In my first year as an ELA teacher, “read a book” became my calling card. When someone finished their assignment early, or feigned the necessity to leave the classroom to ‘get something’ from the office, they expected me to redirect them to “read a book.” My goal was to reinforce to my non-reading 8th graders the importance of reading not just because it was part of the curriculum, or to just pass the time, but because reading was (and is) a pathway to answers throughout our lives.
