I love to read. It is simple pleasure that brings me profound joy.
I spend my days teaching first graders how to read and once I’m at home, I love to curl up with a good book. I love seeing my little girl blossom and learning new words daily. I love to listen to her sound words out and the excitement and sense of accomplishment she feels when she figures out a word unassisted. I love the word wall that I have in my classroom and the bright eyes of my students as they excitedly realize that they are becoming readers.
I love sharing the growth of my students with their parents. It is so rewarding to see a little boy or girl start at the beginning of the school year with little confidence and struggle with reading only to see them grow and flourish into successful readers by the end of the school year.
There are few things in my life that provide an escape for me more than reading. It is fuel for my brain. It is a way to make you think about things from a different perspective. It is a break from the day. It’s a chance to sit in my comfy spot with a warm cup of coffee and my lighthouse mug and get away without having to leave home.
I love it when I read a book and picture someone I know as one of the characters. I love reading a book about a place that I’ve never visited and feel like I know the culture and the people by the time I’m done reading the book.
If you’re like me and you’re reading a book that you have fallen in love with, you start to feel a bit sad when you realize the book is winding down and you soon must say goodbye to some characters that have become people you feel that you know.
I love introducing kids to books that I used to read when I was a little girl.
I love talking to other people who enjoy reading as much as I do and exchanging different titles and authors. I love it when I am introduced to a new author and fall in love with a new series. I love it when you have an author who has characters from previous books make an appearance in different books. It’s like an old friend dropping in to say, “Hello.”
I love following authors on social media and seeing their engagement with readers. I love to see what other people have to say about a book when I’m done reading it. I love to see if others felt the same way as I did about a book.
I love setting a reading goal for myself at the beginning of the year and keeping track of my progress on Goodreads. I love stalking other people and their Goodreads pages. It’s the new Facebook, you know. You can learn a lot about someone from what they love to read and how different stories resonate with them. Nothing can bond you to someone quicker than a shared love of the same book or author. You think the person you’re talking to might not have much in common with you only to find out that they, too, read similar things and it opens a whole new world of conversations for you to have with them.
My little girl said the other day, “Mommy, you are such a reader!” She was proud of me when she said it and thought it was so cool. I don’t know why it meant so much to me for her to say that because I realized that she really does pay attention and notice the things I’m doing and saying – both good and bad. It made me happy to see that she knows I place value on reading and that it isn’t something I do because I must, but because I love it. I hope my kids grow up and have the same relationship with books that I read.
So much of a child’s opinion of reading is based on whether they think they’re good at it. If a child is intimidated or doesn’t feel successful as a reader, they are reluctant to do it. If they know they are smart and capable, they are more open to it. If I can build up a child who otherwise would not have thought of themselves as a strong reader, feel like they are capable and develop a love of reading, I cannot think of anything more rewarding as a teacher.
Reading is truly a gift. You don’t have to have money and can see the whole world. It is something that regardless of your age you can enjoy and appreciate. I am grateful that I have a front row seat watching kids learn how to read in my own classroom and play a role in building the confidence of budding readers, so they can hopefully fall in love with it for themselves and become lifelong readers.
Megan Rathz is a wife, mother, and teacher. She says everything she has ever learned in life came from her Master Gardener mother.
A few completely random book & author recommendations
- The Push by Ashley Audrain
- Freida McFadden (author) **love the Housemaid series**
- Verity by Colleen Hoover
- Elin Hildebrand (author) **love the Nantucket and Winter Street series**
- Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes
- Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
- The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett