I’ve been reading Peter Johnston’s new book Opening Minds. Yesterday I happened to read the section where Peter stresses the importance of making sure our students understand their own processes:

            Causal process comments are the most effective way of promoting the belief that the important 
             information is how someone did (or could do) something, because that’s what we can learn from.

Coincidentally, just that morning one of my second graders was able for the first time to explain exactly how she figured out a word using strategies that had been demonstrated and explained many times. What a breakthrough for her!

It has become almost second nature for me to ask a student how they figured out a word when they are reading, or why they used a certain beginning or perhaps a particularly good vocabulary word in writing. With our youngest readers and writers, sometimes it takes awhile for them to understand that they did it for themselves and to put the strategy into words, but when it does happen there is definitely cause for celebration. Sometimes I think that day will never come, and I’ve learned that I need to be patient – sometimes very patient. My favorite response to the question “How did you figure that out?” is “My mother told me.” I suppose in the mind of a child, mothers are pretty much responsible for all good things!  But eventually, like today, they learn what they were able to do themselves.

 Once I was listening in to two first grade struggling readers doing some partner reading. When they got to the end of the page and were ready to turn, one of the boys said to the other, “Let’s go back and look at this word. It made sense and sounded right, but it doesn’t look right!”  They then proceeded to figure it out together. It was an important moment for them (and for me!). For some the learning takes time, but  it’s always worth the wait.

It was one of those busy mornings. I got to school just in time for an early morning meeting which was followed by a second impromptu meeting which meant I would barely have a chance to store my coat and lunch before meeting with my first group of the day. That’s when I found it. A letter, you might even call it a love letter, from one of the kindergarten students I work with.

Looking at it from a teacher's perspective, it is a fantastic authentic assessment of what this child has learned and can apply. But more than that, it was just what I needed at just the right time. Because it was one of those busy mornings where I start questioning the worth of it all, this little guy’s note put it all in perspective. That’s why I do this.

I don’t know if this is the first love letter this kindergartener has written, but I’m willing to bet that it won’t be his last.

A few weeks ago, after enjoying some delicious sushi from my favorite Chinese restaurant, I discovered this message inside my fortune cookie: Leaders are readers. It was an unusual fortune, I thought, but one that made a lot of sense to me. It was something I thought I needed to reflect on, so I pasted it inside my writer’s notebook.

So what are the implications? The first thing about this little fortune that strikes me is that it can easily be reversed: Leaders are readers, and readers are leaders. In fact, it’s hard to tell which might come first. If you are a reader, you are armed with the knowledge that can make you a leader. You understand the world better and can gather information to make decisions that help you lead a better life. I think of the readers in our classrooms. They are usually held in high esteem in the classroom community (especially in the primary grades) -  someone to look up to, to want to be like. So whether they choose it or not, the readers in our classrooms are usually the leaders.

When we think of it the other way around (the way it was written) – Leaders are readers – I think it speaks to the responsibility we bear as teachers. We are the leaders in our school community, so it is up to us to keep informed. We need to read professionally so that we can bring the best strategies to our students and layer our thinking with the latest research and understandings. Teachers who are readers are the ones colleagues go to for ideas or for help in thinking through a difficulty.

It is perhaps coincidental that one of my fourth grade students asked me this week why the Statue of Liberty is holding a book. That question sparked a discussion in the small group around symbols in general, and what the book symbolizes in particular. Although we have since found out that the book is a law book, our discussion centered around the book as a symbol of knowledge, and the importance of knowledge as it relates to freedom. It was a high level discussion for these struggling readers who understood the importance in their lives of being able to read well.

Leaders are readers. What ideas does it spark for you?