Then I think about my kids, how many of their parents have even been to the library? Some have and you can tell. How do I make up that personal individual instruction time with them? I remember being bored in first grade in reading circle as other students plodded through three or four words. In fourth grade the teacher would give me a book and tell me to read to the class. Thirty minutes everyday, don’t remember what she did but I read to the class.

There was nothing I was scared to read, no book to tough, no word worth looking up, it would come around again and after seeing it a few times a working definition would present itself.

My kids are slaves to the dictionary, scared to keep reading when they don’t understand a word. What can I do to make them forget their fear and see themselves as capable, good readers? They need to see me taking risks, and their classmates also. They need to try and be met with success. More classroom talk and peer accountability

Justin