How To Read Books Should Be Taught In Secondary Schools

In today’s society reading is essential to function. Everywhere people turn they are required to read directions, labels, books, what’s going on in the news, or mandatory rules they need to follow. Just think about if a majority of the world couldn’t read how chaotic society would be.

“School made us ‘literate’ but did not teach us to read for pleasure.” -Ambeth R. Ocampo

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

We all know many kids who do not like to read from elementary to college. In the early school years, there was always an instructor or, a parent to always guiding us. Or they would say it’s time for silent reading or even force us to read. This always worked for the best because kids to today love to tell stories to friends and families. Malcolm X went to the Norfolk colony’s prison, library everyday where he would stay for at an hour. He felt like he was in heaven just from seeing all the different books. He would be concentrating so hard on the books, which he would stay up past the normal time to go to sleep. Sometimes when it would be lights out he would try to read in the dark just because the book was just starting to get interesting.

As a child, reading and writing always came with craft activities or competition. In Kindergarten, we studied a letter a week, so this consisted of learning its sound, location in the alphabet, and the written form of the letter. Each letter had a craft activity which grabbed my attention because I love arts and crafts. Because it was something I was interested in, I soon began catching on to simple words which lead to bigger words, and then eventually to books. Competition for “Top Reader” was also a great way to grab the students’ attention because this caused every student to compete for a prize even if the prize was just an eraser. These activities may seem simple and small but I guarantee you that I am still thankful for them each day, because those simple activities got me involved in a world of reading and writing

Taking into account of many Americans, the act of reading is not apart of our daily lives as it was many years ago. Instead, the media has taken over and leaves us at a disadvantage of developing our minds. The level of proficiency, “Fell significantly between 1992 and 2005, from 40 percent… to 35 percent (Chronicle).” In spite of that, reading gives us the opportunity to get different perspectives, learn valuable lessons, and engage emotions that might not be sparked otherwise. The list can go on and on, however, even with all of these great benefits, the literacy rate in America is continuing to drop.

In this article from 2005, Dana Gioia is telling Americans how much the decline in reading among young Americans has gone. Gioia is encouraging Americans to read, and writes about the consequences of not having this literature reading skill.

Carter shares his thought on the decline of reading in the United States by saying, “Being a nonreader is nothing to be proud of. A rise in proud nonreaders would bode ill for the nation’s future” (Carter 88). Carter believes that people should read for pleasure not just for academic purposes. He also believes that by not reading would be not for the nation’s future. By not reading he is afraid that the country or world will become a place

In this persuasive essay “Why Literature Matter”, Dana is trying to explain how our society is losing it’s best qualities by Americans not reading literature. Dana is persuading her audience by using facts from former research done. It is thought to be that who doesn't grow up around literature have less of an imagination and tend to work in factories. About 38% of employees working for the National Association of Manufacturers in 2011 were ranked second to argue how schools are teaching reading comprehension wrong. Society today is losing the uniqueness and individuality we used to have because of the nonreader people.

Families are often encouraged to provide a variety of reading material for their children, especially at an early age, to give children plenty of options when learning how to read. When children are provided with a variety of reading material at home, they see that a high value is placed on reading. If parents value reading at home, children tend to value it also, and the more a child is encouraged to read at home, the more they will want to engage in reading in general. By being involved in their child’s reading development, parents can give their children a firm foundation to reading prior to entering grade school which will lead to a lifetime of reading enjoyment and

My philosophy of literacy is centered on providing a learning environment rich in authentic literature, instruction that is engaging, fun, and balanced, collaborative, and also involving families in the child’s education. My ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to help children become lifelong readers and writers by providing the skills necessary to comprehend, construct, and make meaning of text, speak, and write. (Torgesen, 2002). According to the National Reading Panel, there are five essential components that must be taught in effective reading programs: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. (Reading Horizons). According to Konza (2014), reading instruction should be changed to six foundational reading elements, adding oral language and early literacy. I also believe that early literacy should be

Reading outside of class for fun has long-lasting benefits for students. The author states that “if children spend some of their time outside of school reading books they enjoy… they will develop a love of reading whose rewards will be substantial and life-long”. What the author is saying by this is that children who read outside of school for fun have a better chance of improving their reading skills and vocabulary. Also, they grow a hunger for different types of books. Children who read for fun look up to the people they read about. Their imagination grows and they picture themselves becoming who they read about. A lot of children that read do much better in school; by this I mean that they learn how to read faster, increase their

Reading – the ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has existed for approximately 4000 to 5000 years and is inarguably one of the most fundamental and wonderful technique humans have ever developed. However, despite much effort and funding dedicating to wide literacy development, even now in America for instance, 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level (National Center for Learning Disabilities). In order for the entire population of today’s society to have proper reading skills, scholars and educators around the world realize that literacy movements need to focus on much earlier stages of human development. Researchers in the education field have reached a consensus that reading is crucial in childhood by revealing supporting evidence from studies focused on children aged 0-6 years, 6-12, and young adolescents. Many interesting findings also include that reading proficiency of children is critical because it can reflect society’s criminal and economical status. Moreover, modern studies show that the importance of childhood reading cannot be fully explained without mentioning the environment where children are raised, as the environment greatly affects children’s reading proficiency.

From an early age I loved to read. At just two years old I would beg my mother to enroll me into school. I watched as my older sister meticulously picked out her outfit each night in preparation for the next school day. At such a young age I somehow knew that this thing called “school” was the answer to something spectacular. My home was chaotic and reading became an escape and helped distract me from the unpleasant family dynamic.

Learning to read and write, or getting an education in general, is something that is easily handed to us in the world today. Imagine living in a world where you were expected to be uneducated, illiterate, and stupid. In the texts “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, these young boys grew up in different worlds where they were looked down upon and were expected to fail due to the standards they grew accustomed to. Although Douglass and Alexie underwent contrasting hardships on their educational journey, they both shared the realization that learning to read and write was both a curse and a blessing. With those shared