Blog Post #4 - Routman (2003), Ch. 3: Share Your Reading Life - Laurie Smith

I enjoyed reading this chapter of Routman's book.  I have always struggled with reading for pleasure and reading mandatory literature for school.  As a child, I always enjoyed when someone else would read to me, but struggled really getting into a new book and sticking with it.  I enjoy reading more now as an adult, but have little time to sit and enjoy it, unless it is summer time and I am off work.  In this Chapter, Routman talks about sharing your reading life with your students; talk about what you are reading, what you want to read next, why you read, what you like about reading, and why it is so important to read for pleasure.  Even though my student's (3&4 year olds with disabilities) aren't reading yet, I can see how I can use Routman's ideas on reading logs, book talks, favorite author studies, and a "show and tell" with favorite student books in my class room to help them move towards being students who will read for pleasure in the future.  I would love to have my students bring in a favorite book to share with the class and tell why they like it so much, as well as begin keeping a class reading log of all the books that we read together in class.  They may not understand genre, author, and illustrator yet, but they know when and why they like something, and that is a start.