Fall in Love With Books: A Teacher's Summer Chronicles

First book on my summer reading list, recommended by my favorite female aviator

My daughter (and favorite female aviator)

On the last day of school, one of my 1st Period students asked, "Mrs. Schaefer what are you doing for the summer?" "Well," I said, "reading, traveling, cleaning, gardening and my favorite...sleeping IN!" Most of the class groaned at the reading declaration (but not all, which is huge progress), and nearly all of them laughed at sleeping in. They were anxious to tell me about the video games they'd be playing, as well as trips to the pool. Many of them  also touted my own desire to just sleep in! And while they almost all told me about how excited they were about the time off, I know that many will be in various precarious circumstances over the break (which keeps a nagging worry for them at the back of my mind...occupational hazard).

As I watch State Legislators haggle and argue about education issues such as the budget for the next school year, I wonder how many of them are truly invested in the welfare of these children. Based on a lot of the decisions I see them making, their actions scream not many. I could elaborate with a list of facts and details, arguments and opinions, turning this post into a education political shit storm, but that's not what today's thoughts are about. Today's thoughts are focused on books, in general, and a love of reading, specifically. I tell my classes year after year two mantras with staunch regularity--"Knowledge is power" and "Falling in love with reading is your escape." I then spend an entire school year backing up those two ideas with evidence to support that they are undeniably true. In fact, if I think about it, I could make an argument for every single lesson plan I've taught having its roots in these two themes. The truth of this makes me ridiculously happy because it is my goal that every child who crosses my path takes away two things, the feeling of their own empowerment and excitement over a book! 

Since many of my former students fairly regularly pop onto my website to see what I'm up to, the first book on my summer reading list is Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman's Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front by Mary Jennings Hegar. I am normally not much of a non-fiction reader unless it involves current local, state, or world news, but when your daughter hands you a book filled with post-it notes where parts that resonated with her are marked and says, "Mom, you've gotta read this", you do! Usually when I crack the spine of a book, I want it to take me somewhere "else", away from my life which is already inundated daily with harsh truths. Opening this book and delving its depths, however, is like going on a silent journey through the pages with my daughter. I can clearly see connections to her own life, her father's military career, and the overlap weaving in and out of the two of them. It's beautiful, in and of itself, and made even more lovely because the author of this book has such a strong, empowering voice on her own. 

Thank you for the book recommendation, Freckles. As for the rest of you, if you haven't read a great book in awhile, now's the time to start one!