Reading Changes Everything: Ideas & Book Talks Galore

This is from the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Reading Changes Everything: Ideas & Book Talks Galore--Cassie Cox
ccox@weber.k12.ut.us

"Reading saved my life"--Cassie dropped out of high school in 10th grade but later went on to get her GED and on to a Master's.
"The average American reads one book per year after they graduate from college"--Washington Post.
How do we get kids to read?
CHOICE!! Choice makes a difference.
Main goal: Hook kids on books!
We've got to be readers ourselves.
What her classroom looks like:

• Time everyday for self-selected reading.
• Book talks
• Book trailers
• Time for talking and sharing.
• Author visits--find local authors and get them into your classroom! Get authors on board!
  
• Make books readily accessible.
• Spotlight books of all kinds.
• Take it outside the classroom--county library. Keep your ears open for public author talks and presentations.
• Classroom full of books.
• Themed book shelf at front of the room.
• Make books more visible.
  

How do you find time to read?

• Commit to reading with your students.
• Squeeze professional development into your daily planning time (5-10 minutes goes a long way).
• Always carry a book with you.
• Listen to audio books on the way to work or when you're exercising or walking.
• Treat yourself with at least 15 minutes of reading before you go to bed each night.
• Squeeze the time in any way that you can!
• Faculty meeting? Take a book! =)
• On-line book clubs, nings, etc.
  

Ideas:

• Olive Garden event-Cassie had five authors (Sarah Zarr, Sydney Salter, Wendy Toliver, Marion Jenson (Matthew Buckley), and J. Scott Savage) and twenty of her students (those who read the most of the authors' books) at Olive Garden. The restaurant paid for it, and it was an amazing experience. Don't be afraid to get out there and ask!

• Make reading a social activity. Books and friends, FUN! Paired reading, small group reading, reader's theater, chorale reading, etc.
  
• Book Talks: picture books, books of poetry, short stories, novels, children lit., young adult lit.
• Read for your students.
• Talk about books you've read...and about books you haven't read.
• Encourage the entire school community to get on board (other teachers, parents, business members, local professors, lunch ladies...get others to do book talks).
  
• Have students make book trailers (www.animoto.com).
• Send home book wish lists that parents can purchase for the classroom (they don't have to be new!).
  
• Encourage book clubs to donate their books to your class.
• Ideas for assessment/accountability: silent exchange, save the last word for me, paragraph plug in, alpha boxes, etc.
• Article of the week
  

Book List:
Reading Reminders-Jim Burke
Writing Reminders-Jim Burke
Readacide-Kelly Gallagher
Phineas Gage--John Fleishman
The Story Behind Toilets
Troy Thompson's Excellent Poetry Book--Gary Crew, Craig Smith
Stiff-Mary Roach
Guts-Gary Paulsen

Websites:
Professional Development and Networking:
http://englishcompanion.ning.com
http://www.ncte.org
http://www.reading.org
Discounted Books:
http://www.bookdepot.com
http://www.bookcloseouts.com/
Video book talks and book trailers:
http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/ab/booktalks.htm
http://www.book-trailers.net/
http://digitalbooktalk.com

The Scholastic Reading Bill of Rights

The Reading Bill of Rights (from http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/read.htm).
A Child’s Right to Read
Today we live in a world full of digital information. Yet reading has never been more important, for we know that for young people the ability to read is the door opener to the 21st century: to hold a job, to understand their world, and to know themselves. That is why we are asking you to join our Global Literacy Call to Action. We call this campaign: “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life.” We are asking parents, teachers, school and business leaders, and the general public to
support their children’s right to read for a better life in the digital world of the 21st century.
Here is what we believe about reading in the second decade of the 21st century. We call this The Reading Bill of Rights:

WE BELIEVE that literacy—the ability to read, write and understand—is the birthright of every child in the world as well as the pathway to succeed in school and to realize a complete life. Young people need to read nonfiction for information to understand their world, and literature for imagination to understand themselves.

WE BELIEVE that the massive amounts of digital information and images now transmitted daily make it even more important for a young person to know how to analyze, interpret and understand information, to separate fact from opinion, and to have deep respect for logical thinking.

WE BELIEVE that literature and drama, whether on printed pages, screens, on stage or film, help young people experience the great stories of emotion and action, leading to a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly human. Without this literacy heritage, life lacks meaning, coherence and soul.

