I am a nerd. A book nerd. A word nerd. A journalism major who corrects her husband’s use of apostrophes constantly. I even know who invented the word nerd. I would be equally content to hold a brand new book unopened, page through an old favorite, or read aloud to a classroom full of finally quiet children. Libraries positively give me goosebumps and number among my “happy places” in this world.
It comes as no surprise then that I have spent the last decade in early elementary school classrooms. There is nowhere you can find an audience more enthusiastic to read a book for the umpteenth time than kindergarten through second grade and I have shared that joy with many children to date. In that time I have discovered new strategies, reflected on failed experiments, fawned over some true education gurus, and gone back to school twice–all in the name of literacy. (Part of being a nerd, is that you still like learning new things. A lot.)
This year, I am piloting a new position at my school. I am sharing my second grade classroom with another teacher and spending part-time outside my own four walls doing reading intervention work with RTI tier 2 and 3 children in grades K-3. It is both invigorating and disconcerting to be out of my classroom but sharing my nerdiness with others has been an amazing experience so far. In this hybrid position I find myself drawing on grad school classes, Reading Teacher articles, Pinterest, and “stolen” ideas from teachers I have met over the years in tandem. But all this new work has led me to one conclusion about teaching reading: It is hard! There are almost too many ideas to synthesize, too many resources to chose from–and they are rarely all in one place!
My aim with this blog is to provide a space where parents and reading teachers alike can come to find practical suggestions, ready-made resources, book list ideas, and eventually apps to support their own teaching. I hope to share my passion for teaching reading and writing so that we may all get in touch with our inner nerd.