As
I read The Pleasure Principle, I
immediately connected with Atwell’s words, “being in the zone.” When I dive
into a good book, everything else seems to fade away. It can take me to a different
place, era, or even to solve a mystery. It took me until I became an adult to enjoy
reading. I wonder sometimes that maybe if I had been given the opportunity of
choice and time to read, maybe I would have enjoyed reading more as a child. I
believe that giving my students this opportunity may help them discover the enjoyment
of reading as child instead of as an adult as I did.
This article left me with this question,
what is going to help my students become engaged readers? I want them to enjoy
talking about the books that they read. I want to hear students recommending
books to one another. I really liked that comment that Atwell made about “a
quiet room with a good book isn’t a flashy, or marketable, teaching method. It
just happens to be the only way anyone ever grew up to become a good reader”
(Atwell, 2007, pg. 45). Teaching students to read can be as easy as allowing
them time to read. I plan to use Atwell’s advice to integrate into my instruction
of reading.
It took me until I became an adult to enjoy reading. I wonder sometimes that maybe if I had been given the opportunity of choice and time to read, maybe I would have enjoyed reading more as a child. I was the same way Kristin! I know we carved out 30 minutes a day last year for independent reading, and we saw amazing results. Hold true to what you believe about reading and your students will grow to love reading much sooner that you or I did!
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin,
ReplyDeleteWhenever I face apathy or a lack of "want to" with reading or writing, I immediately go back to the joy factor and look to find ways to provide students with more choice and ownership and I model a love for reading, share a love for reading, and then ask them to show me what they love to learn about and then let that love transfer to reading and writing about that topic. I love the Atwell quote you cited in your post, "“a quiet room with a good book isn’t a flashy, or marketable, teaching method. It just happens to be the only way anyone ever grew up to become a good reader” (Atwell, 2007, pg. 45)." Thank you! Dawn