feeds engagement in reading, especially for students living in poverty.
were avid readers. The others said
they rarely read; when they did, it was
mostly to earn points on Accelerated
Reading tests. If we are to get students
of poverty to read during the summer
months, we must employ instruction
during the school year that not only
ensures students can read, but also
makes reading desirable.
When I began teaching Elena and
her classmates, their attention lagged
during lessons. They were bored and
disengaged. During my years at the
school, the students and I went on a
journey that gradually increased the
number of readers in my class from a
handful to most. Students began reading
on the school bus, in the cafeteria, in
the stands during ball games—and
during summer. Eventually, the school
earned accolades on Colorado’s state
assessment program and in 2010–11,
it won a Governor’s Distinguished
Improvement Award and a Center of
Excellence Award for being one of the
Let’s take up Calkins’s
challenge to “fall
in love with our
students quickly.”
With students of
poverty, we don’t have
a moment to waste.
schools in the state that demonstrated
the highest rate of student longitudinal
academic growth.
While teaching these students,
I discovered new methods. I also
rejuvenated techniques from my 27
Ground Instruction
in Relationships
© TIM HALL/GE TTY IMAGES
My first year of teaching was in a
bush village in Alaska. My Haida
Indian charges quickly taught me
that kids must love their teacher and
feel loved in return to learn to their
fullest. Although I worked diligently
to plan exciting lessons, gaining the
attention of children who’d spent
their first five years of life exploring
the beaches and river of their village
was a challenge. As the year plodded
along, I began to understand each of
these 16 students and their private
hurts and joys. The more I loved
them, the easier it was to get their
attention.
Twenty-seven years later, as I
struggled with Elena’s class (
nicknamed the “class from hell”), this
lesson became important again.
No matter how difficult Elena’s
class seemed, I needed to love them.
During the first months, they weren’t
easy to love; by the end of the year, they
were my best-behaved class and paid
attention even to lessons that weren’t
so exciting. One-on-one conferences
helped me get close to each student. I
found unconditional love was the best
tool in my teacher’s tool kit. First, I gave
them love; in return, they conducted
themselves like individuals worthy of
that love.
Two decades ago, Lucy Calkins
(1991) gave this advice:
One of the challenges we as writing
teachers face is that we must begin
teaching writing before we’ve grown to
love each child. Once we can look at
loud, blustery Joel and know the vulner-
ability and earnestness just beneath the
surface, it’s not hard to teach him. Once
we have found that quiet Diana has so
much to say if only we listen . . . it’s not
hard to teach her. . . . Our first objective,
then, is to fall in love with our children,
and to do so quickly. (p. 11)
