Reading to Kids

Amidst a very full week, I had the opportunity to go read to a couple of classes at Greene County's Pre-K Center on Wednesday. This is Read Across America week and in all of the elementary schools in our district, you could see doors and hallways decorated with Dr. Suess themes. Our students also visited several schools to read and in every picture that I saw, the younger students were captivated.

The book that I read was about a little girl that wanted to be a scientist. So naturally, after the story was over, I asked everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up. I got a lot of great answers! Everything from a police officer, to a cowboy and an engineer. Every student was SO excited to tell me, and in typical four-year-old fashion, they were sometimes too excited to even get the words out. On my way back to school I had to stop and wonder where that passion had gone. High schoolers are not nearly as excited to tell you what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They work at it in their classes and talk about it with their counselors, but they don't tend to show the same passion for it that a Pre-K student does.

In the era of high-stakes testing, college debts of almost $100,000 and so much emphasis on competition for resources, have we forgotten to focus on fostering passion? In Angela Duckworth's book, Grit, she dedicates an entire chapter to passion. Passion for one's goals plus perseverance leads to success. I think somehow we missed that first part along the way. Please remember to take time to learn about what your students' goals are and help foster that passion. We will rely on these young people to be our police officers, engineers and maybe even a cowboy or two.