20 Moments I Will Miss With My Readers

This summer is bittersweet. I will be leaving my position as a high school English teacher to pursue a doctoral degree in Secondary English Education at UConn. I feel sad to be leaving my colleagues and readers but excited for this new adventure. I’ve been thinking about some of the moments I will miss most with my readers, and a few (okay, twenty…I got carried away) are listed below. I dedicate this list to all of the reading teachers out there. Being a teacher is the most rewarding experience in the world.

1. The look on students’ faces when they return a book and we tell them there is a sequel.
2. The clawing, reaching, and grabbing of books. All’s fair in books and war.
3. When the bell rings and three students are still reading at their desks.
4. When a student walks into a classroom in tears and thrusts a book at us.
5. Making the boys cry. Thanks, John Green.
6. When students whine that their to-read lists are too long.
7. Waitlists for books. Not fun to keep organized…but fun to watch them check where their names are on the lists every day.
8. When students ask, “Can you get me other books by this author?” We point to two on the shelf, and they look at us like we gave them free kittens.
9. When an author tweets/emails our students back. Thanks, authors. You don’t even understand how excited they get. The squeals can be ear-piercing.
10. When students battle over which book is better. This will never get old, will it?
11. Searching for our names on Twitter and seeing kids posting about books/YAL. #guilty
12. When students call our classrooms the free bookstore. Our hearts swell with pride every time.
13. Changing a self-proclaimed “non-reader” into a reader. Because after all, everyone is a reader—some of us just don’t know it yet.
14. When a teacher complains that a student was reading one of “our books” in his/her class, and we have to feign disappointment in the student.
15. Listening to students’ book talks for books we haven’t read yet. And having to add our names to the waitlists for those books.
16. When another English teacher compliments us on the writing of one of our readers. Thanks for being great models, authors.
17. Telling students that we met [insert author here]. They gaze at us as if we are celebrities. Nope, we were giddy schoolgirls (or schoolboys) when we met them. It wasn’t pretty.
18. We can’t relive a book for the first time, but it is almost as fun watching a student experience it for the first time.
19. Getting a new book and knowing our students will be just as excited about it as we are.
20. Receiving emails from students (who graduated over five years ago), asking for book recommendations. Here’s to hoping they keep in touch!

What are your favorite moments with your readers? Share a few!