“According to some experts, nearly 50 per cent (of boys) describe themselves as non-readers by the time they enter secondary school.” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004, p. 5) Thomas Newkirk says in his interview with James Preller in In the Classroom, Interviews & Appreciations, The Gender Gap in Reading, “Reading well is so tied to school success — and to liking school — that it is unethical to write off a big percentage of boys as non-readers. It may have been possible in previous times to drop out or barely finish school and go on to good jobs. But that is not the case now.” (Preller, 2011) Evidence of the need to deal with this locally can be found in the test scores of middle school boys and circulation statistics at my middle school library. Me Read? No Way! suggests strategies to engage boys in developing literacy skills by engaging them in reading: be mindful of boys’ reading preferences; give students a voice in choosing the books you acquire; encourage boys to recommend their favourite text; and establish web-based clubs in libraries…to review books. (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004) Michael Sullivan makes it clear that “if we want to transform boys into lifelong readers, we need to discover what makes them tick.” (Sullivan, 2004, p.36) Boys’s reading preferences are itemized by Michael Smith in Reading don’t fix no chevys. Boys are more inclined to read: informational texts, magazine and newspaper articles, comic books and graphic novels, escapism, humour, science-fiction and fantasy. (Smith, 2002, p.11) Simply put, “Buy books that the boys want to read.” (Jones, 2003, p.11) I have listened to my students reading wishes and collected titles my students would like to read from the first days of my career as a t... ... middle of paper ... ...o institute for studies in education . (2007). Boys' literacy teacher inquiry: Work plan support booklet-October 2007. Toronto: OISE. Ontario Ministry of Education. (2004). Me read? No way?: a practical guide to improving boys' literacy skills. Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario. Ontario School Library Association. (2010). Together for learning: school libraries and the emergence of the learning commons : a vision for the 21st century. Toronto: Ontario School Library Association. Preller, J. (2011, March 6). James Preller Interviews . . . Thomas Newkirk, author of “Misreading masculinity: Boys, literacy, and popular culture”. (T. Newkirk, Interviewer) Smith, M. W. (2002). Reading don't fix no chevys. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann. Sullivan, M. (2004). Why Johnny won't read. School Library Journal , 36 -39.
Andrew Solomon has some valid arguments in his article, and he tries to persuade the readers through logos, pathos, and ethos. Solomon wants the readers to understand the importance of reading, and how its decline can be harmful to the nation. To reinforce his arguments, Solomon shares a variety of examples, for instance, he mentions that reading helps improve memory and concentration, and the decline of reading is causing mental “atrophy.” He also calls upon the readers to take some sort of action to raise reading rates and help the society. This can grant the readers a form of power and control over the crisis that will lead to an em...
"Harry Potter and the Literacy Phenomenon." The Leaky Cauldron. N.p., 2006. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. This article argues that the recent increase in literacy amongst children and teens is directly proportional to the success of Harry Potter. Providing and citing a multitude of facts, expert opinions and statistics, "Harry Potter and the Literacy Phenomenon," can be deemed as an impeccable source. The statistics appearing within the article will be highly beneficial in creating a well-rounded, factual argument. This source adds a new perspective to the overall argument; it relays the positive influence on children from an educational standpoint, rather than religious or moral. Adding this new perspective can help form a well-rounded, more factual aspect to my
Finding a definition of literacy is not as easy as it sounds. The Webster definition says that to be literate is to be” able to read and write.” But to some researchers, this definition is too simplistic, leading to multiple models of literacy. Most Americans adhere to the autonomous model, which falls closest to the standard, dictionary definition. Believers in this form say that literacy is a cognitive activity that students learn like any other basic skill. It has a set of proficiencies that one must master in order to be capable of decoding and encoding text (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). A competing theory is the ideological model, which claims literacy is intrinsically linked to culture, and therefore what constitutes a “literate” individual is ever-changing. Society is the largest influence on literacy, according to this thought, and it is affected by politics, religion, philosophy and more (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). These two are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, some studies recognize “literacy as competence,” which is a “measure of competence to do a given task or work in a given field,” (SIL International, 1999) such as being computer literate. Although more researchers are recognizing and exploring multiple literacies, the one that most influences American schools is the autonomous, cognitive model – the ability to read and write. For many, it seems a simple task, but millions of adolescents are struggling or reluctant readers, and there are many reasons why young readers have difficulty with reading. XXXXXX------NEED HELP WITH THESIS STATEMENT HERE PLEASE—(This paper will focus on the effects of low reading skills, some of the possible causes of reluctant and struggling readership...
United States. Reading to Achieve: A Governor's Guide to Adolescent Literacy. Washington: National Governors Association, 2005. Print.