WE BELIEVE every child has a right to a “textual lineage”—a reading and writing autobiography which shows that who you are is in part developed through the stories and information you’ve experienced. This textual lineage will enable all
young people to have a reading and writing identity which helps them understand who they are and how they can make their lives better. In short, “You Are What You Read.”

WE BELIEVE every child should have access to books, magazines, newspapers, computers, e-readers, and text on phones. Whatever way you read, you will need to figure out what the facts are or what the story tells you. No matter how and where you get access to ideas, you will need the skills of reading to understand yourself and your world.

WE BELIEVE that reading widely and reading fluently will give children the reading stamina to deal with more challenging texts they will meet in college, at work and in everyday life. And every child should be able to choose and own the books they want to read, for that choice builds literacy confidence—the ability to read, write and speak about what they know, what they feel, and who they are.

WE BELIEVE that every child has the right to a great teacher who will help them learn to read and love to read. Children need teachers who provide intentional, focused instruction to give young people the skills to read and interpret information or understand great stories they will encounter throughout life.

WE BELIEVE that in the 21st century, the ability to read is necessary not only to succeed but to survive—for the ability to understand information and the power of stories is the key to a life of purpose and meaning.

Why Students Don't Read What is Assigned in Class

Motivating the Unmotivated Reader

This is from my presentation at the UCTE/LA conference at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT and the UCIRA conference at Salt Lake City, UT.

Motivating the Unmotivated Reader-Jolene Jenkins, mj4toty@gmail.com

Three Reading Truths:

1. Everyone is a reader (some just don't know it yet).
2. Not everyone reads in the same way.
3. Teachers can make a difference!
How do you convince that unmotivated, I-hate-to-read-and-you-can't-change-me reader that reading is good?

You've got to hook them!

Your bait:

1. Establish a positive reading attitude in your classroom.
2. Know your students.
3. Exposure! Exposure! Exposure!

Positive Reading Attitude:

• What is your attitude? Are you enthusiastic and passionate about reading? You can't help a person learn to love reading if you don't love it yourself.
• Do your students see you reading often?
• Have your students ever seen you emotionally react to a book?
• Are there book displays, posters, lists, etc. posted through out your classroom?
• Do you have a classroom library filled with GOOD books? When discouraged about kids losing/taking books, remember: a book on the shelf is safe, but that is not what books are made for.
• Do you ever 'talk book' with your students?

Know Your Students

• Reader Interviews:

1. Do you like to read at school?
2. Do you like to read in your free time?
3. What do you like to do in your free time?
4. How do you generally feel about starting a new book?
5. What do you like to read?
6. What movies/T.V. shows do you like to watch?

• Do students have a VOICE when it comes to reading in your classroom? Do they have CHOICE when it comes to reading? (See Video: Why Students Don't Read What's Assigned in Class).

Exposure! Exposure! Exposure!
You never know what will hook a student, so you expose them to as many reading possibilities as possible!
How do you know what's hot in YA lit?

• Be a book spy! Watch students, neighborhood kids, etc. What are they reading? Ask your avid readers what they are reading. Check out the YA section of the library and of book stores often. Look in Scholastic book orders. Join a book club or on-line book group such as www.goodreads.com.
  *My claim to fame: I read The Hunger Games before it was cool! In fact, I may have started the craze! I ran across it in a Scholastic book order and thought it looked interesting. It was fairly obsolete at the time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommended it to my students and friends. (You're welcome, Suzanne Collins!)
• Consume/devour YA books. One summer I made a goal to read 100 YA books. I didn't make my goal, but I did read close to 40 books! Expand your horizons too. I discovered that I read a lot of books in the fantasy genre but little else. I pushed myself to read from other genres (I was specifically trying to find more books my male students would like) and discovered a plethora of books that I loved and could recommend to my students.

Some ways to expose your students to books:

• Read aloud--read aloud to your students often. Be dramatic. I'm not the most dramatic person but my students tended to prefer when I read aloud to them rather than listening to a book on tape. It creates this personal atmosphere and makes it easier to get into the book. I would do special treats for my students--one year I read Skeleton Creek (Patrick Carman) to them. For a few years, I've read Searching for David's Heart (Cherie Bennett) as a winter treat for them. You can just read excerpts to students or you can read entire books. Students love story time, even in middle and high school! Sidenote: don't make students do any assignments or tests with the read-aloud, just let them listen and enjoy!)
  
