Advantages/Disadvantages
Until recently, students associated reading with answering questions on a worksheet instead of literature and this destroyed their enthusiasm and excitement for reading.
According to (Perles, 2017), some of the advantages of literature-based instruction’s focus is on authentic literature, instead of a variety of textbook excerpts and other programs. Books that teach reading are boring and do not open the student’s mind that introduce them to a new world of different cultures, stories and social structures. Another advantage to using authentic literature is it encourages students to think, increase their vocabulary, comprehension and ability to read. It also releases the teacher from structured teaching and allows him or her to coach, model and even become part of the students interaction with the literature.
Disadvantages mentioned by (Perles, 2017) based on the concerns of teachers are the need for training is necessary, it is difficult because it deviates from the previous way of teaching reading. New teachers may find it difficult (although I disagree with this because new teachers taking this class, would have an advantage over the seasoned teachers because they have experience the approach through the activities assigned). It is time consuming, but teachers have all summer long from the classroom, taking 2 weeks out of that time could be used to plan lessons and the approach to be used in the classroom. Perles, 2017, also reminds that teachers may have difficulty assessing their students progress using the literature-based approach.
The last disadvantage Perles (2017) lists in the problem of finding appropriate literature selections that give the students the skills to continue to build each year is almost impossible. Therefore, continuity will be lacking and this will prevent the students as they progress from grade to grade from growing as thinkers, writers, and readers. I am not sure that I agree with this statement because with the internet, a little research can steer us in the direction of finding appropriate literature selections that will give the students the skills needed.
Quoting from Ralph Waldo Emerson “Difficulties exist to be surmounted” As teachers, I think this
There are numerous advantages of reading frequently. It's an expertise required in all situations of life. Even simple duties need some variety of reading to be completed. The more one preforms it, the superior they are at perusal. Reading regularly will improve one's grades in school, overall reading capability, and future opportunities.
Reading expands your vocabulary and knowledge. When I was reading my book, the Crossover, there were new words and their definition throughout the book. I learned so many new words like, patellar tendinitis which is also known as jumpers’ knee, an injury to the tendon connecting your kneecap (patella) to your shinbone. Joseph Addison said “reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body,” I think that quote is very true; we need to read in order to keep our minds going. If we don’t read during the summer, our vocabulary could shrink, and it is more likely kids will struggle at the beginning of the school
After reading John Holt’s essay, How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading, I fully agree with what Holt is saying. He tells his audience that forcing children to read, use a dictionary and take quizzes on what they read has proven to deter children from enjoying reading. I liked reading it, I liked how he showed that he understood both sides of the situation, but then realized how important it was for children to just read. Even though they did not fully understand the material they still found parts of the readings that made them happy. I liked how Holt made the point about how embarrassed students would get when they had to read a difficult part in a book and classmates would snicker and giggle if they made a mistake. That is a real thing,
My experience with literature started when I was in the first grade. My first-grade teacher was named Ms. Young. Every Friday, all the teachers would come together to have story time and read the children a book. I would be so excited for story time because I would sit down with my best friends Ashley and Jordan, and we would listen to the teacher that was assigned to read to us. During story time, all the children would gather around in a big circle and the teacher would be in the center in a big brown rocking chair, and read. Over time in the school year, the children would read bigger and longer books like the Junie B. Jones series, chapter books, and the extreme level, which would be the Harry potter series. Sometimes I would fall asleep because the book that was read was very dull. I remember Ms. Young read to us the “Very Hungary Caterpillar”9 by Eric Carle. I loved that book as a child. It had great illustrations of the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This book made me love reading for the rest of my life. Now in college, I love to read books. I only
Today, in our society, reading is a crucial part of us growing, and learning. It can cause us to expand our minds, and our thought process. Books can take you anywhere in the world. When we read a book, our mind is in control, and no one can take that away from us. If there were no books, we would not be free.
Literature makes people better because it takes them to another world where they can relate their struggles, improve their empathy, and increase their brain skills. Many people read literature to help them escape their current situation. The reader wants to be able to have something they can relate their struggles with.