Reading is a crucial part of culture throughout the world, and holds significance to millions of people. In society, it is important for people to read in order to obtain success in school and in the real world. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it revolves around a dystopian society in which the importance of reading has been ignored and books have been replaced entirely with television and technology. The people living in this society lack exposure to the skills and knowledge obtained from books. But the few individuals who read books secretly, like the protagonist, Guy Montag, can get a better understanding of the world and the people around them that can’t be earned without reading books. Reading is valuable and beneficial to society because it helps people gain a deeper understanding of other people and the world around them, influences the mental and emotional
"Reading." The Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence. Ed. Jerome Kagan and Susan B. Gall. Online Edition. Detroit: Gale, 2007.
Reading is on the decline and our reading skills are declining right along with the amount of reading we do. This is happening right across the board through both genders, all age groups and education levels, people are busy and they just do not have time to read books that they are not required to read for school or work. There are serious consequences to this neglect of reading that will continue to worsen if ignored. We need to take notice of what is happening to our culture and stop this situation from continuing, we must act to correct these issues that we are faced with. These things are discussed in the essay “Staying Awake’’ by Ursula K. Le Guin who uses the NEA essays “To Read or Not to Read’’ and “Reading at Risk’’ to support her argument that there is a decline in the amount of time that we are spending on reading and our ability to understand what it is that we are reading.
“The importance of reading to children is their ability to grasp abstract concepts, apply logic in various scenarios recognize cause and effect, and utilize judgement.” (Stan, n.d.) Reading helps with concentration and discipline. Which not only helps them in school but allows them to make better choices in everyday situations. Pie Corbett did his own research and discovered that “children were at risk of being left behind at school and failing to develop the creative talents needed to lead happy and productive lives.” If parents were told this, they might make better parental
The teaching of reading has gone through numerous transformations and controversy continues over what is the best reading instruction. However, there is overwhelming evidence that the use of authentic literature and time for children to read, discuss what they have read and hear fluent readers, are critical to success.
On the other hand, in university, I was required to read, a lot, in a variety of courses. However, I was never told the benefits of reading, how much of an impact it had on the way I wrote, viewed the world, analyzed and critic. Reading is simply something one must do. If you enjoy it, great, it’ll be an easy task for you. If you do not, you still have to do it, it is not at a higher academic level that professors take the time to change the students from “non-readers to readers”. I believe that a shift from viewing reading as a task to a pleasure has a very slim chance of happening both in high school and university. Most of the people I am surrounded by are trying to have a 4.0 GPA while taking very challenging classes, applying for veterinary, dental and medical schools, working in laboratories, volunteering and trying to get a perfect score on the MCAT or GRE. There is no time for these individuals to take pleasure in reading and view it as a learning experience. Once their academic career has ended around age thirty, these new pediatricians, orthodontists, veterinarians have had their faces in books for decades. Predictably, most don’t want to read anything anymore. Those who do were the same people who at age ten would read in secret with a flashlight at one in the morning. This is
Being able to read and write is something that you can obtain and that others are not able to take it away from you. In the essay “ Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie wrote a story about an Indian boy who loves to read. He read so many books that had given him the knowledge that an average age kid would have never understand. Even though growing up in a surrounding where he was always being looked down upon reading books because of his culture. He manage to teach himself to read at an early age and to prove to those that he was smart in which he had the ability to read and write. He would read anything that appears in front of him such as newspaper, cereal box, bulletins posted on the walls of schools, clinic, and post offices. I never knew that reading anything besides novels can help improve your reading skills. I thought that reading books and novels are the only way to improve your reading comprehension. Towards the end he became a writer who wrote novels, short stories, and poems that were enjoyed by
In the essay titled “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” written by John Holt and published in Reading for writers in 2013, Mr. Holt discusses why most children aren’t interested in reading. Mr. Holt spent fourteen years as an elementary school teacher. He believed classroom activities destroy a student’s learning ability. Mr. Holt never let his students say what they thought about a book. He wanted his students to look up every word they didn’t know. People can learn difficult words without looking them up in the dictionary.
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
But we in the United States have the financial means and intellectual means to improve, if not to erase, the illiteracy rate. We can do this by maintaining a high standard in literacy instruction. Using the Readers Workshop format throughout the grades will be a starting point to create a new society of fluid readers. Methods like Readers Workshop lend itself to developing a culture of not only competent readers, but readers who love to
One of the most important aspects of teaching literature to adolescents is helping them understand how individual stories can relate to their lives specifically. More and more, the stigma that literature is a lofty abstract that has no connection to the day-to-day lives creeps into schools. This stigma creates an environment where apathy flourishes and care disappears. As teachers, the number one goal today, seems to be first getting students to care about reading. No matter how dynamic or revolutionary a teacher's methods or philosophies are, if a student does not care, that student will not learn. So, when looking for possible novels that one would use in the classroom, one main question must always be asked; how will this novel be taught differently, to ensure a number of students will actually care?