Sneak-Read!

I had a student ‘sneak-read’ today… 

And I’m celebrating!  This is a student that came into my classroom at the beginning of the year and stared at the floor.   When I wanted to be sure he was listening I would get down on the floor and look up at him.  This student not only was uninterested in reading, I was having a difficult time trying to find books to appeal to him because of his unresponsiveness.  I had never seen anything like it!  And today….  Today I actually had to tell him to close his book for a moment so he could participate in our mini lesson on making inferences.  Then I promised him he could continue to read and use his book to practice inferring.  He agreed, albeit begrudgingly.  Truth be told, I would have loved to have just let him continue reading.  I had been waiting a long time for this day and I just want to revel it.  The site of this student so engrossed in a book that he was able shut out all distractions around him, made me feel like I had just won the lottery!

It seems hard to believe but last week I had another student make a profound revelation that set my heart racing as well.  After our mini lesson in workshop, the student looked up at me, smiled and commented, “I used to just read to be ‘done’.  Now I get it.”  I think I stared at him in what I can only image was shock and asked him to repeat his statement. I had to be sure I had heard him right.  He repeated it.  I had him heard correctly.  I wanted to jump up and down and clap my hand and dance around the classroom.  I had made a difference! 

This is what we reading teachers dream of, students that “get reading”. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.  I could use a dose of this every day but feel so lucky to have experienced it two weeks in a row.  I can only hope we have started a trend.