The Summer Stack

Every year, as my semester and boys' school year winds down, I start to get antsy.  Twitchy.  Ready to cast off all of the schedules, responsibilities, and the hurly burly of the academic year and get immersed in some real thinking.  I envision long, lazy days filled with cool drinks and warm breezes and lots of lounging in a chair with piles and piles of books.  It's time to reset, recharge, get inspired, and escape into stories that are not my own.  Books and words are a balm for my soul that gets neglected in the rush rush hurry hurry of the other seasons of the year.  Summer:  my time for reading, relaxing, and restoration before the next season of crazy. Sigh.

Somehow, I don't think this dream of mine is going to work out.

Because, have you met my boys?

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And did I happen to mention that I just moved?

unpacking

To a farm?

quartz hill

With lots of hay to be cut and a crop to be planted and no farmer to be found?

farmer landon

And, since you were wondering, my oldest just asked if I knew where his toothbrush was. Because HE HASN'T SEEN IT SINCE WE MOVED.  Well over a week ago.  AND HE JUST DECIDED TO MENTION IT NOW.  Which means, of course, that one hasn't been USED since at least then.

Can I get an eewwwwwww?

Sigh.

So, it looks like there is not going to be much slowing down to contemplate, recharge, and reflect. Not with all these muddy souls, dirty teeth, and boxes pleading to be unpacked.  There will be no completeimmersion. But, there will be flirtations and dalliances with books. . . stolen little moments of bliss, when I will be wantonly unfaithful to all of the unpacking that needs to be done.

To that end, I may not have a farming plan yet, but I have a summer escape plan.

I'm going to start here.

nesting house

And then work my way through these.

book stack

Ambitious?  Yes.  Unlikely?  Certainly.  It's certainly a miracle that these were found in the mess that is this house.  And, despite all of the other responsibilities in my life, I contend that there's a greater likelihood that I will plow through this stack than I will actually get my three new fields plowed and planted.

Sigh.

Happy (illicit) reading.

Literacy Liturgy

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I teach at a large state university, and my students are an interesting lot.  As prospective educators, they want to teach for a variety of reasons, some of which are noble, some not.  For some, their love of reading lies dormant, buried under the weight of academia and new adult responsibilities.  But for most, their relationship with reading is nonexistent at best and adversarial at worst.  Too many students report intense and painful feelings of insecurity, inferiority, and shame resulting from years of struggle with reading.  And I admit. . . this group scares me to death.  How can people who want to teach children actually proclaim that they hate to read?  And how in the world am I going to reverse deeply rooted reading antipathy in a mere thirteen weeks?

The truth is, I can't.  But here's how I try.

It begins through conversation.  A lot of conversation.  We talk about what I'm reading for pleasure and work, what they're reading  for school, what we've read on blogs and Twitter, what my boys are reading, what their moms are reading, what they used to read when they were little, what topics they find interesting, and what they find dull.   I am hustling and promoting books and blogs I think they would enjoy.  I continually reinforce the notion that reading, any reading, is valuable.  Even People Magazine and Perez Hilton.

Then, I transform from mild-mannered professor and book lover into a FORMIDIBLE READING EVANGELIST.   I preach the following Literacy Liturgy vociferously:

Reading is Thinking.  Reading is Connection.  Reading is a Conversation.  Reading is a profoundly social act.  Reading builds meaning and understanding.  Live it, share it, help to unlock the power of a literate life to the young ones in your care.  YOU are the ones to inspire a love of the written word in children.  You may have to fake it until you make it, but START FAKING IT.  It will become real.  YOU will not perpetuate the aliteracy epidemic that's rampant in America.  YOU will not let children leave your class without knowing the power, beauty, and connection found through engaging with the written word.  And I will not let YOU leave ME until you know the same.

For some, the Liturgy sticks.  For others, it doesn't.  At least not that I can see.  But, as a true evangelist, I have hope.  I hope that my students remember or discover anew the magic that is found from reading and writing.   I hope that they will find inspiration within the pages of books, and share that inspiration with our littlest readers.  So as the semester closes, I smile, hand the students a summer reading list that's peppered with titles to pique their interests, cross my fingers, and send them back out into the world.