Dear WinkWorld Readers,
Recently, Deb Harrison, a high school English teacher in WY and a graduate student in my class at Black Hills State University, turned in a rough draft of a story about the power of “The Power of Reading” by Steve Krashen. The same day on Facebook, we noticed that a teacher in Huntsville TX had written about this book and posted on Steve’s page.
Read the TX short article on “The Power of Reading” right here.
Deb followed up with a part of her story which follows. We hope you enjoy.
The Power of Reading is the home run book in my professional world, and The Box Car Children was my home run reading book of my youth.
I have always been a voracious reader. I can remember being in second grade and going to the school library in our small town in North Dakota, to check out The Box Car Children books by Gertrude Chandler Warner. How I loved reading those books.
Even though, I have loved reading my entire life, and I love teaching English to Juniors and Seniors in high school in WY, and I already had one masters degree, the truth is that I struggled when I entered the English as a New Language (ENL) Black Hills State University, SD as part of the reading masters.
During the first semester, I seriously considered dropping out from the program. I just did not understand, and I had no idea what I was going to do for a final project. I felt overwhelmed.
“Try this,” Joan Wink, the professor said to me, as she handed me her copy of The Power of Reading (2004) by Stephen Krashen, and then she left me alone. As I read, I began to understand how important reading was to the success of language learners as well as students in any setting. I began to make sense of how reading affects language learning; I began to understand how getting kids reading could help them acquire language!
To me, the term home run reading is a book that made us fall in love with reading. I now have two: The Box Car Children and The Power of Reading. I think about its message and its impact on learning daily. I talk about the impact of reading to students and co-workers alike. More and more, where I teach, we are not talking about assigned reading; rather, we are talking about Krashen’s description of Free Voluntary Reading: No tests, no book reports, no evaluations, just reading for the love of reading.
The Power of Reading changed my life. I am working independently on a major project on Steve Krashen, which will soon by shared on www.WinkWorld.com, a blog written by my professor.
Deb Harrison: We thank you!
