Happy New Year! I have decided that I’m going to do my best to make 2011 my best year yet, personally and professionally. I don’t typically make New Year’s Resolutions, but in the spirit of this New Year, I have decided to make some literacy resolutions. I will share these resolutions with you over the course of the next month.
Resolution #7: Become Part of a Reading Community
I have always been a reader. However, I haven’t always considered myself part of a reading community. As a child, I would discuss and share books with one friend in particular. But that was before social reading was encouraged in schools. We shared our book recommendations on our own. When I taught, I had my colleagues to discuss books with. When my son was a baby, I was invited to join my neighborhood book club. How I looked forward to those evenings of snacks, discussion, and camaraderie. Unfortunately, as lives became more complicated, and more children joined the fold, our book club kind of fell by the wayside. As a result, I kind of lost my way as a reader, too. But, no more! 2011 is the year for me to bring reading back!
There are several ways that I plan to become part of a reading community this year:
Book Club – Back in November, a few of my friends from high school, whom I still see fairly regularly, suggested that we start a book club. My ears perked up to that! So last week, we had our first meeting and we discussed Forever . . .
Goodreads – I have heard about Goodreads for some time now, mostly through my friends on Twitter. So, at the beginning of the month, I took the leap and joined myself. I’m so glad I did. I have found many recommendations of books to read just through other friends’ bookshelves. I am able to keep better track of the books I do read, as well as the books I want to read. This has also helped me with Literacy Resolution #2: Keep a Reader’s Notebook. Additionally, I joined a Reading Challenge through Goodreads: The 2011 Reading Challenge. This challenge simply required me to decide how many books I want to read for the year and Goodreads keeps track. I tied in that challenge to my next reading community:
Centurions of 2011 – This group began in 2010, challenging participants to read 100 books (I think!) in 2010. This year, the group has expanded exponentially in people and the challenge has increased to 111 books for 2011. This is a Facebook group started by my friend, Paul Hankins (@PaulWHankins on Twitter). A tireless advocate for literacy, Paul constantly amazes me at all he does in the name of literacy. Paul is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter and to friend on Facebook because I know he will continue to share his knowledge (and he has a lot!) and continue to challenge me as a reader and an educator. I’m proud to be part of a reading community with so many wonderful literacy advocates attached to it.
Will you join me? What are some literacy resolutions you have made this year?
©2011 by Dawn Little for Literacy Toolbox. All Rights Reserved. All Amazon links are affiliate links and may result in my receiving a small commission. This is at no additional cost to you.
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