Growing up, I was never really a fan of reading. I did not like my Language Arts classes and I never enjoyed the books they assigned. I did just about everything to get out of reading to fulfill assignments and did so through websites like Google and Sparknotes. My teachers would critique our opinions of the books and I did not feel as though they were genuine when asking if we liked the books. However, if someone were to ask me if I like to read today I would probably start to ramble about all the books I love and show them my iBooks application. I would explain the way I could spend hours reading a plethora of quotes from books which I think are phenomenal. So where did this change occur? Well, it all changed my freshman year of college with my writing professor. He taught me that reading did not have to serve a purpose other than to bring me a feeling of serenity and he showed me that with the right book and the right environment, that is just what I will get. I describe myself as an expressive person and I find that with the right thoughts and with the right words any emotion can be expressed in the perfect way. I regularly look back to my highschool years and think that maybe if I took the time to read more books that I would be able to express myself to a higher degree. I think of my future students and I do not want them to have the same regret that I do.
There are various things teachers can do to encourage students to read. One thing that really inspired me was the way my teacher went about assessing us. He did not make us feel like we were reading for a grade. He would hold regular class discussions where my classmates and I would express our opinions on the chapter(s). There were clearly democratic values instilled in his classroom since the students led the discussions and in instilling these values it was easy to see that he genuinely wanted to know how we felt. Instead of giving us homework or tests on the reading, we wrote book reports about a specific aspect of the book in which we wanted to write about. This helped because I felt as though I was reading for myself, without the pressure of reading for a grade. I did not mind writing the book reports because I was able to get my thoughts across knowing that my teacher would enjoy reading them rather than marking them up with his own thoughts.
Another tool my teacher used to engage us was blogging. After completing a book, he would give us the option of blogging our opinions of the book for extra credit points. Although it was not mandatory, most people in the class did the blogs on a website he had created just for us. In creating these blogs, we were able to anonymously converse with our classmates about the book and in doing so we felt like our blogs meant something. The first step in getting students to enjoy reading is to change the way they feel about reading and in just a few, simple steps my teacher was able to do this for me. Reading is important as it stimulates us to think in different ways and in today’s society, everyone is looking for that one student, that one partner, that one worker who sees the world in a different light and who thinks in a different fashion than the others.
Another tool my teacher used to engage us was blogging. After completing a book, he would give us the option of blogging our opinions of the book for extra credit points. Although it was not mandatory, most people in the class did the blogs on a website he had created just for us. In creating these blogs, we were able to anonymously converse with our classmates about the book and in doing so we felt like our blogs meant something. The first step in getting students to enjoy reading is to change the way they feel about reading and in just a few, simple steps my teacher was able to do this for me. Reading is important as it stimulates us to think in different ways and in today’s society, everyone is looking for that one student, that one partner, that one worker who sees the world in a different light and who thinks in a different fashion than the others.
- Before choosing a book to read, do you read blogs and reviews about it?
Lena-
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you were not very enthused to read in your younger school days. But even more interesting is the fact that it was a teacher that opened up your love for reading. Hopefully you can do the same for your students. The power of a teacher is greater than one thinks-I would be curious as to what it is that you would do in your classroom to enthuse your students?