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reluctant readers
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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd_at_ensworth.com>
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:45:48 -0600
As Robin said, too, I don't like the term "reluctant reader." I just figure they're not reading YET. I teach 7th- and 8th-grade English in an affluent school with great resources, and yet we have many parents who are not read ing aloud to their children or taking them to libraries and bookstores. I g et lots of students arriving in my classes each year who are readers, and m any who are not. We just finished parent conferences last week, in which I had 40 ten-minute conferences in a day and a half, and I'd say they were ex hausting except that so many parents commented that their children were rea ding more this year than ever before, and when I asked students (who attend the conferences with their parents) what they were reading for free readin g, 39 out of 40 had a ready answer. So, instead of feeling exhausted after so many conferences, I feel gratified that you can, indeed, turn kids on to reading, even when they make it to 7th or 8th grade having never read much more than is required in school.
By 7th and 8th grade, our students have the skills to read, but they may ne ed some nudging to get them actually TO read. We always have a class novel going, and I read aloud a lot in class or we do lots of informal readers' t heater, but I also devote a lot of attention to promoting free reading. I h ave a big classroom library, I know children's literature and can recommend books, and I give lots of class time to free reading. It's not enough to h ave the books; you have to give kids time to read them. There's nothing els e I'm doing in English class any more important than this. As busy, over-sc heduled, and mired in electronic gadgetry as kids' lives are nowadays, the free reading time I give in class may well be the only quiet time kids have in their day. I've been at my school for 22 years now, and kids are more t han ever thankful to have time to just sit and read. Once you hook them on books, they seem to get something from reading they are not getting anywher e else--the quiet time to settle into th at reflective frame of mind that re ading needs and fosters.
On bad days, I feel that our digital culture surely means the death of read ing. BUT THEN I know when we create a book culture--whether at home, in the classroom, or in libraries--kid will read. I've never had so many kids rea ding up a storm as I do now. Maybe if we had a national initiative to conne ct children and books--rather than our current obsession with testing--we w ould see wonders in our children's reading.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd_at_ensworth.com
Received on Sun 06 Feb 2011 12:45:48 PM CST
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:45:48 -0600
As Robin said, too, I don't like the term "reluctant reader." I just figure they're not reading YET. I teach 7th- and 8th-grade English in an affluent school with great resources, and yet we have many parents who are not read ing aloud to their children or taking them to libraries and bookstores. I g et lots of students arriving in my classes each year who are readers, and m any who are not. We just finished parent conferences last week, in which I had 40 ten-minute conferences in a day and a half, and I'd say they were ex hausting except that so many parents commented that their children were rea ding more this year than ever before, and when I asked students (who attend the conferences with their parents) what they were reading for free readin g, 39 out of 40 had a ready answer. So, instead of feeling exhausted after so many conferences, I feel gratified that you can, indeed, turn kids on to reading, even when they make it to 7th or 8th grade having never read much more than is required in school.
By 7th and 8th grade, our students have the skills to read, but they may ne ed some nudging to get them actually TO read. We always have a class novel going, and I read aloud a lot in class or we do lots of informal readers' t heater, but I also devote a lot of attention to promoting free reading. I h ave a big classroom library, I know children's literature and can recommend books, and I give lots of class time to free reading. It's not enough to h ave the books; you have to give kids time to read them. There's nothing els e I'm doing in English class any more important than this. As busy, over-sc heduled, and mired in electronic gadgetry as kids' lives are nowadays, the free reading time I give in class may well be the only quiet time kids have in their day. I've been at my school for 22 years now, and kids are more t han ever thankful to have time to just sit and read. Once you hook them on books, they seem to get something from reading they are not getting anywher e else--the quiet time to settle into th at reflective frame of mind that re ading needs and fosters.
On bad days, I feel that our digital culture surely means the death of read ing. BUT THEN I know when we create a book culture--whether at home, in the classroom, or in libraries--kid will read. I've never had so many kids rea ding up a storm as I do now. Maybe if we had a national initiative to conne ct children and books--rather than our current obsession with testing--we w ould see wonders in our children's reading.
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd_at_ensworth.com
Received on Sun 06 Feb 2011 12:45:48 PM CST
