Describe yourself as a reader. Do you like to read? Why/not? How do you teach reading? How might technology impact that?
I consider myself to be a good reader. I have always loved to read. When I was younger I read of all the usual kid books, Baby Sitters Club, Nancy Drew, etc. In high school I read Danielle Steel, Jonathan Kellerman, and V.C Andrews. I generally have always stuck with authors I like. As I got older I tried to break away from series and read more randomly. I absolutely loved The Davinci Code and have read it 3 times!
Even though I consider myself a good reader, I think I sometimes do not pick up on certain story elements. I many times miss the inner lying messages and symbolism. I think that has alot to do with the way I was taught to read in school. I can remember not liking the stories we had to read in elementary school. We read long boring stories from a textbook. I can remember one particially dreadful story in 5th grade that had to do with an island being born. In highschool we did get to read some literature books. We read Lord of the Flies and parts of Canterbury Tales. I think my love of reading stems from my family. Many of my family members love to read. My grandmother reads atleast 2 books a week.
I truly believe that reading should be taught through literature. Literature students will enjoy. If they enjoy what they read, they will learn. In my district we actually use a combination of basil reader and literature. I really like it because I use the basil to introduce a topic I want to teach and then have my students use it with the literature books. The basil stories are usually nice and short so it allows me to teach what I want and be able to assess if my students understand it before they utlize it with the books. I think technology can be a great aide to me. Whether it is used to create discussion boards, finding sites that discuss stories we are reading, or even doing projects using technology. I am really enjoying being in this class to learn about the different ways I can encorporate technology into my class without having to do the traditional slide show, watching video ways.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I use to read Danielle Steel too, but always preferred gothic love stories as oppose to the modern days stories that Danielle Steel writes. Wuthering Heights is one of my all-time favorite love stories. I read Lord of the Flies, my freshman year in college. It was OK. If I were to read it again now, I may have a different perspective.
In my original blog on the matter of 'Reading', I stated that, "I don't like to read." But in retrospect, that is not quite accurate. Reading your blog reminded me of years past when I was an avid reader and that I have actually read quite a few books in my day. So thank you for that. :)
I agree reading should be taught through literature as well as an anthology or basal. In East Orange we aren't given time to teach reading through literature. We have a very scripted program. It seems there is always so much to do, I only touch the surface, and then we have to move on. At the end of the year we do an author study about Walter Dean Myers. This is just about the only time to use a novel in the class as a group. The rest of the year my students must read at an independent level. They are supposed to pick their own books. Although I definitely agree that students should read a majority of the time at their independent level, I have not read what they are reading to foster conversations or dialogues about their books. I believe this is what helps them understand what they are reading, having opportunities to discuss the book and its symbols and messages.
I wasn't a reader during my younger years like you. I learned to like it later. I only read what I was supposed. I read later for fun.
I always try to let my students choose a silent reading book that interests them so I can avoid them telling me they don't like that book. The one series I actually read as a child was the babysitter's club.
I had a college professor who used to quote Leila Christenbury's lesson plan idea of "mixing it up." Your ideas on teaching reading definitely connect with "mixing it up." While I generally detest lit anthologies (our school has Prentice Hall texts---the text has the crappiest selections from literary "greats"-- I guess P.H. is too cheap to get access to the more well-known stories or something). Anyway, there are still some stories within that anthology that work for shorter lessons, or for introducing new info in prep for reading a novel. Like you said, finding discussion sites or researching background info on a novel's setting, author, etc are all excellent tech activities that can "add" to students' leaning.
I agree that reading should be taught through literature. I do all of my reading instruction through guided and independent reading. Sometimes I wish I had a basal only because I get nervous that the kids are given so much responsibility for their independent literacy learning at such a young age. I guess it's working because they are choosing what they like to read, but it is very hard to manage.
Post a Comment