The passages "If we stop telling kids what to read, they might start reading again" by Max Ehrenfreund and "What Kids Are Reading, In School and Out" by Lynn Neary both detail the struggle between what kids want to read and should be reading. According the the passages, the youth is reading books that are assessed at a lower level than what they should be reading. Kids should have a say in what they read to create more voracious and enthusiastic readers. Firstly, kids are more likely to do what they like to do. When we encourage kids to read the things they want, they tend to enjoy it better. As Pam Allyn, an advocate for literacy, says, "You tend to get better at something you love to do." If society needs good readers, it is important that youth are passionate about reading. When we let children have a choice, they learn just how much they like reading and are more likely to continue. Kyle Good from Scholastic Corp. believes that …show more content…
They believe that children should be reading the classics. For example, Adriel Miller, a tenth grader at Woodrow Wilson High School, says that reading the classics is "a challenge." The issue with this logic is that when we are making kids read what they aren't interested in, they will associate feelings of negativity with the task of reading. As previously stated, when kids enjoy reading, they want to continue reading. Sometimes, like in the case of the "Hunger Games", the level of the dialogue doesn't represent the content. While the "Hunger Games" may be written at the level of a fifth grader, the book is much more mature. It is both twisted in logic and violent, and when kids read it, they work harder to understand the content. Because of this, kids reading these books, and more like them, not only enjoy reading, but also take out real world skills from the complexity of the
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...
Pearson UK (n.d.) stated “Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.”
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.
In the reading, “Why our Future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming” Neil Gaiman discusses the importance of reading, in addition to that he feels going to nearby libraries to check out books is a wonderful thing especially for children. Gaiman also believes that children of all ages along with adults can read any type of book. The books can be fiction or non-fiction and have dissimilar genres as well. The rhetorical devices that were used are persuasive speaking; the tone which was imperative, and Parallelism. The main point Gaiman is trying to make is that more people should have a desire to read, not only to learn but to also have a broad vocabulary and to be well read to have knowledge on the world.
...orld. If students are deprived of reading books that contain different ideas than their own, they will become close-minded. What is the point of knowing how to read if students are not going to be permitted to do so? As Mark Twain once said, “The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
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.
In 1999 Francine Prose wrote an article titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read” about the utilization of literature in schools. She believes that schools are not effectively teaching students to love reading, and instead, trying to force morals on the students using literature. Her analysis of the situation is concrete and her argument logical and convincing. From my own experience Prose is correct in her evaluation.
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.
I was excited to read to the children and define the role as an adult of creating a reading experience for young people. In the Literature for Children book by David Russell, it discusses the adults’ responsibilities as bringing children and books together, giving the children as many different types of literature as possible, encouraging honest and open responses, to challenge children to explore those responses and learn something about themselves, to provide them with the critical language to clearly express their responses, to encourage tolerance, and to encourage mutual understanding. I think its important for me to know these roles because I am approaching the years of adulthood. When I was younger my mother read to me every single night and I believe this was crucial for my development as a child.
There are many reasons why boys do not read well or do not like to read, some are related to biological and cognitive factors. Other obstacles include the use of ineffective teaching strategies and materials; the lack of sufficient and enticing reading resources in schools, public libraries and homes that boys can relate to. Smith and Wilhelm (2002) summarized some gender and literacy research which included some of the following observations: • Boys take longer to learn to read than girls do. • Boys read less than girls read. • Boys value reading as an activity less than girls do.
Reading to children can teach them skills they’ll need throughout their entire life. Reading aloud not only enhances their skills, it also affects how the their school life is. Being read to regularly is important to maintain the skills that the child learns, the earlier a child is being read to, the more skills they acquire. Parents will benefit from reading also, it creates a bond with their child that last a lifetime. Reading aloud will introduce children to books and reading so they can eventually do it on their own. Reading to children can improve many aspects of their life.
When students learn something with pleasure, they will remember it for the rest of their life. This is why students should be able to pick the books they will read in class next year. For example, they will be more engaged and want to read the book. Again, students should pick the books they will read, is that their grades will rise. The books they will read will affect whether or not they will know what to put on the worksheets about the book. The books students will read will affect how they see books in the future, and how it will affect them later in life.
Intrinsic motivation describes the desires which incite an individual to read independently at their own volition. Children who lack this motivation are typically indifferent towards reading, which is coupled with negative attitudes to the activity. Furthermore, it has been suggested that due to a continued period of failure and a reduced sense of competency, many children question their abilities (Pressley, 1998). In view of this, in a survey conducted by the NLT found that young people reported that they would read more if they enjoyed the activity, had more time to read, if reading material were more affordable or related to topics that were if personal interest (Clark and Foster,
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.
Literature has an enormous impact on a child’s development during the early years of his or her life. It is important for parents and teachers to instill a love of reading in children while they are still young and impressionable. They are very naive and trusting because they are just beginning to develop their own thoughts, so they will believe anything they read (Lesnik, 1998). This is why it is so important to give them literature that will have a positive impact. Literature can make children more loving, intelligent and open minded because reading books gives them a much wider perspective on the world. Through reading, children’s behavior can be changed, modified or extended, which is why books are so influential in children’s lives while they are young (Hunt, 1998). Literature has the power to affect many aspects of a child’s life and shapes their future adult life.