Mrs. Gary's Personal Reading Journey

Selecting this quote to represent who I am was a ridiculously easy choice, as I have always identified with the character Scout from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. And, just like Scout, I have always felt that reading is as embedded within me as is my DNA. I cannot remember a time when I couldn't read. (Or when I didn't read . . . voraciously!)

My love affair with books has always seemed as natural to the fiber of my being as playing softball every summer growing up, as innate as riding in the back of someone's pickup on the way to Frosto for milkshakes after those above-mentioned softball games. When I think about my childhood, in fact, reading is always the one memory that is most easily conjured. It was such a huge part of my life that, again, it seemed as inherent as sno cones after a day at the pool, or as intrinsic as signing up for the parish library's summer reading program.

My earliest reading memory, however, is of my nanny (a nun who is a former school teacher and who is, currently, the associate superintendent for the Diocese of Shreveport school system). My nanny used to spend lots of time with me and my younger brother, Brad. During our evenings together, my nanny used to read bedtime stories to us. Our favorite was The Haunted House (pictured below) because my nanny used the spookiest, most incredible voices when she read that book! Oh, there were many others. But this one - this one book - seemed to have ignited an insatiable thirst within me for the consumption of words that I never seem to have been able to quench.

As time has passed, however, and as my work and home life have become increasingly demanding, it has been difficult for me to read for pleasure the way that I used to. In fact, if I'm being completely honest, I rarely ever read for pleasure anymore; most of the books I read are for professional development purposes. But it was in seeking to become a better teacher during my "Make Every Day Count" initiative the summer before Southside opened that my entire outlook on reading was dynamically and forever altered.

That was when I discovered Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook. That one guide for life completely transformed the way I view my role in my son's educational experience. With my daughter, Lainee, I was so busy proving myself as a teacher and as a coach - and trying to find my way in life - that I neglected to take my role as her most important educator seriously. I talked to her about life on a regular basis, of course. But I never really got around to helping her develop a love affair with reading. And, as a result, my daughter has always struggled with being as proficient in reading comprehension as her AP and, now, college cohorts. I know that gaining a solid foundation in literacy could have helped Lainee tremendously throughout her educational career, and I am ashamed that, as an English teacher, I failed her. But, as Maya Angelou once so eloquently and accurately stated:

So it is with that "growth mindset" - and Jim Trelease's teachings - that I move forward to become a better educator both for my sweet son Liam and for the students I am blessed to serve each school year, in the hope that the written word may become one of the great loves of their lives the way that it has mine.

And I encourage you, no matter how young or old you may be, to consider reading to your own children - as early and as often as you possibly can - so that learning comes easier to them than it will otherwise.

*To learn more about The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, check out the "Books Mrs. Gary Recommends" section of my website!