Maybe this is why we read,
and in moments of darkness we return to books:
to find words for what we already know.
~ Alberto Manguel
This past year I tracked my reading using GoodReads for the first time. It's not the first time I've ever tried to keep a list of the books I've read but it is the first time I used this app and that I was consistent for the whole year.
I set a reading goal at the start of the year, not because I wanted to reach a certain number but because I was interested in knowing how many books I would read over the course of the year. I've noticed in the last two years as my daughters have gotten to an age where they can be trusted to play and entertain themselves that I have been able to read more again. In the early years when they were babies, I was either too exhausted to focus on reading or every time I tried to read they would want my attention.
Now that they are older, I can read as much as I want ... but
I also miss those little baby arms always reaching up to me.
I started out the year blogging about my reading with the intention of keeping it up all year. Isn't the saying that "the path to Hell is paved with good intentions..."? Well, as the year got busier and other things took my attention I dropped that endeavor but I think I'd like to pick it back up this year.
Maybe focusing on just 1-2 books each month? Maybe completing a FOLD Reading Challenge? Perhaps this is the year I read the Canada Reads long list as I did a few years ago?
I'd definitely like to find time for more PD books during the school year.
A wonderful educator, Alanna King, that I met at previous OLASC's and who I follow on Twitter recently blogged about her reading journey and it really stuck with me.
Alanna shared this video on Jacques Derrida from Youtube (and I swear I haven't heard anyone mention Derrida since my days in undergrad...) and it was super interesting.
My husband and I often talk (or have a fierce discussion... however, you want to call it!) about the state of the world, people's reactions to things, and our own opinions. For two people who pledged to spend their lives together, it's rather amazing how little we often agree on.
One thing that usually comes from our chats is the belief that most people are too stuck in their own thoughts and beliefs. That they haven't attempted to learn enough about the "other" around them. That we need to go outside of ourselves, to ask questions and to learn more, and to understand that we know less than we think we do.
So what did I read last year?
Well, GoodReads just happens to create a visual display of the books logged over the course of the year.
I have also been reading articles related to reading. What reading is and could be.
The books that should be available to children and the books that need to be available to children.
I started with Diverse Literature in School Libraries: Reflected Realities by Matthew Courtney (School Librarian, Vol. 67, Issue 3, The School Library Association) and then moved on to Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Rudine Sims Bishop (Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, Vol 6, no. 3, Summer 1990.)
I was sad, disappointed and a little ashamed that neither had crossed my path during any of my teacher-librarian courses or qualifications.
Then the amazing article by Rabia Khokhar came out in the ETFO Voice Magazine entitled- The Power of Stories: Learning from Complex Characters to Counter Islamophobia (Winter 2019). This led me to A Black Character Does Not a Good Book Make: Choosing Black-Focused Books to Support Culturally Relevant Teaching by Natasha Henry (ETFO Voice, Spring 2018). And finally, as I had already started writing this blog post the latest edition of The Teaching Librarian magazine arrived with the article Silent Message in the Stacks by Holly Dickson (January 2020, Vol. 27, Issue 2).
So after a year (and more) of intentionally diversifying my reading-
...reading books with #OwnVoices, from backgrounds and cultures different than my own, trying new genres and formats, reading more non-fiction and memoirs, reading Canadian books, etc-
Do I have less questions?
No.
But I'm happy with that. I'm happy to have more questions.
More wonderings. More confusion.
Less certainty. More openness.
Less silo.
More books to read. Always more books.
And isn't that the magic of reading?
Alanna shared this video on Jacques Derrida from Youtube (and I swear I haven't heard anyone mention Derrida since my days in undergrad...) and it was super interesting.
My husband and I often talk (or have a fierce discussion... however, you want to call it!) about the state of the world, people's reactions to things, and our own opinions. For two people who pledged to spend their lives together, it's rather amazing how little we often agree on.
One thing that usually comes from our chats is the belief that most people are too stuck in their own thoughts and beliefs. That they haven't attempted to learn enough about the "other" around them. That we need to go outside of ourselves, to ask questions and to learn more, and to understand that we know less than we think we do.
So what did I read last year?
Well, GoodReads just happens to create a visual display of the books logged over the course of the year.
I have also been reading articles related to reading. What reading is and could be.
The books that should be available to children and the books that need to be available to children.
I started with Diverse Literature in School Libraries: Reflected Realities by Matthew Courtney (School Librarian, Vol. 67, Issue 3, The School Library Association) and then moved on to Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Rudine Sims Bishop (Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, Vol 6, no. 3, Summer 1990.)
I was sad, disappointed and a little ashamed that neither had crossed my path during any of my teacher-librarian courses or qualifications.
Then the amazing article by Rabia Khokhar came out in the ETFO Voice Magazine entitled- The Power of Stories: Learning from Complex Characters to Counter Islamophobia (Winter 2019). This led me to A Black Character Does Not a Good Book Make: Choosing Black-Focused Books to Support Culturally Relevant Teaching by Natasha Henry (ETFO Voice, Spring 2018). And finally, as I had already started writing this blog post the latest edition of The Teaching Librarian magazine arrived with the article Silent Message in the Stacks by Holly Dickson (January 2020, Vol. 27, Issue 2).
So after a year (and more) of intentionally diversifying my reading-
...reading books with #OwnVoices, from backgrounds and cultures different than my own, trying new genres and formats, reading more non-fiction and memoirs, reading Canadian books, etc-
Do I have less questions?
No.
But I'm happy with that. I'm happy to have more questions.
More wonderings. More confusion.
Less certainty. More openness.
Less silo.
More books to read. Always more books.
And isn't that the magic of reading?
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