Stimulating Reading in the Classroom

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In this modern era, adult literacy has been of growing concern for school boards and employers alike that there are many standardized means of testing writing and reading comprehension of potential candidates. With each step we move in pursuit of more advanced technologies and enhanced social media experiences, many experts have come to wonder if we are detracting too much from our learned skills such as reading. Many teachers complain that it is in this era that the elders have failed to encourage reading from young age. The striking reality is that with all the technologies acting as a distraction even to adults, it is truly difficult to grab a child’s attention. According to the US Army Medical Department, a child entering kindergarten has an attention span of only fifteen minutes meaning that once the child is bored or uninterested with task at hand, they will resort to distracting themselves with something else. But how do you keep a child interested at any task much less reading? The answer is that reading must begin in classrooms. It is the society’s responsibility to revamp our educational system such that our classrooms reflect qualities we look for in order to simulate reading in classrooms. First, dedicated reading areas with books that would be of interest to students are the right way to begin. Second, the teacher must share in the responsibility of encouraging students to read by allocating time for reading activities and incentivizing those who read. Last but not least, this responsibility also extends to the community which can contribute by donating money or unused books lying in their basements. It is thereby possible to simulate reading in classroom if these simple steps are followed.

Schools can use the man...

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... materials; allocating time and grades; involving community in the effort to support monetarily or resource wise are effective measures that must be followed to simulate reading in classrooms. These steps help foster reading habits in students and nurture literacy. Simulating this desired habit of reading, creates good citizens in the future who give back to the community by further encouraging the habit of reading, the very habit that benefited them. This, in turn, creates a chance for this virtuous cycle to repeat, making a trend of reading. If we do this now, we can expect the future to be prosperous, technologically advanced and yet one defined by high moral standards slowly cultivated by regular reading in classrooms.

Works Cited

U.S Army. "Attention Deficit Disorder (Short Attention Span)." n.d. Evans Army Community Hospital. Document. 10 April 2014.

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