Working with struggling readers has been more of a roller coaster of emotions than I think I’ve ever expected. (Just in case you don’t know – I’m also a reading teacher). There are moments of great satisfaction when you know what you’ve been doing is helping a child become a better reader. There are equal (and sometimes more frequent) moments of great frustration and anxiety when you’ve tried every tool in your box of strategies, and it just still doesn’t seem to be making enough of an impact for the child. This week I’ve been in the deep dark dungeon of frustration…but I am seeing some cracks of light shining through. There were no breakthroughs for any students today, but I feel I may have come upon something that will help me, help students become better readers. And that brings hope and light.
What am I recommending to read this week? Your child’s writing. I would be remiss if I did not talk about writing because it is just as vital as reading. I use the word vital in it’s fullest sense of meaning. Just as a doctor would call a patient’s status vital if they were flatlining, I believe the same meaning applies to a child’s ability to read and write. It is vital – life or death. Their futures are hanging in the balance.
I having always enjoyed being crafty (or artsy fartsy as I like to refer to it), and I’ve had fun encouraging craftiness in my niece. I stopped by her home the other day, and she was crafting away at her little pink table. Making books, coloring, writing words rainbow style, and letting her creative juices flow. I came across a little piece of writing that she had cut out with her decorative scissors. She’s in kindergarten and has been hard at work learning sight words. This is what she wrote (typed just like her 5 year old hands wrote it):
I like to Play
With My MoM and My
NaNa.
A perfect glimpse into a young soul’s heart because that is precisely what she loves to do. Now, I just have to go and teach her how to spell Traci so she can include me in her writing. 
We become experts at what we devote our time to. What do we want our children to become experts at?
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