• Five-minute Book Talk--choose a genre. I liked to do one genre a month. Get as many books as you can for that genre and have them on display in the classroom. Have a student time you and talk about as many books as you can in five minutes. I usually liked to do a book talk before independent reading time. I would let the students read from the books on display as long as they put them back so that I could present for the next class. I would tell the students that they can check out the books at the end of the day or the next day. I like the five-minute format because it is quick and painless for the students. Sometimes the students will keep track of how many books you present and challenge you to do more for the next book talk! To talk about the books, I prepare some book previews (see below), read from the back, read excerpts, or just give a quick plot summary.
  Click here to go to my book lists.
• Book Previews/Book Trailers--book previews are like movie trailers but for books and in written form. I would often have my students do book previews rather than book reports because they are short and relatively painless AND I can use them to promote books. Book trailers--You can create your own, have students create videos, or you can find book trailers on the Internet. I found the following book trailers at www.youtube.com (search under 'book trailers', 'book trailers ya', or 'book trailers middle school') and at http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/videos/?lnkid=stacks/nav/videos/main.

•The Hollow by Jessica Verday

•Fallen by Lauren Kate

•The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

•Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

•Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

•Ninth Grade Slays: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

•Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

•Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

• Book Pass--I use this to introduce my students to my classroom library, to introduce a topic (the Holocaust, Civil Rights Movement, etc.), or to introduce a genre. Before the students arrive, I put a book on every desk. You can either give students a list of the books or have them write titles and authors down (I think I will switch to giving the students a list so they don't spend so much time copying information). I then give the students one minute to check out the book: look at the cover, read the back/inside cover, check how many pages, start reading the beginning, etc. At the end of the minute I have them mark a =) if it looks like something they would want to read, a =1 if it's a maybe, or a =( if it is definitely not something they would want to read. Then they pass the book to their neighbor and start again with a different book for one minute. You can do this for 10 minutes or for a whole class period, however long you would like to do the activity.

Books I used in my presentation:
The Hollow-Jessica Verday
Fallen-Lauren Kate
The Graveyard Book-Neil Gaiman
Sweet Far Thing-Libba Bray (This is the third book of a series).
Skullduggery Pleasant series-Derek Landy
Ninth Grade Slays: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod-Heather Brewer
Shiver-Maggie Stiefvater
Fever Crumbs-Philip Reeve
Ghost Huntress: The Awakening-Marley Gibson
Down a Dark Hall-Lois Duncan
Darkness Creeping-Neal Shusterman (short stories)
The Unseen: It Begins-Richie Tankersley Cusick
Secrets of Dripping Fang: The Onts-Dan Greenburg
The Haunting-Joan Lowery Nixon
The Face on the Milk Carton-Caroline B. Cooney
The Secret of Laurel Oaks-Lois Ruby
Creepers-Joanne Dahme
The Last Apprentice: The Spook’s Tale and Other Horrors-Joseph Delaney
Daeman Hall-Andrew Nance
The Haunting of Hill House-Shirley Jackson
Skeleton Creek-Patrick Carman
The Ghost in the Machine-Patrick Carman

Documents that you can download:
Reading Interview
Reading Motivation Powerpoint
How to Write a Book Preview
Reading Rap

Perspective and Detail: Teaching Students to Zoom

Today I attended a mini-workshop organized by the Central Utah Writing Project(CUWP). (Some other time I need to write about my experience with CUWP last summer. It was an AMAZING experience!) There were some great ideas for the classroom shared in the three sessions.This information comes from: Shauna Robertson's presentation on Perspective and Detail: Teaching Students to Zoom.
For more information, Shauna can be contacted at shauna.mymail@gmail.com.
First, Shauna began by sharing a book with us called Zoom by Istvan Banyai.

