Awkwardly Aware

I recently had an experience that left  me with a wondering sadness.  As an adult, it's easier to look back in the past and understand things in hindsight.  I think as children we often take for granted things that not everyone has or experiences that not everyone has had.  I had an awesome mother and an awesome father.  They both instilled in me a hunger for education and learning.  More specifically, my mother always fostered a love of reading.  As I became an adult, we often read similar books or shared books.  I, in Texas, would call my mother in Alabama and talk for hours about different books we read and what books we should read next.  Last week, I spent some time with some young children in their classroom.  I became awkwardly aware that many of these children didn't have a lot of experience with books or reading.  Now, I asked myself, "Am I expecting too much?"  I think that because of my childhood and schooling I just expected students to be similar to myself.  This experience reminded me that I have a lot of work to do on myself as a person and a teacher.  I need to open my heart and expand my perceptions and expectations.  I only hope that I can model "love for literacy."