Reading has always come relatively easy to me, but that doesn't mean I've always enjoyed it. That reluctance began in elementary school in a gifted program called Special Interest, for which we were required to read novels. Many of my classmates read frequently without prodding, but Mrs. O'Conner actually gave me the titles of books I had to read, since I didn't often choose my own. She succeeded in getting me to read by choosing the My Side of the Mountain series, which I really enjoyed (oddly enough, though Hatchet is the same type of book, I didn't like it). I think she was the one who encouraged me to read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, as well. I read its sequel a little later, and followed that up with To Kill A Mockingbird in sixth grade. I also enjoyed the Island, Everest, and Dive trilogies, as they were both easy and interesting. I find myself reading similar novels (i.e., fiction dealing with the outdoors/adventures) now, like In High Places, although I've been working for the last few years on reading things that I should read in order to be able to better make connections for/with students (and, in some cases, pop culture) e.g., Harry Potter, The Road, Artemis Fowl, Paradise Lost, and plenty of others.

Most of the books from middle school didn't leave an impression on me, though I remember reading Light in the Forest, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Miracle Worker, as well as having to memorize "The Road Not Taken." One of the things I enjoyed in middle school was our Greek mythology unit in 7th grade, which was a key reason I took Intro. to Mythology last semester. Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 were my favorite stories, and 451 has kept that status. I re-read it over the summer and can't believe how much closer we've gotten to the world Bradbury describes in the 6 or 7 years since I had last read it.

The books in high school were much more interesting overall. Though we got stuck with some real bombs through the years (Romeo and Juliet, The Awakening, Travels with Charley, Hamlet, and The Crucible among them), many others were very good: The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Shipping News, Of Mice and Men, A Separate Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, and Benito Cereno, to name a few. Most of these novels are ones I enjoy because of how well they were taught. Had it not been for Ms. Gibson's teaching, Benito Cereno might have been one of my least favorite stories; instead, it's something I can't wait to read again. Mr. Emerick did a similarly outstanding job teaching A Separate Peace, and it's also become one of my favorite novels. The knowledge and  passion that my teachers showed in doing their jobs has directly contributed to my enjoyment of the novels I've had to read over the years, and I hope to be able to affect my own students that way.

Surprisingly, despite the amount of reading necessary for my college classes, I've spent much more time reading during the past two summers. In K-12, I would be amazed if I read more than 600-800 pages in any single summer solely for pleasure. In each of the past two summers, I've read 9 books and 15 books respectively, easily totaling more than 6,000 pages between the two. Those totals are partly due to greater motivation, but also to my awareness that to be a good teacher (and student) in this discipline, one needs to read more (in terms of genre/category, as well as volume) than what is required in class. My reading list for this summer already includes more than 50 books of all different kinds. Feel free to contribute to that list.