As I opened up my email to search for the dreaded "Welcome Back" email and schedule (you know what I am talking about...teaching is great, but summer is sweet), I found an email written to me from one of my students from the past school year. It made me smile, and it took away the sting that accompanies the end of yet another restful summer break. She wrote:
"Hey, Mrs.Posey it is _________ ________! I was wondering how u have been. I hope u r doing well. I also wanted to tell u that I have continued to read Harry Potter. I am on book number 5! I now have all the books, plus Hermonie's replica wand. My room is filled up with Harry potter posters everywhere. I even have a Hedwig stuffed animal. I also wanted to say I really miss u. You know how I told you my mom would never read Harry Potter, well guess what I got my mom hooked now.Since I got her so hooked she even got me all the movies! Well hope u had an awesome summer!
Bye!"
*smile returning*
This is the power of Reader's Workshop. This is the power of allowing students to have choice in their reading and education. This is a power that I fear is going to be taken away in the upcoming school years with curriculum changes...but that's for another post. For now, I am going to hang on to the fact that all of my research, hard work, and stress of the past school year really did pay off :)
Tell me about a time you knew you had made an impact on a student in the comments below!
