You may think you’re teaching reading. This may be so on the surface level, but on the deep level, you’re really teaching your students life. Reading good books, talking about good books, writing our stories, and listening to the stories of others is life. Helping students to use literacy to find out who they are and what they may become is helping them come alive. Teaching students to develop their full literacy potential is bringing them fully to life. Teaching students to be and become literate is life-giving.

We’re not here to just teach children to sound out words. That would not be life-giving. We’re here to help them to be and become literate. To be and become literate is to use reading and writing for authentic purposes. Don’t let the phonics penguins, the number monkeys, and the educational overlords distract you from this.