At my school, student do sustained silent reading Monday thru Thursday. One of my students asked “Why are you making us read?”
Why do we read, such a simple question with such a complex answer. Why do you read, and how can we impress upon our students the same desires.
Reading is done for several reasons; learning, pleasure, and testing. No matter what you do is life you read for one or more of those reasons. We as teacher need to show the value of each reason for reading to our students, all the while avoiding reading because you were told to.
Reading for pleasure is the simplest and truest form of reading, it’s very much reading for reading sake. It is also the hardest for someone to embrace, just too many obstacles. If you don’t understand what you read, if your board by what you read, if you have something better to do than reading, and others. Solving these will get students reading. Readicide states that often we are reading above our level and so the challenge is too great and we quit. Allow student to read at their level for pleasure. There is nothing wrong with a senior in high school reading Berenstain Bears for pleasure. Even high level reader enjoy an easy read every now and then, besides when comes to reading for pleasure any reading is valuable reading. Next if your board with what you’re reading for pleasure it maybe that you’re reading what someone else through was good. Read whatever you like; you watch whatever TV you like, so read what you like. Finally reading for pleasure is a hobby, if there is something better to do then do it. Golf is a hobby and not everyone like it. However you need to be open to reading, keep trying it someday you may like it.
Reading for learning is a little harder than for pleasure, but a little easier to embrace. Human nature is to improve upon itself, no one can escape that. Some people may not what to improve the same way you do, but we all want to be better at something. The knowledge of our civilization, and those, before us is written down. All you need is a library and the world is yours. We as teacher have distorted reading by converting student’s reliance on their textbook to their teacher. It should be the goal of every teacher to become obsolete because their student can get all the knowledge they need from their own literary resources. This will need happen by we can dream. Student need to be retrained to look to books, this means if a student can learn it by reading a teacher should let them. Start off slow with simple ideas, but grow to complex concepts. You will see the student’s wiliness to read grow, because they will start placing value upon it.
Reading for testing, we all have to do it. Our drivers test, school test, request for proposals, whenever you read to help you provide a product or service. It is the other two reasons that help you here. You take all that knowledge you have acquired combine it with experiences and you get paid.
Reading unlocks everything you want, but only if you let it. That why we what our student to read, we want them to have it all. We just need to show them that value, and then they will run with it.
I understand your frustration with the simple questions that students often ask. Why do we read is definitely one of those tough questions. I think the reason why it is so difficult to answer is because a certain response could possible turn students away from reading for a long time and possible forever.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail on the head when you said that we need to somehow teach them the value of reading.
I worked for Rite Aid throughout college and one summer I worked in the pharmacy. I remember the pharmacist told me that people need knowledge at different times in their lives and many times they have to ask someone for that knowledge. To me this reinforced how knowledge is power and in some instances money. The more knowledge we posses, the better chance we have of surviving and enhancing the world.