Share a Story-Shape a Future: The Personal Wrap-up
So how was your week last week? My week was a blast! I know I’m biased, but I am so tickled about how Share a Story-Shape a Future 2010 played out. Frankly, I have been spending the morning going back to read some of the posts I missed, add a few comments, and go back to some other posts to see how the conversation is going. I have tried to leave a comment at every post. If I missed yours, let me know!
On a personal level, as a mom, I found lots of useful information. Dawn Morris described the Circles of Literacy in one of her posts, and as I moved among the posts and across the days, there were several circles that kept coming back to me.
* I found a circle of reassurance. We each have our own experiences, and sometimes it seems that we are parent-educators in a vacuum. It was helpful to hear others’ experiences and know that reading, like other growth, is not linear.
* I found a circle of hope. What I see today doesn’t necessarily spell doom on my child becoming a lifelong reader. I gathered information about the ebbs and flows and got hints about what to expect a little later on, and also how to manage it.
* I found a circle of guidance. There are so many ways we can engage kids as readers and fill their literacy toolbox. There is no single path, reading ruts are Okay, and pushing hard will not bring you the success you want.
But mostly I found a community of readers helping readers-to-be, whether one-on-one, as a parent, as a librarian, as a volunteer, as a teacher, … it is truly a privilege to be with such a generous community and to live in the (proverbial) village.
I’ll have a more formal event wrap-up at the Share a Story-Shape a Future blog, probably mid-week. I need to regroup a little bit and want to continue to savour all that we have. I am still working my way through the many Writing about Reading posts. I have announced the winners of the various giveaways … my thanks to Reading is Fundamental, Sleeping Bear Press, PicPocket Books, and Itty Bitty Bookworm for their generous donations. Many generations of children will benefit from your gifts!
I couldn’t resist using those logos one more time. The Reading Bears logo was created by Elizabeth Dulemba. Susan Stephenson of the Book Chook created the two It Takes a Village logos for SAS2010 using ToonDoo.com
It was an amazing week, Terry! Thank you so much for putting it all together, and for linking to one of my posts again here! I can’t imagine the amount of time and effort you must have put into the tour.
I feel so honored to have been able to contribute to such a worthy cause. Words hold more power than money ever will, and I think we’ve all shown that when you Share a Story, you really do Shape a Future!
Everyone made it so easy, Dawn! It really is an ensemble effort and our collective passion makes it a wonderfully infectious event.
I learnt a lot, and got to know some great new blogs, as well as re-visiting some I hadn’t seen for a while. Like you, Terry, I was struck by the wonderful sense of community.
Thanks, Susan. My favorite part was discovering some new folks as crazy, I mean passionate, as us! Next year we’ve got to find a way to do more with international participation and giveaways!
Thanks so much for your untold hours of work on this blog tour! The effort certainly paid off as you connected a globe of lovers of the written world. This was my first go-round with SaS, and I have to say that it was an amazing experience reading everyone’s posts and writing from the prompts. I learned so much in such a short amount of time, and came away with not only a wealth of new knowledge and titles-but also new blogs to follow. Thanks again to RIF for adding to Morton Ranch Elementary’s library. I am positive that the children at the school will benefit for years to come.
Thank you so much Terry! Last week was brilliant! I honestly can’t wait to do it again and go back and re-read so many of the wonderful posts. I have to say that your comment about your daughter was the most meaningful to me this week. Often I worry about my little Turkeybird, but it’s so nice to know I’m not alone in my struggles. Thank you!
Such a wonderful week! And again, I can’t wait to do it all over again!
Wonderful week – Yay!
🙂
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