#DWHabit: Word of the Day: Elated

I love working with students. I especially love it when you can turn a student on to something that they have announced they hate.  As a book reviewer I often get advanced reader copies. My students know this but just ignore it.  However, I recently received a book that I thought was phenomenal.  I was telling my students about it and one asked to read it. Today I brought the book in for that student. I put a picture and the book blurb on my computer to project it for my students.  Then at my department meeting this morning I told my teachers about the book. I told them it is one they will want to purchase for their classrooms when it comes out in May. I also told our media specialist.  When my meeting was over, two of my teachers picked up the book and started discussing who was going to take it home with them. I hated to break it to them that it was already checked out to a student.  I told that story to my second period class after showing them the cover and blurb. I told them that after Spring Break I would start a check out list. One of my students jumped up knocking his chair over. He yelled,  "Me, Me, I want to read it first."  I just cracked up. I told him since this was the first time I'd seen him excited about any book I would put him down to be first.  I have a list of students already who want to read it. There is so little time left for all of them to read it.  I am so elated that a book could do this to a student.

My great day didn't end there.  Two periods later a student ran up to me and said, "I got this book yesterday and read it last night. Do you have anything else by this author?" I found her the only other book I had by that author. She asked me to check Amazon. When I did I ended up ordering two other books. All of a sudden I had several students at my desk wanting to know what book she was talking about and could they read it.

There is nothing that can put me on cloud nine like watching kids talk excitedly about books which creates excitement in others.  It is even better when the people they inspire are my struggling readers.  The lowest reader in our school is one of my students. Our librarian told me yesterday that over the pasts week he has checked out and read eight books.  If we could only convince students that the more they read the better they will get.

I think I will probably go to bed and wake up tomorrow and find myself still on Cloud Nine.  What will it take to elate you?