OK, I lied. This isn’t really a Wordless Wednesday post, but I promise to keep it brief.
Bird is thriving in sixth grade. He won the “Voracious Vocabulary” award in first grade. He is the sort of kid who walks around with a basketball in one hand and a book in the other. Truth be told, all his reading is getting in the way of his chores and responsibilities. We’ve been tempted to ban him from reading as punishment. But he knows that’s never going to fly. Bird consumes books the way most kids consume chocolate milk. I once chided him for having a messy nightstand, a pile of books teetering like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In true Bird form, he pointed out my own nightstand, also overloaded with books. Ahem.
You wouldn’t believe that Bird was once a reluctant reader. We beseeched his teacher to help. Mac Daddy and I had even less patience than we have today and were less than ideal teachers to encourage and support our firstborn. Bird was a clever, verbal kid who just couldn’t get the knack for reading. He loved books and tried his damnedest, yet he just couldn’t make sense of all the letters that seemingly jumbled together.
Enter Ms. Eleczko, stage left.
She taught Bird to read. I can hardly comprehend the weight of this statement. Do you remember the teacher who taught you to read? I sure don’t. I wish I did, for that is the greatest gift I’ve ever received. A teacher, somewhere along the way, gave each one of us this gift of words. Ms. Eleczko also taught Bird confidence and curiosity along the way. There is no adequate value we can put on this.
But we can demonstrate the value we put on education at the polls on November 4.
