As I flip through the pages of the new book I am reading, How I Became A Famous Novelist by Steve Hely, I keep coming across excerpts that remind me of my work, which is, of course, to teach.
The sentence that I connected with immediately appeared on page 13. The author describes his relationship with books as a child, and with a mother who didn't approve of much television, he read quite the novels before he was 10. And then he said something that Kendra and I have started to repeat on a daily basis in our classes:
"But all this reading taught me how to churn out sentences."
How beautiful is that? Mass amounts of reading is the key to good writing and for kids who struggle with sentence structure and fluency, the answer is to read, read, and read some more. It's the only way to be exposed to sentences structures that differ from your own.
The next part that caught my eye was when Hely described a book he was reading in his college's library, in which the scene happened to be set...at his college. He quotes this vivacious description of the immunity and protection young scholars have in this world, and as a high school teacher, I am constantly reminded of a time when the world and its opportunity seemed so unknown. This is from the book Stackpool of Granbury College.
"Bless the blissful idyll! Bless the companionable pipe, and the low arm-chair, by now well-broken for comfort. Bless evenings among that hearty fellowship, reading the old volumes and filling the head with wonders. Bless days free to wander in the scholar's revelry, before the cares and labors of the world press down upon the brow. Bless thoses days before the summons of manhood mush be answered, and one may linger for a fading hour as a carefree youth."
Tell me about it, Hely...
OMG... I told one of the grad students about 2 wks ago that the more she reads the better her writing will get! Seriously!
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