I took the 4th grade
class to check out books from the school library. Everyone except one boy seemed
to making progress in selecting books for the week.
Me: Have you found a book yet?
Bored Boy: No, I don’t know what to get.
Me: What kind of books do you like to read?
Bored Boy: I don’t know.
Me: Mysteries, adventure, animals…?
Bored Boy: Nah, no, ummm nuh-uh. I don’t think I want a book.
He then went to sit out for the
rest of library time.
Since I had twenty-eight other kids
to monitor, I turned over the assignment of “book finding” to two 6th
grade girls working as librarian assistants, with the instructions to locate a book a boy
his age might like to read and bring it to me. I didn’t really care if they
were successful. I had nothing to lose.
The girls returned just as I was
rounding up the kids to return to class. They couldn’t have chosen
better. I congratulated them on their excellent find and handed “bored boy” his
book choice.
Bored Boy: I don’t think I like this book.
Me: Trust me. YOU will.
Back in class, the lesson plan
called for 20mins of silent reading (SSR). This is one of my favorite times in
that I get to lead by example, relaxing and reading whatever book I’m currently
into.
Bored boy was the only one who
hadn’t started when I caught his attention and pantomimed, with my hands,
opening and closing a book while giving him “THE LOOK”. He started reading.
Every couple of minutes, I’d check
on the class and in particular “Bored Boy”. Amazingly, Bored Boy was still
reading. After a while, I heard him giggle a couple of times, saw him share a
page with the kid next to him.
After a while, I glanced up and saw
that Bored Boy and two boys on each side of him were reading 101-ways, pointing
at different pages and trying not to draw my attention.
I pretended to not notice and at
the end of SSR. Bored Boy couldn’t help himself and came up to show me several
“things” they found that were funny and “he was going to try it at home”.
With a wink, my final comment at
the end of the day was, “Remember now, you didn’t get that book from me,
RIGHT?”
3 comments:
His parents will love you for it.
I'm delighted he liked my novel! (Yes, all you parents/teachers out there: it's a novel, not an instruction manual!) When he's finished reading it, perhaps he might like the sequels: 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher and 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies (the latter just came out last month). Tell Shy Boy to please email me at author@leewardlaw.com if he'd like to share his thoughts about the books. I'm SO glad he's caught the reading bug! All best, Ms. Lee Wardlaw
Just a note to say I'm honored for the visit from the author of the book. (see previous comment)
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