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[CCBC-Net] Reluctant Reading and a Coda on Classics
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From: Monica Edinger <monicaedinger>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 12:03:03 -0400
I'm way behind on this topic. (I actually have been AWAY from the Internet for almost a week and basically barely connecting for a week before that --- imagine that --- moi?) My point of view is that of a veteran fourth grade teacher, most fortunately in a private school where I have the time to do some creative teaching --- not the case for many of my public school colleagues, unfortunately.
I feel that all developing readers, be they reluctant, struggling, or avid need a range of experiences with a wide variety of texts. They need opportunities to experiment and explore with a range of independent reading ---- fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, picture books, magazines, etc. They need to understand that reading encompasses all sorts of situations from the practical one of reading to learn how to do something to the also practical reading to gain information to the most impractical one of reading for no obvious reason at all. I find that my reluctant readers need to feel okay picking up a book, reading some of it, and then putting it down for another until they find the right one they love. They need to know that it is okay to reread a beloved book --- sometimes many times. They need to feel safe reading picture books, graphic novels, shorter books, and more next to their best friend who is working his way through the Redwall series. They need lots of support as they discover just what sort of reader they are. In my experience, reluctant readers are those who are newly comfortable readers and so they are still working to discover what their reading tastes are and need my help and our school librarian's help trying out different sorts of texts. That is, not just books, but magazines and anything that is text. All the time, feeling safe doing so.
For that is MY first responsibility as a teacher ---- to create a safe classroom environment for all my students where they feel comfortable and respected. THEIR responsibility once that is done, once they trust me, like me, honor me as I do them, is to be open to a wide variety of texts and to be responsible about giving them a try, even those perhaps not to their taste. Sorry to disagree with others here, but reading is not always about story; it can be informational, it can be as pedestrian as the confusing directions at the start of test. Kids need to know this and the reluctant reader especially needs to know this, I think.
I feel highly responsible for providing a range of reading experiences for all my students, knowing that each one is different. I think we adults who are teaching children to read, to connect with texts need to respect learners, but with care. That is, it can be tempting with a reluctant reader to not nudge, not push, not insist that he/she dig into a text not to his/her immediate liking. Sometimes I do nudge and push, and not gently either. Of course, I do that only after I know the child trusts me and can handle my shoves.
Frankly, I'm not worried about reluctant readers as long as they can read when they need to. They generally are getting stories and information, just perhaps not as much from books as we do. So many parents I encounter don't read much either, especially fathers, in my experience. It is a tricky thing for those parents to navigate the shoals of book reading with their reluctant reader, especially if they feel guilty as bad role models. I try to help them celebrate the reading they do do --- say newspapers and magazines and encourage them to read those together with their reluctant reader children, if that is what they enjoy. I admire Robin's forthrightness with parents; I'm much more skittish, I admit, but then my students are older than hers. However, we do teach (I think) in similar settings where children well know that they need to read to achieve, to understand, to gain knowledge, and to enjoy, if possible, and even if that isn't what they see at home. And in other settings from ours, parents often can't read. Kids have to feel that is okay too; that these parents still get and give information, just in none-textual ways.
Monica
Coda on Classics. I love 'em and love to teach 'em. I think that is the bottom line. Get a lousy teacher shoving a classic down a reluctant reader's throat and that classic is doomed for lifelong hatred. I'm just back from Children's Literature new England where John Rowe Townsend considered the viability of a bunch of children's classics. He had put out a call the year before for children's responses and got them --- over 200! Some from my students who wrote enthusiastically about Alice in Wonderland --- because I love the book and am able to teach it with joy and passion. Glad to see there are others out there doing this same so not all kids end up hating classics!
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 12:03:03 -0400
I'm way behind on this topic. (I actually have been AWAY from the Internet for almost a week and basically barely connecting for a week before that --- imagine that --- moi?) My point of view is that of a veteran fourth grade teacher, most fortunately in a private school where I have the time to do some creative teaching --- not the case for many of my public school colleagues, unfortunately.
I feel that all developing readers, be they reluctant, struggling, or avid need a range of experiences with a wide variety of texts. They need opportunities to experiment and explore with a range of independent reading ---- fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, picture books, magazines, etc. They need to understand that reading encompasses all sorts of situations from the practical one of reading to learn how to do something to the also practical reading to gain information to the most impractical one of reading for no obvious reason at all. I find that my reluctant readers need to feel okay picking up a book, reading some of it, and then putting it down for another until they find the right one they love. They need to know that it is okay to reread a beloved book --- sometimes many times. They need to feel safe reading picture books, graphic novels, shorter books, and more next to their best friend who is working his way through the Redwall series. They need lots of support as they discover just what sort of reader they are. In my experience, reluctant readers are those who are newly comfortable readers and so they are still working to discover what their reading tastes are and need my help and our school librarian's help trying out different sorts of texts. That is, not just books, but magazines and anything that is text. All the time, feeling safe doing so.
For that is MY first responsibility as a teacher ---- to create a safe classroom environment for all my students where they feel comfortable and respected. THEIR responsibility once that is done, once they trust me, like me, honor me as I do them, is to be open to a wide variety of texts and to be responsible about giving them a try, even those perhaps not to their taste. Sorry to disagree with others here, but reading is not always about story; it can be informational, it can be as pedestrian as the confusing directions at the start of test. Kids need to know this and the reluctant reader especially needs to know this, I think.
I feel highly responsible for providing a range of reading experiences for all my students, knowing that each one is different. I think we adults who are teaching children to read, to connect with texts need to respect learners, but with care. That is, it can be tempting with a reluctant reader to not nudge, not push, not insist that he/she dig into a text not to his/her immediate liking. Sometimes I do nudge and push, and not gently either. Of course, I do that only after I know the child trusts me and can handle my shoves.
Frankly, I'm not worried about reluctant readers as long as they can read when they need to. They generally are getting stories and information, just perhaps not as much from books as we do. So many parents I encounter don't read much either, especially fathers, in my experience. It is a tricky thing for those parents to navigate the shoals of book reading with their reluctant reader, especially if they feel guilty as bad role models. I try to help them celebrate the reading they do do --- say newspapers and magazines and encourage them to read those together with their reluctant reader children, if that is what they enjoy. I admire Robin's forthrightness with parents; I'm much more skittish, I admit, but then my students are older than hers. However, we do teach (I think) in similar settings where children well know that they need to read to achieve, to understand, to gain knowledge, and to enjoy, if possible, and even if that isn't what they see at home. And in other settings from ours, parents often can't read. Kids have to feel that is okay too; that these parents still get and give information, just in none-textual ways.
Monica
Coda on Classics. I love 'em and love to teach 'em. I think that is the bottom line. Get a lousy teacher shoving a classic down a reluctant reader's throat and that classic is doomed for lifelong hatred. I'm just back from Children's Literature new England where John Rowe Townsend considered the viability of a bunch of children's classics. He had put out a call the year before for children's responses and got them --- over 200! Some from my students who wrote enthusiastically about Alice in Wonderland --- because I love the book and am able to teach it with joy and passion. Glad to see there are others out there doing this same so not all kids end up hating classics!
-- Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at gmail.comReceived on Fri 11 Aug 2006 11:03:03 AM CDT
