You Gotta Be the Book

The meaning I get from the author about the book is that he was a reading enthusiast and thought that because of his under-graduate studies as a teacher he would be a good reading teacher. But his encounter with the various high and middle schoolers in English and other reading courses revealed to him that something is missing because the students' did not want to read but only a few achievers. All through this he continued his love for reading by reading numerous books even reading to young children (his own nieces and nephews) and discovered that children like to be read to but when they enters middle and high school they lose interest because school reading is not like home. While he was in graduate school and doing research on his students resulted in him re-examining himself and reading strategies. This opportunity lead to his theory about teacher-research and that this teacher-research is his foundation for empowerment. The story is not about his students but in fact about him and his developmental aspects as a teacher and using literacy in the classrooms.