Possibility

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact.  It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration.  It's a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing."  -- Muhammad Ali 

I'm a reader; I always have been. I've loved books and learning from the very beginning, but I became a true reader at my grandmother's cluttered kitchen table.  Watching her indulge in paperback Harlequin romances, all appearing to have the same story line, I got hooked on my own books by Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Francine Pascal, Stephen King, and V.C. Andrews. Sitting at that kitchen table littered with cruller crumbs, menthol cigarette butts, and coupons, I raced through books and found a world, often much warmer, outside of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I became a reader and no other skill has impacted my life in a more profound way. While I'm not sure that all of my grandmother's second-hand smoke was great for my physical health, I know that time at her table nourished by brain and soul. That messy table created a reader.

Thirty plus years later, I'm a mom and ESL educator in a large, diverse urban district.  My daughter is also a voracious reader -- she was an easy sell, but I also know my husband and I did a lot of the "right" things. My students are trickier.  Many of them are refugees and didn't grow up in print-rich environments. My goal is to help them discover their inner readers. In the words of James Patterson, "There's no such thing as a kid who hates reading.  There are kids who love reading, and there are kids who are reading the wrong books."

This blog will document my efforts (successful and less so) at home and school to promote engaged reading and learning. I know it's possible.