Have you ever read such a great book that you became completely infatuated with it? You feel the pain, happiness, sadness that the characters feel; you feel as if you personally know the characters. You begin to forget that what you are reading is just a creative piece of writing because you are so infatuated with it. Reading for pleasure is a way to escape reality, a way to be inspired, a way to become more knowledgeable, and even a way to gain a new identity (Storm). In this day and age however, students prefer not to read for pleasure during their free time, such as summer vacations (McGaha). A major obstacle that students face today is technology. With technology expanding so rapidly, it seems that students are more focused on owning
Education is nonexistent, feeding the people facts only to keep them satisfied. While this situation seems to be only possible in the realm of fiction, the ugly truth is that this degradation of thought is happening every day. For example, instead of doing summer reading, many students choose to read SparkNotes© or watch the movie. They choose to simply not think, as that would take a deeper plane of understanding that they are too lazy to reach. As a strong advocate of reading, I continue to wonder how people choose to lose the beauty of words for a mere plot outline. Although to the work laden student this seems to be no large issue, it reflects a society that refuses to think more than it needs to or wants to.
Reading is the beginning of every child’s learning. The basis of education begins with learning to read. Short (2010) explained that literature acts as “an inquiry to life” and a “way of knowing” (p. 50). However, in order to support children’s learning, it is essential to show children that learning is interesting from a young age. When Short first began teaching using worksheets and a basal reading program, she wrote, “I often felt that children were learning to read in spite of me” (p. 49). The students were not learning to think critically. However, when she began introducing literature circles to her students, she saw them “critically exploring their understandings with each other” (p. 49).
Michael Henry’s article “Whats with This Summer Reading” has readers pondering why summer reading has students “moving one step further from reading.” Michael Henry explains that one day he saw a teenager becoming very frustrated with the book he was reading. He asked why the young man was reading the book and the boy said, because it was a summer reading assignment. This made Henry think and he began to research summer reading assignments. He wanted to find out what was causing so much frustration.
Throughout all of time, literature has played an important role in people’s lives. Books are more than just stories to laugh at, cry with, or fall asleep to, but books can teach. Literature
In my opinion, the reason for this assignment is for the teacher to see where we are in our reading, and writing. Reading to me must happen when I am interested in something for example, a movie because I enjoy reading about the plots but everyone is different. Another example is a graphic novel, because you can understand the concept or plot a lot easier than you would do in a regular novel. In regular books, you have so many things going on and you aren’t able to understand what is happening then you end up getting the wrong idea. Writing is just about the same for example, I can’t write about something that I know nothing about or interested in. Therefore, I am writing this paper to show you my weaknesses and not my strengths because I
Raymond Mar, a psychologist at Your University in Canada and Keith Oatley a professor An The University of Toronto, they both say that “individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathies with them and view the world from their perspectives.” I agree that reading certain types of books can help people further understand and see things from a different point of view. Reading helps to open people's eyes and to teach life lessons or to show there are other things to believe in and know other than what they have always been told to know. Getting different types of books, types that are not always the same as the books that you normally read can help you to view things differently. For example from personal experience a new book can help your imagination grow, readings helps me a lot when I need to come up with new ideas for an art class. The new places a book takes you the new images you see while you are reading the new stores you hear and the happy ending your book might have can change the way you are feeling it can brighten up your day.
I’ve never been one to read much outside of school without being assigned to do so. After looking back at my childhood I think I finally understand why. When you’re a student in elementary school teachers want you to be interested in reading and they tell you that it will make you smarter. Their approach to this is to assign you many readings during your early school years, have your parents sign that you actually did it, and make you write book reports about what you read. I remember when I was a kid I absolutely hated some of these exercises and absolutely loved some of these as well. I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and having to read a book to a high school student. The five year old version of me was more than embarrassed when my reading skills were not up to par and I was having to do it in front of a teenage boy. I also remember being in fifth grade and having to read one book every two weeks and write and draw a report on it. I loved this. Probably because for once I got to choose my own books and they were never assigned for me. I thought of it as a
Reading develops a person’s creativity. Unlike movies where everything is determined by the producer, writer and director, books allow students to create in their minds how a particular character looks like or imagine how a scene plays out.