This Nerdy Book Club blog post, The Power of Listening, by staff development expert Clare Landrigan stopped me in my reading tracks. More accurately, the third to last line is what did it — “Our conversations with them [students] are what spark the love of reading and help them develop a reading identity.”
Say what? A reading identity? Merriam-Webster says a personal identity is “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.” So a reading identity could be defined as the distinguishing character or personality of a person’s choice in reading material.
This set off a flurry of inquiry in my brain. What is my reading identity? It must change over time, right? Today, I’d describe mine as 1) heavily nonfiction and 2) focused on children’s literature. This is very different from my early mom years which would be best described as 1) cereal boxes and 2) children’s literature. (Hmm. Maybe there’s a correlation there?) Right now, my 6 year old nephew’s reading identity is 1) How To books and 2) Magic Treehouse.
What is your reading identity? How has it changed? Would you like to make a shift in it?
If you are an educator, can you zero in on each of your students’ reading identities? Can you help them describe and develop their own?
If you are an author or illustrator, how does your identity (reading and personal) inform your work? Your voice? Your choice of next project? The way you share your books?
Lots of questions with no right answers. Just a bit of introspection on a beautiful winter day.
