Better Reading Skills, Better Education When the pages of a book is open, the reader is transported into a different place and time. Reading a book is a chance for a person to get away and take a break from the stress of school or work. In some elementary and middle schools, children have a period in the day that is dedicated for reading. That time is called sustained silent reading, also known as SSR. The students choose a book, sit for a period of time, and enjoy the book in their hand. The chance to be a superhero, spy, royalty, and so many more different characters is an experience many do not forget. In high school, the students do not get the chance to dive into a book during a school day; that is due to the lack of an SSR period in high school. The day of a high school student consists of taking notes, cramming for tests, and writing essays. If there is a break for the students, the time is spent doing homework or being on social media. Generally, students do not have time to read at home either due to a job or homework. Sustained Silent Reading …show more content…
To help get the students involved in the reading programs, there needs to be a motivation from the parents and the teachers. Though there needs to be some motivational help to get the students involved, the benefits they gain are worth it. High school students would have the chance to improve their reading proficiency and comprehension as well as various other educational factors. In addition to the numerous sustained silent reading programs used, it helps improve the attitudes for reading at home and on students own time. Reading at home allows the students to take a break from the world of social media and televisions and just relax. Shouldn’t high school students be given the chance to read and improve their education as well as take a break from the stress of
On October 10th, 2017 at Springhurst Elementary School, I conducted a “Reading Interest Survey” and the “Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.” These surveys were conducted on a 1st grade student, Jax, to determine what his feelings are towards reading in different settings, what genres he prefers to read, and interests. It was found that Jax doesn’t mind reading, but prefers a few different topics. This was evident through his raw score of 30 on recreational reading, and a raw score of 31 on academic reading.
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.
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
Summer reading should not be assigned because it does not do what it was intended to do. All summer reading does is bore children, make them worry about the grade more than learning the material itself, which takes away time from other activities. Both articles agree that in order for a student to succeed, they need breaks, not more work. But as of now, parents want their child to get the hundred on a test or quiz and beat everyone else. If this continues,
School is not compulsory and parents are not bound by law to send their children there. Parents are bound by law to educate their children but that doesn’t necessarily have to be in school (Mountney 13). Making sure that children can read, write, and learn basic skills is a task that parents should support. Children can learn different matters now, compliments of the internet. Public libraries and local museums Students are engaged in learning because the curriculum is selected specifically for each individual and is based on interests and needs (Butler
My grandmother introduced me to reading before I’d even entered school. She babysat me while my parents were at work, and spent hours reading to me from picture books as my wide eyes drank in the colorful illustrations. As a result, I entered my first year of school with an early passion for reading. Throughout elementary and middle school, I was captivated by tales of fire-breathing dragons, mystical wizards, and spirited foreign gods. A book accompanied me nearly everywhere I went, smuggled into my backpack or tucked safely under my arm. I was often the child who sat alone at lunch, not because she didn’t have friends, but because she was more interested in a wizards’ duel than the petty dramas of middle school girls. I was the child who passed every history test because she was the only kid who didn’t mind reading the textbook in her spare time, and the child who the school librarian knew by name. Reading provided a
The simple details in Night aids readers to stay engaged when reading the
Some students do not have access at home to books, magazines, newspapers and by providing the time and resources in schools, students start reading. In addition, students will see their teachers and their classmates read. At the same time, they are free to choose what they read without the pressure of getting a grade, doing a book report or answering questions. Students need and want a break from the regular school schedule. Having a time for voluntary reading not only gives the break they need, but also proved them with an excellent use of the time they are in
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
It is literally a conflict of interest, more interest created more effort which generated greater achievement. In the elementary years, from first through third grades, children continue learning how to read. It is a complex process, difficult for some and easy for others. Care must be taken during these early years not to overemphasize the learning-to-read process. Tempt your kids to read by having a large supply of appealing books and magazines at their reading level with reading materials in cars, bathrooms, family rooms, and even by the TV. By encouraging and modeling leisure-time reading in the home, parents take the first and most important step in their child's reading development. Reading for pleasure and information develops reading interests and offers children the opportunity to practice their reading skills in meaningful ways. Parents of elementary-age children should provide reading materials in the home that arouse curiosity or extend their child's natural interest in the world around them. Next, parents should establish daily 15 to 30 minute times when everyone in the family reads together silently or out loud. Seeing you read will inspire your children to read. Just 15 minutes of daily practice is sufficient enough to increase the child’s
When I was younger, I didn’t like reading much at all. I always questioned my teachers what was the purpose of reading; I never got an answer from either teacher until I was in the seventh grade. Starting junior high school was different from elementary. In seventh grade, we were in our reading class for two hours a day. I asked the teachers why didn’t we have the privilege to stay in our other classes for two hours; I never received an answer from my teachers.
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.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
Finally, parents are encouraged to read with their children at home which not only promotes literacy development with the children getting the adequate encouragement and support they need to read and learn from their parents, but also help in the children’s social and emotional development and achieve “more resilience to stress, greater life satisfaction, greater self-direction and self-control, greater social adjustment, greater mental health, more supportive relationships, greater social competence, more positive peer relations, more tolerance, more successful marriages, and fewer delinquent behaviors” (Desforges and Abouchaar, 2003).
Taking a close look at a text takes much more than looking at words or fining word and phrases to answer questions. Close reading is define as the mindful, disciplined reading of an object with a view to deeper understanding of its meaning (Cummins, 2013). According to Fisher & Frey (2012), the practice of close reading is not a new one, and in fact has existed for many decades as the practice of reading a text for a level of detail not used in everyday reading. Therefore, teachers need to foster this skill on students in early stages of literacy skill to become proficient in comprehension. In order for students to examine complex text, teachers need to model and guide them through various strategies that would support their understanding