I was baffled when a teacher said to me, “A reading teacher who does not read is bad.” I can’t say anything but to just mumble ‘yeah’ that I could barely hear myself, as I have to plead guilty of not reading as much as I ask my students to read. This has been my wake – up call as a reading teacher.

I have been teaching for 8 years now or so, 5 years were out of the United States, and I am celebrating my 4th year of teaching in the US this year. As I read more about teaching reading and listen to speakers in workshops about how they teach reading, I have this wish to be as good as they are. But I know that I have to start with myself as a reader first – thus, this web-log. It is a push to myself to read and ponder upon what I read, as this is what I want my students to learn – that beyond the level of ‘making inferences’ and ‘interpretation’ based on language and structure, I would like them to ‘evaluate’ a piece, and take what is valuable and use this in making choices. Does this sound like Edmundson’s principle? Definitely – for his book is one of the books that greatly influence my budding principle in reading.

So, this site is aimed at sharing what I value from reading and at encouraging you, readers like me, to share your thoughts about your encounters with the realm of the written text.