Affective Dimensions of Reading
Am I a good reader? Yes and no. I have a problem with my attitude when it comes to reading. When it's something I actually have a desire to read, then i'm a good reader. I am able to read quickly and efficiently. However, if i'm assigned a reading in something which i'm not interested, I have a really hard time concentrating on what I have read. My mind tends to wander. This causes me to have to read and re-read to understand it. I like to read books.
I like to read fiction, adventure, western, young adult, and horror books. My favorite author is Cormac McCarthy. He wrote No Country For Old Men and The Road, two of my favorite books. I also love audio books. Ever since I was in elementary school my parents would take my siblings and I to the Logan library to get books, movies, and audiobooks. This instilled a love for reading books in the years to come. My family would go on long road trips, and we would listen to audio books the whole time. I loved that as a child, and I still love audiobooks.
When I was a senior in high school a english teacher assigned my class The Grapes of Wrath to read. He gave us a strict reading schedule, and I stuck to it and thoroughly enjoyed the book. Reading it helped me gain an appreciation for fine literature. I loved the vivid descriptions and the "real" people from the book. That was a time when I truly loved reading.
Two years ago, a history teacher assigned our class to read a historical book on the Cold War. It was the hardest thing for me to read, because I had little background knowledge on the war, and I had little interest in the subject. The teacher asked us to write a paper on the book, and I received a poor grade, because I failed at thoroughly understanding the key aspects to the book. That was a time in my life when reading was tedious task.
I never felt like my friends or family thought reading was nerdy or stupid. I feel like I was surrounded by people that read so much, that it made me too want to read a lot. In able to get students interested in reading I think that students need to see others doing it, and enjoying it. I love going into schools, and seeing the teacher has a paper on their door that states what book they are currently reading. I think this is a good way to show students that reading is an important thing, and can be a major source of entertainment. In order to build a students view on themselves as a reader, I think the teacher needs to start with book that is at their level, that they will like. This will give them a taste for success. The teacher can incrementally increase the amount and level of books for the students, and by suggesting books in their interest area, this should help them gain a desire to read.
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteYour experience with your history teacher reminded me of an undergraduate course I took on the American Revolution. We had to read one whole book that was just a record of the different goods that ships brought to New York (then New Amsterdam) in the 1600s. No kidding. That was the whole book. It was so incredibly boring to me that I had to pace around my house and read the book aloud just to get through it.
So what I get for your posting is that you can try to choose interesting texts in history--which, fortunately, is easier to do than in some disciplines. These days, there are so many engaging informational texts--written expressly for a young adult audience--that you will be able to find books that your students will enjoy, much like you enjoyed the Grapes of Wrath.
Tom I think I have also read the book The Cold War and I don't think I even finished it but I used information from a U.S. foreign policy class I was taking to write my paper. I totally agree with the importance of discussing the book in class and creating some background knowledge. The only reason why I did well on my paper was not because of my comprehension of the book (which I didn't even finish) but was from all the prior knowledge I had from my other class.
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