By Kayla Gilmore
I honestly stopped reading during the pandemic. I was so focused on staying above water that cracking open the pages of a book just wasn’t a priority. Then this summer, I made it a priority. While reading, I allowed myself to dream with the characters for their futures, to be frustrated with their problems and to indulge my curiosity to think about how the author would end the story. In short, I allowed myself to do something I haven’t done for the past year and a half: to be human.
Through the pandemic, our students have hit so many roadblocks. While we tend to focus on their learning loss in subject matter, we often forget that students have also come up short in one other crucial skill: empathy. Between all of the Zoom meetings and social distancing, it can be hard to focus on our own feelings - let alone those of another person. I found myself guilty of such a fault with reading, it just wasn’t a priority.
As teachers, we love to use one solution to solve two problems - this is where reading can help boost both the lost learning skills and the lost empathy/communication skills. These days, it can be hard to remember what it’s like to have a conversation with a group of friends, or anyone for that matter. That’s why reading is so important, especially now. Students need to know that personal connections still exist and books are the vehicle for doing just that. Making reading a priority is not the magic answer, but it’s definitely part of the solution to help our students bridge that gap back to normalcy.
For young readers, a book like Hey, Dog by Tony Johnston can help students see how trust is built over time and how we can find love no matter what species. My first thought was to pair this with the Pixar SparkShort “Kitbull” and have students talking in no time. For grades 4-6, a book like The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods blends empathy with history to talk about life in the Jim Crow South. Free Lunch by Rex Ogle lives up to its title for adolescent readers - the main character tells the story of his embarrassment wearing secondhand clothes and standing in line for a free lunch as an announcement of his family’s lack of money. It’s perfect for students as they mature and gain awareness of their own financial standings.
One of the most compelling books from the Gateway list for mature readers this year is Nikki Grimes’s memoir Ordinary Hazards. Her personal story evokes a pain that many other students feel but don’t communicate with others and is a powerful reminder for students that they are not alone. As learners of any age can struggle to understand their own feelings during this pandemic, using books as a lens can help break students out of their own seclusion and help them to think about the feelings of others.
The good news is that there is an entire day for making reading a priority in our schools. Missouri Read-In Day occurs every second Friday in March, meaning that March 11, 2022 can be dedicated solely to reading. So, what can we do to make reading more enticing and get students connected with the texts and each other? There are plenty of ways to make reading a communal experience, even with COVID restrictions:
• Create a themed party around a book, especially one surrounding a different culture. Introduce new foods, listen to music or research their holidays to help students understand the text and the characters more fully.
• Create a bracket system to have students vote for their favorite books and celebrate by reading the winner.
• Have a movie moment! Books like The Lorax, Holes or Ready Player One can provoke great discussions about how the book compares to the movie and which one students prefer.
• Celebrate an author, like Roald Dahl or Shel Silverstein, and read several of their books throughout the day, or have a reading jigsaw to compare their works.
• Act out a book using costumes and props to make the book come alive for your students. Cast parts and read your character out loud and decorate the room to pretend you are in the setting of the book.
• Invite a local celebrity to join in on the fun. Newscasters, city officials, health workers or first responders can be brought in. However, don’t discredit building workers like principals, secretaries, nurses, cafeteria workers and janitors. Anyone can help students see that even adults like to open the pages of a book.
• Create a class poster of favorite books and have students draw out important scenes in a book to hang in the classroom or in the hallway for everyone to appreciate.
• Bring in an author to talk about their books. There are lists of authors online who will video call with you.
• Keep a feelings chart for each character to track their emotions throughout the book. Stop to ask students how they would feel in that situation, what their facial expressions might look like or how they would act with their bodies if they were feeling that emotion.
Remind students - and yourself - that reading can help you connect not only with characters, but also each other. As we continue on towards a second full year of masking and social distancing, make books a priority to give you a reminder not of what we’ve lost, but what we still have.