Here is an example of the first few pages:

As you read the book and each page introduces a new perspective, you come to see things differently. Each pictures zooms out from the original picture, giving you an entirely different story.
You can also use a video called Everyday Creativity with Dewitt Jones to illustrate this concept. Jones is a professional photographer and in this video, talks about how beauty can be found not only by zooming in on a particular detail, but also in zooming out for the big picture.
The video is expensive to buy and sometimes difficult to find, but at Jones' website is an introductory video clip that has the exact part of the video that you would need. The website is found at: http://www.dewittjones.com/ Click on 'Watch Dewitt Now'.
We then did the following activity:
Zoom activity
1. Have students write a description of their bedroom. Tell them they will have about 5-7 minutes to write but that is the only instruction they will receive.
Here is my writing:
Fortunately, I just cleaned my room a couple of days ago, so I won't have to describe the dog goobers on the wall or the unmade bed. Instead, I will describe the rustic bedspread patterned with black bears and pine trees, the freshly vacuumed speckled brown carpet, the family portraits hanging (slightly eschew) on the wall. Just recently I re-painted the room, transforming the white walls to a three-tone, earthy palette of sandstone, cream, and off-white. However, I do need to admit that we haven't purchased blinds yet, so currently the windows are accessorized with what I call 'Redneck's Glad`e'.
2. Zoom in. Have students draw a line under what they have written and zoom in closer. Have them picture themselves standing in the middle of the room facing just one wall. Have them extend their writing by describing what they can see from that perspective.
Here is my writing:
The wall is split in two halves by an off-white chair rail. The bottom of the wall is suede (or at least attempted suede), and the top is a cream color. It makes me think of staring really hard at the mid-section of an old cowboy wearing a cream, long-sleeve shirt and worn, leather chaps. On the wall hang two family pictures one with dad and baby, and one with mom and baby. Looking around, you could probably guess that there is one loved baby in the house.
3. Have them draw a line and now zoom in on one object that is on that one wall. Have them write again with a description from this new perspective.
My writing:
A father's day gift-the portrait hangs (slightly crooked) on the wall. A chestnut frame wraps around the collage of two pictures. In one is a picture of my two boys-my husband, looking dignified and handsome in his black suit and red tie, holding my three month-old, also looking adorable and handsome in his pin-stripe vest, green shirt, and tie. My son is a miniature version of his father with twinkling eyes and that same mischievous smile.

Discuss with students how their writing changed as they changed their perspective. Also discuss what things stayed the same. You could also discuss when being aware of your reader and his/her perspective and when it is good to get closer and examine details in writing and when it is better to step back and see the big picture.
Some of my thoughts after doing this activity:
It was interesting to see how my focus changed from each perspective. In the first writing, I was really just thinking about how messy my room is typically. In the second writing, I was focusing on imagery and how I wanted my walls to look western and rugged when I painted them. In the third writing, I was focused on my family and my love for them. I think that this would be a great activity for generating ideas, for writing a memoir, and for examining writer's craft.
When I used to teach my students Ideas and Content and, more specifically, having a main idea and then blowing it up with detail, I used a Where's Waldo picture. I would put the picture on an overhead and tell the students to write about what they see. After writing for a few minutes, we would discuss how difficult (and boring) it was to write about everything. Then I would put a paper with a small hole cut-out over the picture and again tell them to write about it. Maybe they would only be able to see a dog riding a bike and juggling. They could then expand on that image and come up with creative scenarios. We would then discuss how when we write about something, we don't want to write everything. We want to find what is most important and really focus on bringing that to life in our writing using sensory details.
I always liked having my students write a memoir at the beginning of the school year. I liked that I could read these memoirs and get to know my students a little better, and I liked that writing about one's self and examining one's life is something most of them will use through out their lives. However, many times their memoirs were so boring! Often, I received 'What I did over summer vacation' and travel logs. I often gave them the quote about how the reader doesn't want to hear about every ride in Disneyland but if one the rides broke down or someone got sick on one of the rides, that is worth hearing about. But some of them still never got it. I think this zooming in and zooming out activity could really help students figure out what they really want to write about. What made that memory stand out in their minds? What made it memorable and worth writing about?
You could also use this activity for further discussions about writer's craft. For example, I don't like the book Eragon very much. I know, I know, there are probably Eragonites hunting me down right now for saying such a thing. The story was fine but there was too much detail. I remember one scene where the characters were about to enter a room through a door. I swear there were two or three pages just describing the door, and the whole time I was shouting in my head, "Just walk through that door, for crying out loud!" I felt like the plot got bogged down in details. Another example might be the unabridged version of Les Miserables. A chapter on the sewer system? Really?
But there are times when the reader needs the details. I want to be sitting at that campfire with the characters. I want to feel its heat and hear the crackle and snap of the wood burning. I want to choke a little on the smoke and have to move to the side to get away from it. But only if it that scene is important enough that I be there with the characters. I think of really good scary stories. Many times, a scary story won't give you all the details of the 'monster'. The writer knows that we all have monsters in our minds and that the details the reader will supply from his/her own imagination is far scarier than anything you could describe as a writer. This is where many of the gore movies go wrong in trying to produce horror--too many (often cheesy) details.
Another great resource that Shauna mentioned was: Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing by Harry Noden. You can also find some good teaching strategies at the companion website: http://www3.uakron.edu/noden/.


