Kellee’s 2013 Reflection

2013 was a life-changing year for me.
The biggest, and most exciting, change was that I am pregnant with my first child (cannot wait for Baby Boy Moye!). Right after finding out I was pregnant, I was given the opportunity to be the reading coach at my middle school and knew that I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to at least try it. This may not be life-changing permanently, but it definitely was present life-changing.  Both of these changes had a major impact on my reading life. 

First, pregnancy. If you have been pregnant then you know what I mean when I saw I was tired for 4 months. More tired than I ever could imagine being. And when I was awake, I was not feeling well or just wanted to veg. These first 4 months of pregnancy were June, July, August, and September–right through summer #bookaday!! This really cut into my summer reading. I actually would find myself on Sunday nights about to do my IMWAYR post and realizing I hadn’t read at all so I’d grab a couple of picture books just to have some numbers. This happened more than I let on (mostly because my pregnancy was a secret at this time too!).  And to be honest, even after I got almost back to my normal self, reading was out of my routine (and I still need extra sleep than I used to). I am still working on getting it back; however, I know all of that will change when the baby arrives though I am really going to push myself to keep my reading part of my life.

Second, reading coach. I was wary of this change. My love of education is 99% because I love impacting students’ lives and being part of their life daily. Being a reading coach is impacting students in a different way and it has been a struggle for me. I miss my students; however, I try so hard every day to make sure that through my coaching, interventions, and classroom library that I am reaching as many of them still even though they are not in my classroom. I wish that I had had a coach to help me through becoming a coach because it is such a huge change. I’m not sure how long I’ll be out of the classroom, but I am still trying to grow and make an impact daily and I hope to find a nice balance.  I think, though, without the pressure of book talks and conferencing and being with students daily, I let my reading slide even more than it would have had I been in the classroom.

Both of these things, unfortunately, made 2013 the lowest reading numbers I’ve had since 2010. (Since 2010 I’ve been blogging, been on twitter regularly, been part of FB’s centurion group, and on a book award committee–all things that have impacted my reading goal and my expectations for myself.) Now, I will say that I am not embarrassed of what I did read in 2013. I am actually very proud based on everything I went through. I just think I had very high expectations for myself this year because I had an amazing reading year in 2012 (I read over 400 books).

For 2013, I originally set my Goodreads goal at 333 books. This was a big under what I read in 2012, but I like reaching my goal so I try to make it realistic. However, in about October or November I realized that there was no way I was going to reach this goal and I knew that not reaching my goal would be devastating to me. So, I reevaluated and set a new goal: 225. This one I did meet- YAY!

In 2013 I read:

79 middle grade/young adult novels
12 early chapter books
25 graphic novels
53 picture books
9 adult novels
5 nonfiction graphic novels
36 nonfiction picture books
9 nonfiction books
8 poetry collections
3 interactive/game/novelty books
4 professional books
8 reread young adult novels

Totaling: 251 books!

Overall, I am very proud of my year and am very much looking forward to my even more life-changing 2014! For more reflections, check out my favorite 2013 reads and my 2014 reading goals.