A new school year brings with it such excitement! New relationships for teachers, students and parents. A fresh start, which brings excitement and occasionally some trepidation. Our Read Aloud staff and volunteers begin the year with those same feelings.
It was no surprise to me that we began getting calls from returning readers even before the first day of school. These dedicated individuals are ready to bolt out of the starting gate. They see that we can make a difference with what seems like a simple, “nice little thing” — a regular classroom visit to share a love of reading. And yet that “nice little visit” is so much more!
In this issue, educators such as Maggie Luma (Page 1) and Steve Knighton (below) attest to the difference they know the Read Aloud experience can make for students. It is one piece of the literacy puzzle — the motivation piece — all of us need to work harder, whether it is in sports as WVU Football Coach Neal Brown noted at Read-A-Palooza (Page 6) or in the classroom.
Experiencing a “commercial for reading” and bonding with a caring human being over good literature is an experience each child deserves daily. It should be a regular part of the curriculum to build vocabulary as well as interest in books. Our volunteers deliver! They also come back year after year because they see the impact they’re making, as Bob Johnson explains.
I can recite with the best of them the litany of West Virginia’s challenges — diversify the economy, fight opioid addiction, improve our school systems. The fact is they are all interrelated. We can wring our hands and be paralyzed, OR we can do something. All important change comes with multiple small steps.
Motivating our children to work to become good readers improves their chance at school success, opens career opportunities in a variety of fields and, believe it or not, reduces their vulnerability to substance abuse. One small step — a reader in the classroom — can bring about a change in the trajectory of a child’s life and in the future of this state. Won’t you join us?
There are multiple ways you can help us continue our work. You can volunteer. You can donate. Or, you can do both!
Change does not occur overnight, but many small steps will change the literacy climate of West Virginia. Use the fresh start of the new school year to join Read Aloud in a way that works best for you. You CAN make a difference!
— Mary Kay Bond is the executive director of Read Aloud West Virginia.