North Jacksonville Reading Night
2008
Me: I was in the slow reading group in 3rd grade the bluebirds…My buddy Gary was a redbird and that made me mad. So I practiced. I got into my mom’s cookbooks but that just made me hungry and they used the same words over and over. I thought that big books were boring. Went to the library and found the skinniest book I could find. My three favorite books… The Juggler of Our Lady… it was cool! Then I started reading books that started to mess with my head…they changed me. Travels with Charley.. John Steinbeck..took his old pickup truck with camper on the back and his pet poodle and started driving across the United States. It made me want to travel. I got hooked. I’ve taken my students to 22 foreign countries for the last 30 years. The Hobbit…I used to make lists of how I’d like to make it into a movie and I’d make up the cast lists..then somebody beat me to it.. The Lord of the Rings.
I became a reading teacher… Me! A bluebird! What made the difference? I found books that I liked to read. My school library… 12 short shelves…Yours…wow! And I had a second secret… Mom and Dad were constant readers. Even when watching television they’d have a book on their lap. Our home was filled with books and magazines. My dad still reads while mowing on his John Deere riding mower. A few weeks ago my cleaning lady said that she gave up on the front room of my house. She said, “The books keep falling over on top of the vacuum cleaner.”
The National PTA to prepare for No Child Left Behind, did a study to determine the common factors for kids who grew up to be readers. Here’s what they didn’t find… ---Not the economic background ---Not what part of the country the child lived ---Not the quality of the school ---Not even the child’s I.Q. Only one factor: whether or not the home was filled with reading materials and the kids saw their parents read. Saturday morning…interviewed a grandmother… grandson running around the house (2nd grade?).. filled with books
The story of Phillip.. 7th grader. Very tall. Always wore cowboy boots to school, cowboy, and when we didn’t catch him, his spurs. Every morning before school, book in hallway. Never ate lunch.. always sat out under a tree reading cowboy books. The kids used to kid him a little. No more: this year…the state High School Rodeo Champion… riding bucking horses.
I called around last week and asked some people about their favorite books when they were in elementary and middle school.
Let’s make a game show out of this. Who can name this person? He was a teacher. Went to the Marines and served in the Gulf War. Has three kids. He’s running for re-election.. lives in Jacksonville. Go Dog Go, Are You My Mother?, Red Badge of Courage (HINT: He’s your state representative in Springfield) State Representative Jim Watson
, formerly a Jr High teacher from Peoria, he’s about to give up his job in Washington. A man and a lady are running for his office My side of the Mountain, Old Yeller, Charlotte’s Web. Ray LaHood ..
He grew up in another state, he owned a professional baseball team, he became governor, then a bigger office. Favorite book…….The Very Hungry Caterpillar Called the White House… President Bush didn’t answer, but I talked to a lady who said she’d send me an email.
"Soup". "Soup and Me". Don't recall any other titles. When I am invited to read to an elementary classroom I always try to find a copy and read several chapters of "Soup" to the students. And sports books. Les Huddle,
Raised in Mt. Sterling, trained with the FBI, still runs several miles a week to stay in shape, Deputy Sheriff for many years. Old Yeller Klondike Dog PT 109 Sports books..esp about Cardinals Randy Duvendack
I wrote Mayor Tendick: Are you kidding me! I was in grade school at the dawning of creation! Moses was our substitute teacher a couple of times! That was a long, long time ago. Comic books aside(and that was quite a stack) .. I liked to read biographies of historical figures, i.e. Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington Carver, and sports figures like Jim Thorpe, Doak Walker, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig. But I also read most, if not all, of Mark Twain's books. A quick story about school visits. I went with the Abe Lincoln person and Loreli Steuer to deliver the Bicentennial books to the grade schools. At Washington, as I introduced Lincoln(kind of a neat thing for a small town mayor to be introducing the 16th President)I told the youngsters seated in the gym, that I started school at Washington, so it had to be a really old school. As Lincoln and I were shaking with the kids afterwards, one little boy looked at me for what seemed like a long time, and said, "Are you Lincoln's Dad?". Of course, I immediately escorted him to the principal's office. Your friend (as they called me at Washington) “Ronnie T.) A secret: He’s writing a book of his own…John J. Hardin
Me: Lincoln Museum She works in district 117. I remember that my 3rd grade teacher read the entire Boxcar Children Series to us. I also remember Fudge and Super Fudge. My grandma would buy me Golden Books at the grocery store, Disney Children's Encyclopedias The most gorgeous principal. The Principal of North Elementary, Leslie:
An actor..… Green Eggs and Ham & Robinson Crusoe (HINT: He was The Grinch) Jim Carey
An actor….Charlotte’s Web & Huckleberry Finn (HINT: “Life is like a box of chocolates”) Tom Hanks…
Born in Chicago, wasn’t good enough to make his Jr. High basketball team…The Boxcar Children (HINT: He had a basketball shoe named after him) … Michael Jordan
…(HINT: “I’m King of the World!) The Goosebumps Books Leonardo DiCaprio
He currently drives the #20 HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Monte_Carlo_SS" \o "Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS" Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS and HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Impala_SS" \o "Chevrolet Impala SS" Chevrolet Impala SS in the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR" \o "NASCAR" NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the #33 Old Spice Chevrolet Monte Carlo Tales of a Fourth-grade Nothing, The Outsiders, Durango Street Tony Stewart
Won the NASCAR Winston Cup four times, the Daytona 500 three times…… One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, The Mysterious Tadpole, The Jungle Book Jeff Gordon
Another actor…… The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, (HINT: Captain Jack Sparrow.) Johnny Depp
Bill Clinton: The Last of the Mohicans.
Bill Gates: The Blind Watchmaker
Ted Nugent: Bloodtrails, the Truth about bow-hunting
Stephen Spielberg: Treasure Island
Hillary Clinton: Goodnight Moon
Jaime Foxx: Green Eggs and Ham
Barack Obama: Moby Dick
John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Called secretaries of David Letterman and Rush Limbaugh. Both too busy.
Nearly everything has changed in education since we’ve been in school… When most of us went to school, a “laptop” was the place on top of your knees, where you put your lunch or hid the answers to your spelling test.
But one thing has not changed…the need to read well. The federal government can spend millions, North School can design programs, but nothing can turn your child into a reader like YOU can.
My handicaps: Mildred Smith…piano. Jimmy Zimmerman: trumpet.
I must be honest: I don't remember a single day I ever spent in reading class. I remember very few of the books I read. But the sight of my parents reading and reading to me will be etched in my mind forever.
Please…please…we love your kids and wish them well but love them even more. Give them the greatest educational gift possible: show them that reading is important.
PAGE * MERGEFORMAT 3