So many great ideas and possible discussions generated from this one activity. Thanks, Shauna!

Becoming Mechanically Inclined: Using Mentor Text and Sentence Stalking to Teach Grammar and Mechanics

Today I attended a mini-workshop organized by the Central Utah Writing Project(CUWP). (Some other time I need to write about my experience with CUWP last summer. It was an AMAZING experience!) There were some great ideas for the classroom shared in the three sessions.This information comes from: Adrienne Warren-Becoming Mechanically Inclined: Using Mentor Text and Sentence Stalking to Teach Grammar and Mechanics in Middle School.

For more information, Adrienne can be contacted at: adrienne.warren@wasatch.edu

Much of her presentation was based on ideas from Mechanically Inclined-Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop by Jeff Anderson.

First we did a little writing. Adrienne read to us the children's book, When I was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis.

The writing prompt was: When I was little...

Here's my writing:

When I was little, life was grand. Swing sets were space ships. The haystack was Mt. Everest. Flowers and weeds could be mushed together with mud to create a witch's brew. Cats were spys. Dogs were aliens. I was bursting at the seams of my imagination, going through dreams as quickly as I was clothes. I wanted to be everything. A doctor, a meteorologist, an astronaut, a rock star, a cartoon...it didn't matter what, I could be anything! Now, I'm mostly still the same, I just don't say it aloud as much.

Then Adrienne talked about how we can enhance grammar instruction in the classroom by helping students to become sentence stalkers (or sentence detectives). We need to encourage students to search for well-written sentences in their reading and in their own writing. One idea was to have a sentence of the day/week posted in the classroom. As teachers, we need to also constantly expose students to good writing, especially from their own writing. Sometimes we show students lots of bad examples but neglect to point out the really good ones! However, Adrienne mentioned that we need to also show them bad examples here and there and work with them to correct the mistakes (in my mind this does NOT mean correcting grammar mistakes each day as a class starter; it is so much more and so much better than that!). One idea is to have students look for grammar mistakes in the world around them (unfortunately, grammar mistakes are all around us). Teach them to be grammar police!

A resource for this could be The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson. I'm excited to check out this book. I had never heard of it until this workshop. Apparently, these two guys travel around the U.S. and fix grammar and typo mistakes.

Here are a couple examples from the book:

We also need to teach students an understanding of basic grammar rules. They don't need to know the fancy terminology necessarily, just how to use grammar to improve their writing.
Some more great resources for this are:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves-Why Commas Really Do Make a Difference!

The Girl's like Spaghetti

Twenty-Odd Ducks-Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!

All books are by Lynne Truss, another grammar guru.

First, students need to understand the basic sentence structure by identifying the basic component of every sentence: the subject and the verb. Who or what is doing something: subject. What is being done is the verb.
We did an activity called Sentence Smack Down to practice this. Students get in groups and in the groups, each student shares one sentence. The group then writes down the subject and verb of the sentence on two sticky notes. On the wall, hang up a poster with a T-chart with the labels 'subject' and 'verb'. The group then comes up, reads the sentence, smacks down the subject and verb, and reads the sentence again.
I think I would make this a little more competitive to make it more interesting for my middle school students. I would break the class into two groups and have two students from each group come up and be ready with a pencil and a sticky note. I would then read the sentence and the first group to write down the subject and verb and get both smacked down onto the paper would get points.

