Literature is an important factor in people of all ages' lives, especially young children. If young kids can learn to love reading and writing at an early age, it will carry with them throughout their teenage years and adulthood. This is the reason that I started the Learn to Love Reading project as my Silver Award. I spent 50 hours of my own free time planning, organizing, fundraising, and executing. My overall goal was to establish this light inside of kids so that they can love reading for all of their lives. To do this I constructed a team of 10 kids my age to help run a four-week reading program for children grades 1-3. I organized a weekly theme and ordered dozens of books to go along with that theme. I also created crafts for the kids
Ever since I was in elementary school, I have had a strong fascination with literature. Overtime, I had a plethora of books lining my bookcases and barely had room for any more. Reading was a necessity to me and it still is to me today. I eat, sleep, and breath literature because I feel like it’s essential to my academic career. Literature does many wonderful things like, teach me about life lessons, transport me to a new world that I have only dreamed about going to, and discover new vocabulary.
From early on in school you learn that reading is going to be something truly important in your life and are given books to read all the time, but at what point did you actually start to accept and enjoy reading in your life? Literacy sponsors are “the people, institutions, materials, and motivations” (Deborah Brandt (167)) that shape who you are as a reader, in my life my literacy sponsor was my grandparents since they are the ones who gave me many of my favorite books and helped me keep up with my older cousins’.
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
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).
With reading being the cornerstone of society it is expected that children begin learning about literature in their most formative years. With children reading younger and younger it should come as no surprise that something as loved and personal as reading should be turned into a competition among children (more personal). This unfortunate truth has followed me through the majority of my academic career turning literature into a job and annoyance. Much like many schools, my primary education required the logging of reading to ensure the students were spending some of their time enriching themselves rather than wasting it, according to the faculty. Being the competitive natured children we were, seeing who could read the most soon became the
I can’t exactly say that I remember learning to read. I was fortunate enough to have gone to a very good private school where reading and writing was taught in preschool and reinforced all throughout the elementary and middle school grades. Reading aloud in class was part of the daily curriculum, and because the school I went to was Catholic, we’d often read the readings in front of the entire school during our weekly Mass. I remember reading, but I don’t really remember the process of learning how to.
“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” –Dr. Seuss. Dr.Seuss could not be any more right. It is often said that once you find the right book, you could go anywhere. Literacy is one of the most important things that a child could ever learn. In order to succeed in society today, one must be able to read, write, speak and even listen. There has been great debate over the different approaches when it comes to teaching children how to read. This essay will go more in depth on both approaches, how the writer learned how to read, how the writer will teach their students how to read.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn the more places you’ll go,” says the famous author Dr. Seuss. In today’s culture though, many children spend great amounts of time staring at their personal devices or watching television. Children do not realize that reading provides a form of entertainment that proves not only educational but fun, too. Providing an exciting way to learn, books offer better entertainment than a movie, since books last longer than a movie because reading takes longer, as a result of this, they give more detail. Also, books grow the reader’s imagination because they allow the reader to envision the setting themselves. Whether through fairy tales, historical
Since I was a little girl, I have expressed a great interest in and love for reading. I know my love for reading is one of the reasons I became a teacher. I was excited to pursue a career where I could share my love of reading and books with my students. As I began student teaching, however, I realized not all children have had the same experiences as I have had with reading. Although I am not sure I want to be a literacy specialist, I chose the literacy Master’s Degree program because I wanted to help all children, especially struggling readers, develop a love for reading and become successful readers and writers. If I had not seen children struggle with reading, I am not sure if I would have ever chosen literacy for my Master’s program.
In conclusion, what I gained in this project is that children might actually like to be read if they would get exposed to different ways in literacy. Children enjoy reading not in the way is being taught, but at the way that could be used
Literature if used correctly can enhance a child’s life. It can become a valuable tool in helping children to understand their home, communities and the world in which they live. Through literature children’s vocabulary, imaginations, and self understanding is built. Children should be exposed to literature that is age appropriate and within the context of learning respect for themselves and others by the diversity of the books. My literature plan is based upon multicultural diversity which reinforces reading readiness, read-along that emphasis multicultural songs and rhymes, build self esteem through art, music and movement and responses to literature.
Reading for me has been a big improvement since my high school years. Back then, I did not like to read and I would avoid it at all cause. Obviously it would affect my grade but I just could not pick up the book and read. Now a days, I actually enjoy reading, and it all started when my son was small I used to read to him every night before bed, now I read to my daughter (my son does his own reading now). Once I got in the habit of reading I traded the TV for a book. I was very proud of myself when I actually finished the book and it encouraged me to continue to read. So I started taking trips with my kids to the local library. (Funny thing we all have a library card). I have read books that I would have never thought I would actually read. My reading has improved and I don’t have a lot a difficulty concentrating, just yesterday I was reading my history book in the cafeteria at COC.
I'm a passive reader that would love to be an active reader. I studies lecture notes and the
Reading is fundamental to function in the society. It is important because it develops the mind. Reading develops language skills and comprehension needed to meet the demands of everyday life. In the U.S., there are 45 million people functionally illiterate and reads below 5th grade level (Literacy Project Foundation, n.d.). Books, magazines, comics, newspapers, and resources from the internet are reading outlets wherein they are required the capacity to read and comprehend the content. Teachers are on a quest to find ways to motivate and inspire students to embrace the love of literacy. Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) sometimes known as Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) works so that students who read independently may show significant growth in their vocabulary development and reading comprehension (Cho & Krashen, 2001).
Students at younger ages have a keen interest in reading a writing. I want to help these interests by encouraging reading outside of school. Their skills will continue to improve and the students will be confident in this skill from working on it so much. Reading can also help the children extend their vocabulary and help spell words from remembering them in their books. I can push these interests more by having students read aloud and incorporating reading and writing into my lesson plans.