Reading by example

If you teach or attend Ector Junior High, book it to the school’s library.

C’mon everybody’s doing it.

Well, so far it’s about 20 students and 28 teachers, but it’s a start, English teacher Linda DeWitt said.

The ECISD Education Foundation awarded DeWitt a $4,400 grant to start a book club called “The Breakfast Club” for students at Ector this school year.

The club officially formed in January and at least five Ector teachers are involved in the club.

DeWitt said she wrote the grant and got the idea from having book clubs for children years before.

Students in the club read a book and then discuss its plot and themes in morning meetings each Tuesday.

On a recent Tuesday, students met in the Ector library to discuss “Gathering Blue” by Lois Lowry.

The book details the story of a young girl with somewhat magical powers trying to survive in an uncertain world.

Ninth-grader Mathew Contreras said before he joined the club he wasn’t much of a reader.

“This is the first book that I’ve read this year that I’m really into,” the 15-year-old said.

Mathew said he likes how the club allows students to speak their minds about a book and debate the details.

“It’s interesting,” he said.

Ector seventh-grader Karina Cedillo said the club allows her to feel closer to her teachers while helping her socialize with her classmates in a non classroom environment.

Cedillo said the club exposes her to different authors, and besides she loves to read.

“You could say it’s, like, my passion,” the 13-year-old said.

But for students who don’t yet have a love for reading, DeWitt said she hopes they will develop an appreciation for it.

“We’re trying to show students that reading can be fun,” DeWitt said, noting reading’s the foundation for everything.

All books used in the club have earned awards such as the Newberry Award or the Coretta Scott King Award, Ector librarian Melissa Neff said.

Students may read from “Gathering Blue” to a book called “A Corner of the Universe” about a 12-year-old girl who learns life has both good and bad times.

In any case, DeWitt said students are learning to empathize with a character while also building their vocabulary and communication skills.

In addition to a student club, about 28 teachers have formed their own book club separate from the Foundation grant in which they read books they may potentially implement into school curriculum, DeWitt said.

With the student club, the young people can read and understand a book together while strengthening their own imaginations.

“Once they can internalize it and make it theirs then it will always be theirs and that’s what we’re trying to do,” DeWitt said.

After students read a book, it becomes a part of the library’s selection.

Neff, the school librarian, said the club helps students spread an interest in reading by talking about certain books through word of mouth.

“It definitely helps,” she said. “The more they see each other reading, the more the others will read.”

Not to mention, it draws students into the library.