Teaching with passion
Teaching with passion
By: Joy Gray Mazzola
Description: “Reading is more than a school thing. It’s a life thing.” – Sharon Weaver
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 795 times
0 responses 1 comment The sign on reading specialist Sharon Weaver’s classroom door at Tomkins School reads, “I came here to win,” and that love of reading is what Weaver works to instill in her Title I students.
Inside her colorful classrooms, Weaver weaves magic with fun at every turn. A vintage bathtub, a tree house, child-size lounging chairs and tiny park benches invite young readers to sit and enjoy the experience of opening up their worlds with books.
“This is really a Tompkins team effort and a community effort, not just Title I,” Weaver said. “I wanted to create a reading haven for kids. If they enjoy and identify with reading, they’ll fight the fight and win.”
Weaver’s use of battle phrases brought home the challenges young students, their families and their teachers face when reading is not a meaningful event in their lives.
“I try to work with parents as well, but it isn’t always easy,” Weaver said. “Parents may have difficulty helping their children learn to read for many reasons. Some parents may not speak English, or some may spend so much time trying to make ends meet to support their children that they have no time. There are many realities to battle.”
To help counter the obstacles, Weaver counts on her community reading coaches for support.
“The reading coaches are pure gold,” she said. “They really work miracles by reading one-on-one with the kids.”
Among the projects to encourage and delight her students, is Weaver’s “Grrrrrreat Readers” program. She records books on tapes, transfers them to CDs and includes them in a package with the actual book, to aid students when reading at home.
She took another project idea of giving each child a book for his or her birthday to a local community service group.
“This year I asked the Kiwanis Club if they would consider donating books for a ‘Book Birthday’ program. We decorated the classroom with balloons and streamers and Paul Combs, who’s also a reading coach, represented the Kiwanis Club,” Weaver said.
“We had a birthday party all day long and each child received a book with a name sticker inside from the Tompkins Reading Project and the Kiwanis of Tehachapi.
The Republican Women of Tehachapi also brought books for the students to take home on another occasion.
“Research says that kids need to be book owners,” Weaver said.
The satisfaction of seeing students begin to enjoy the reading process, understand characters, learn new ideas and discover the world around them is infectious. Ann Wood, one of Weaver’s three aids, is now working to become a reading specialist herself.
“Sharon is such an inspiration as a teacher,” Wood said.
Reading, Weaver said, can open up a child’s world.
“Literacy comes in layers of life,” she said. “I hope through reading that children learn empathy for other people.” A number of the books supplied to her students stress that aspect of humanity, such as stories about orphans, the plight of Jews in World War II, families who experienced the American Depression or grief. However, adventure and fun are never far away.
“Since last Thanksgiving we’ve read 13 books and we started off with Harry Potter,” She said.
Last month, Weaver traveled to the International Reading Association’s 51st Annual Convention in Chicago to accept the Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Award, acknowledging her work with children’s literacy.
Routman is a former educator and author, who now provides professional development for all school districts in the United States. Weaver was selected for the international honor after she wrote and submitted a reflective piece about her own growth as a teacher.
In an excerpt from a personal correspondence with Routman, after winning the award, Weaver summed up her gratitude and her goals.
“To be awarded this honor has been a lesson to me that my best efforts of integrity accumulate beyond my imagination (and often my notice.) I plan to continue putting my enthusiastic offering on that educational alter. Despite the daunting challenges in teaching, I honestly find it exciting, stimulating and lots of fun. I’m amazed daily at my opportunities to grow, learn and celebrate humanity through literacy.”
Weaver is a member of the Kern and California Reading Associations. She is a graduate of Ricks College, Idaho State University and holds a master’s degree in reading and language arts from the University of Laverne. In addition to her teaching career, Weaver has five children, enjoys writing and is a classically trained pianist.
Weaver said her reading work with Title I students is all part of a much larger picture.
“We really work together as a team here at Tompkins,” she said. “However, reading is more than a school thing. It’s a life thing.”
For more information on the International Reading Association and the Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Award, visit: http://www.reading.org/asso...
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Mon Jun 12, 2006 19:43:47 PDT
Kudos Sharon Weaver!
