Believe it or not, this is not always easy to accomplish. The feeling of being challenged by a difficult text and having to think deeply and critically is not always a good one. Writing is often a daunting work in progress. (I'm feeling that right now!)

However, reading can be an inspiring, growth producing, mind expanding, and personality shaping activity. Writing helps us learn to use our words to navigate the world and share our ideas with others. I hope that all the students in my classroom eventually are persuaded that I'm right about this--and that they get excited to grow as readers, writers, thinkers, and inhabitants of this little planet.