Success Story!!

I just got back from a very enjoyable afternoon of book shopping with a student of mine. You know, sometimes in a school like mine it is so easy to get discouraged and frustrated with the handful of kids that cause so much chaos and you start feeling hopeless about the whole situation. But then, some days, I start looking past the loud cursing and destruction of property and the fighting and the back-talking of the most noticeable kids and make a conscious effort to see the faces of the other kids passing by. And you know what?? There are some really, truly amazing kids that I work with every day. I mean some really fantastic kids. Kids that make me think of the Booker T. Washington quote that says, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." I am surrounded by success stories every day and sometimes we hardly even see them.

Lea was one of my students in sixth grade when I was still teaching language arts. She and her family moved to Dallas after Hurricane Katrina. In sixth grade, I don't think I was her favorite teacher because I "nagged" her pretty hard. It wasn't that Lea wasn't a good student; it was just that I didn't get a lot of effort from her. At all. It used to frustrate me because she just didn't seem to be trying. She was a sweet girl, but I just didn't get a lot out of her. She definitely wasn't a reader and didn't seem to be into anything that would require that much effort on her part.

Last year, when I became the librarian, Lea came to the library with her reading class. I remember suggesting a book to her for her book report. It was an urban fiction drama. Before I knew it, Lea was back. She had finished it and wanted the other book by the same author. That was the beginning. Now a year later, I see Lea in the library almost every day. She has read almost 40 books since the beginning of this school year alone!! She has read several series and is often known to advise her classmates on what to try. I really think she has read more of the books in my library than I have and is a better book talker than I'll ever be! Because I only get to order books once a year, I often don't have the latest releases by certain authors or for certain series. So now she has me requesting them from the Dallas Public Library, where I will go by and pick them up for her on my library card. She also has gotten her brother and sisters into reading and she will often check out books or swap books with them as well. She is just so excited about her reading and prides herself on being a reader now....I love it!!

Today I picked her up and we went to the public library to sign her up for her own library card so this summer she can continue her voracious reading. We then went to Half-Price Books because she had never been there. We also went to Target to get a new book that wasn't available at either the library or Half-Price. We had the best time browsing books together and talking about the ones she's read. I haven't had a book buddy like Lea in quite some time!

I just have seen such a turnaround in this girl and her motivation and I can't help but think that discovering this love of reading was a part of it. Even if I don't do anything else as a librarian or teacher, I feel I had a small role in this new-found hobby of hers and I'm really happy about that. I'm really going to miss Lea next year when she goes to high school, but I hope to keep in touch with her because she will always be my first library success story!