Detrimental Practices in Teaching Reading

John Holts paper ' 'How teachers make students hate reading" outlines key causes of why students come to hate reading and writing. In his paper he outlines problems arising from reading assignments that are too hard for the student with questions designed to bring out points that should have been learned with spelling tests that are of little to no interest to the student. He talks about mandatory reading that is one-dimensional and overdone without ever letting the students have an opportunity to say what they really thought about the book. With the fear of humiliation students are made to read aloud and when mistakes are made they are instantly known to every one in the room. This continues to the point where the safest thing to do is to

I felt I had managed my anxiety, however I didn 't see that it was starting to affect my school work in other ways. My classmates were reading books and their vocabulary was rapidly expanding while I was stuck in my metaphorical happy place. I was essentially being left behind. With my vocabulary lacking I started getting worse grades on reports and general class work. Just like reading I started to avoid writing papers and using atypical words. When it came time to turn things in there was always an excuse, I resented writing papers and in the rare event that I did turn something in it was always rushed and incomplete. I would eventually get these rushed papers back, it felt like the teacher matched me word for word with corrections as if she was trying to compete with me on my own

It was time for a new school. I was determined to have my fresh start. This feeling of optimism lasted for less than a month before things became distorted. I couldn 't focus, I was always depressed and tired, and my memory got so bad it was impossible to remember what I had for breakfast the day before. I had developed hypothyroidism. It wasn 't long before you couldn 't distinguish me from the kids with ADD. Growing up it was easy to relate to "A Christmas Carol" you can pick your variation because they all have the same underlying tone. A poor family that can 't afford the basic necessities that eventually makes it. When I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism I was briefly cheerful before I came to the realization that we couldn 't afford the medication. I like tinny Tim was trapped with our fate sealed.

I spent the next few years stuck in a dismal abyss waiting for something to change. Then something did. I was finally old enough to get a job asking people if they wanted fries with their order. I made just enough money to purchase my own medication and the little that I had left over I spent buying books. For the first time in a long time my mind was quiet and I was able to focus. I was starting to enjoy quiet time reading books. I started with the books I avoided from elementary school and eventually worked my way up. My vocabulary was slowly growing