We then looked at sentence stalking and the four basic comma patterns.
Show the students the patterns and have them look in their reading and in their writing for these patterns.
Pattern #1 Opener, sentence (I would just call it Opener):
If nagging were an Olympic sport, my Aunt Buhlah would have a gold medal. (My Big Fat Greek Wedding).
Pattern #2 Sent, interrupter, ence (I would call it Interrupter):
Then there's Johanna Mason, the only living female victor from 7, who won a few years back by pretending she was a weakling. (Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins).
Pattern #3 Sent, e, n, c, e (I would call it Lister):
I wanted to be everything-a doctor, a meteorologist, an astronaut, a rock star, a cartoon...it didn't matter what. (My sentence from my earlier writing).
Pattern #4 Sentence, closer (I would call it Closer):
The boy watched the stone, counting the skips. (Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech).
You could possibly do grammar scavenger hunts, assigning students to search for specific grammar patterns. "Today in your reading I want you to look for Listers..."
Great ideas! Thanks, Adrienne!

Inspiration

This is from: http://joeaveragewriter.blogspot.com/
You should check out this blog. Joe is a great teacher and a great writer. I loved his words in describing the beginning of school and why so many of us love teaching at the junior-high level. Thanks, Joe, for finding just the right words!
Here it goes:

The beginning of a new school year is looming. And this year it feels as if summer was just getting underway when I happened to glance over my shoulder and spy a junior-high ninja assassin just before I am struck in the back by a katana, throwing star, or even worse—a rubber chicken. Yeah, it’s sudden, quick, and mostly painless.
Actually, as I have started new ventures and met new people in different endeavors, I’ve had to introduce myself on several occasions. Most gasp or cluck their tongues when I say that I teach junior high English. The subtle ones slightly suck in their breath or barely shake their heads as if paying homage at a viewing.

So I’ve been thinking: is it really that bad?

Think about it, I get to spend my time with hundreds of smelly, pubescent geeks who are all trying to be cooler than the doofus next to him. I don’t have to mention the drama of twelve to fifteen year old girls who compare every guy schlepping down the hall to ice-cold effeminate vampires or abnormally abbed werewolves. The mustiness of Scout camp funk mixed with a cornucopia body lotion scents creates a musk that puts the zoo to shame.

Now I get to take these self-absorbed entities whose main concerns are texting, sleeping, eating, and __________. Insert any hobby here, except Pokémon cards because we’re in junior high now, people; it’s just not cool any more. (Don’t worry; I won’t tell anyone that Jigglypuff and Bulbasaur are still your favorites.)…and I get to teach them Language Arts. Most would rather go to the dentist…

Or so they say. Most kids, and adults for that matter, find pleasure in story whether reading (including being read to), writing, or more informally, gossiping. Story is what makes our lives complete. We communicate our lives in story, and usually it improves with each retelling, right? Think about your glory stories. How big was that catch? How pretty was she? How many defenders did you evade? How fast were you going? Now be honest with yourself. Truth and fiction blur. And when we get to analyze the intricacies of language, the essence of communication, the reason for being a human being, we find elements of nature (human or otherwise) where we can make connections and form lifelong bonds with friends (real or fictional) and texts (informational or fictional) and universal truths (which are seldom fictional).

Oh, yes. I get to help these little darlings identify these themes in literature and in their lives, turn them into my army of zombies for a short period of time, and send them forth to take over the world by first taking control of their own universes and then learning how to influence the spheres of those around them. Yep. That’s what I get to do.

Openly the students moan and complain - they gripe just because they want to be heard or to fit in – but covertly they like it. It’s just like taking medicine. You know it’s good for you and it’ll make you better. No one is supposed to enjoy gagging down that nasty thick goo. But secretly, you know you crave that over-sweet cherry cough-syrupy taste. For some, amoxicillin (the fruity pink stuff for ear infections) almost becomes an addiction. But we still grumble about having to swallow it.

Students see the truth in learning, and in literacy; and even though some may struggle with reading or writing complete sentences, they crave it. They come back for more willingly, even though they pretend to be more interested in the new girl in the next row.

They have urges, some of which I won’t discuss, but one that I will ramble on for a little longer is their primal desire to create and share. Most of the time it comes slowly, but I get to be there to witness, to help, to clean up the ashes when they “accidently” drop some weird chemical compound they found growing in their lockers. In short, I witness growth. I get to see them become.

So, about my job? Is it really that bad? You may have hated junior high. I know I’ve tried blocking some of the more painful moments from my own past. But it’s these growing pains that make us who we are.

They may sting for a moment, or a decade, but they shape us. I get to help kids shape themselves.

Is it really that bad? That junior high thing? No.

I love my job!