When I reflect on my career in education, I can truthfully say my students probably taught me more than I taught them. From primary grades through high school, there were students who caught and embraced themes and details in books and stories, that blew me away.

There was an eighth grade young man who had been classified as having a severely low cognitive ability in his previous school district. They must not have had the key to unlock his rich potential. In a small group setting, he easily read the opening pages of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. When the other students silently gazed at the text, he calmly explained the overarching theme that was already unfolding.

An elementary student struggled every single day with reading, no matter whether is was literature or content textbooks. Just before reading time, he and I would select a short passage he would practice reading outloud to me, before reading it in the whole group. And then we began an anthology trio of “Three Little Pig” stories. (So many things in that model that we have moved past.)

The third grader wasn’t too excited about the stories until we got to The Three Little Javelinas. He sat in the middle chair of the front row. As usual, he was slouching in his chair, slowly turning pages when his classmates did. Suddenly there it was, the word that was calling his name, “Hydraulicc” He nearly jumped out of his chair waving his hand for a turn to read. He fumbled a little with the words surrounding it, then pounced on his word with all certainty. Dad was a mechanic. He apparently used the word often, and had shown it to the newborn reader. Dad had unknowingly opened the door to reading for his child.

It just goes to show, Dear Reader, you can’t judge a book by its cover, or other people.

Coming Thursday, September 24: Man Up!