July 2014 – Page 2

I consider myself a fairly reflective person. Thinking about my actions and reactions on a continual basis helps me to move forward with fresh insight. But I was challenged with my reflective practice as I read the Donalyn Miller book: Reading in the Wild, and participate in my first ever #cyberpd. This week we were asked to read and comment on chapter 1 and 2. I tagged the quote by John Dewey: “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience”. Donalyn’s words in the section challenged me to not only reflect on my reading life, which I regularly do, but more importantly to share my reflections with others, particularly our students. This was a new insight that has lots of possibilities for the children and teachers I work with on a regular basis. Thinking about discussing how I choose books, why I abandon books and even do I abandon books with others will be refreshing and an eye opening experience. I believe this new way of sharing my reflective practice will open many doors as I strive to model being a wild reader!