My Students

âThe more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go,â -Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!" My kiddos could be just one good book away from falling in love with reading and one library away from the path of opportunity that reading provides.

My kiddos are passionate, curious, bright, and excited third graders from a high poverty neighborhood in Houston.

You couldn't imagine how excited they are to learn about making predictions while reading or discovering what unfamiliar words mean through context clues. But most don't have the resources to truly practice their skills and engage with a book. Many speak English as a second language. Most come from homes in poverty. They face many obstacles but the most unavoidable one is the physical lack of literature in their lives. Some simply don't have books at home. Many don't have a variety of books to pick from. In our classroom itself, there is a only one bucket of books that are not always on-level or of interest to students.

My Project

Imagine what a library full of books that are on every student's reading level could do- a library that spans a variety of topics and interests, that represent the award-winning books that have brought this generation and generations before into a love of reading. My project would provide these kiddos with leveled books of a great variety with many of those that aroused my love of reading and the literacy love of countless children and now-adults. Some of my students will be able to ride to the wonderful world of the "Phantom Tollbooth," or others might run across the country with "Maniac Magee," live with the super-intelligent "Rats of Nimh," or just commiserate with the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," but all my students will be able to dive into the world of reading without restraint.

It's hard not to be excited about the potential of my kiddos but it's much harder to consider the obstacles they face in a high-crime, high-poverty community where the local high school has been labeled a "dropout factory." We can't eliminate the obstacles facing my students overnight but we can give them the tools to thrive.

As Elizabeth Hardwick said, "The greatest gift is a passion for reading.â