Robin Smith

Dear Stacy and Jessica, Thanks for reading my article. I hope that all teachers will find success at connecting her students with great books and I hope that you two will always read aloud to and with your students, no matter what other things pull at you. I am in the last exhausting days before Spring Break and your kind words have buoyed me. Robin PS Just FYI--I just finished DragonRider and am reading I'm Sorry, Almira Ann to my second graders right now.

Posted : Mar 11, 2014 01:02

Stacy Tell

We read a lot of articles at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A LOT. But nothing has invigorated me quite as much lately as "Teaching New Readers to Love Books" by Robin Smith. She managed to express everything that embodied my desire to go into teaching - a pure love of books and the need to share that love with others. There's so much that teachers have to answer to nowadays, what with all of the standards and stakes and the "common reasons" we want students to read as Jessica states, that I fear that we're forgetting the part where we're supposed to enjoy what we're delivering. I was recently in charge of running a literature circle for my fourth and fifth grade students, and when it came down to it, the part that I enjoyed the most was sitting back and listening to the students rehash those final chapters, positively taken by the surprise ending and the constant questioning as to whether we could read another book by Andrew Clements next! I hope I can rise to the teaching occasion in motivating my students as well as Ms. Smith.

Posted : Mar 10, 2014 01:47

Jessica Jones

"despite the pressures of parents and the winds of educational change, I do not teach children to read because it is good for them. To me, books are not meant to be the path to Harvard or even the best high school. I do not think of them as “tools for learning,” a phrase I read in a teacher catalog. I read with children because I enjoy it. I read because they enjoy it." In Robin Smith's article, the above sentences really struck me. I admit I'm guilty of saying this but it is often stated that the reason students need to learn to read so that the students can perform well school as well as be prepared for college and careers. However, it was interesting to hear Smith's reason for teaching students to read and how this reason is so different from the common reasons students are taught to read. Overall, I could feel Smith's passion for reading in the article and I can imagine how this passion would motivate even the most reluctant readers.

Posted : Mar 09, 2014 08:45