High school was very much a social scene and that is how I looked at it. Of course I cared about my grades and did the best I could, but I did it with putting forth the least amount of effort possible that would still get me a good grade. This being said, I resorted to using spark notes and relying on my friends to tell me what happened in novels that were assigned in class. I lost my love for reading because it took so much time and effort. I kept myself really busy in high school by playing sports, participating in other school activities, and hanging out with my friends. My friends and sports were very important to me so I would often put of reading in order to go to a friend’s house or watch a sports game on television. This definitely did not help me develop good habits for college.
Now that I am in my second year of college, I am kicking myself over losing my love of reading. Reading is such an important aspect of succeeding in college and now I am struggling to the maximum. I have gotten better at forcing myself to read and hardly ever resort to spark notes anymore, which was a big step for me. Instead I do everything I can to finish novels from cover to cover, no matter how long it takes me. This semester is definitely going to be a challenge for me though, because I am taking an English class along with TE 348.
My English class requires me to read 11 novels and all in a very short period of time. I was very excited for this TE class until I realized that I will be reading roughly 15 novels all in one semester, along with readings for my other classes. I think I would enjoy this class much more if I was not taking these two classes at the same time, but I hope I still get the same enjoyment out of it as I think I would if I were taking it solo. I am also hoping to use this semester to enhance my reading skills and hopefully get back into the groove of at least, “liking” reading.
I am on the exact same page as you. When I was younger I also loved reading, I used to read at the dinner table because i just never wanted to put my book down. I even loved writing books,in elementary school I wrote a book my teacher ended up sending it to this contest and i got 2nd place.The same thing happend to me once I reached highschool, sports and friend both became more important to me then reading a book. Although I did still read a good book of my choice over the summers. I am also in my second year of college and now recovering from sparks notes. I'm glad to hear that someone is feeling exactly how I am.
ReplyDeleteI saw this and had to comment on it. I used to LOVE to read as a child. I was part of the advanced reading group and enjoyed reading challenging books. I would spend hours at the library reading everything from books about London, to Little Women. As I moved up in grades and the reading became more required, and lengthy, it pushed me away from reading. My mom would make us read for at least 30 mins every night and I would dread it. It's sad to think how much I enjoyed to learn about new things and the places reading could take me. Even to this day, I try to sit down with a good book, and enjoy it like I used to, but it still is not the same. I'm glad we are all in the same boat!
ReplyDeleteTori I totally agree with you! As a child reading was one of my favorite pastimes, I could read multiple novels in one day depending on how good they were. I would sit in my room on the weekends and not play with my dolls, or watch TV, but I would be reading one of the many books I owned as a child. Reading was and still is a major thing for me but with a little twist.
ReplyDeleteI also thought as I continued to age I would still have a passion for reading. My story changed a little because I do still love to read BUT I mostly enjoy reading for my leisure with no problems but when it comes to readings for a class I procrastinate and try to put them off as long as I can. I cant seem to find the motivation for assigned readings which I am working on for sure as being apart of this class it will harm me if I do not read. For I am working on becoming more discipline as well when it comes to reading for classes as well so I wish you luck because I know first hand that it is not an easy task to master. ☺
I agree completely. I used to love reading when I was younger. In elementary school we always had contests to see which class could read the most books in a period of time. I think that had a big impact on my love for reading because there was always an incentive to read. Also I was always reading books that I wanted to read, rather than books I was forced to read. Once I got to middle school and high school I realized that reading wasn't always going to be fun. The books we were required to read for classes were boring, and generally for educational purposes only. In the first few years of high school I quickly learned about spark notes. I realized how much easier it was to read a quick summary of a book, rather than taking the time to read the whole book. My grades didn't suffer because I got the general idea of the information we needed to know, but I regret taking the easy way out. In many of my classes in college they reference back to books we read in high school which I don't remember because I skimmed them. Although many of the books I have to read for classes such as history are boring, I have learned to enjoy them because they enrich my knowledge of things I am learning about. Although I have lost my love for reading and I am not the fastest reader, I am starting to enjoy reading again. This time it's not just for my personal pleasure, but for learning.
ReplyDeleteI also loved reading as a child. Instead of playing outside and doing what
ReplyDeletekids enjoy, I was the kid who laid in the bed with a book and snacks. Even today I am the same way, but when it comes to reading for class it's a totally different story. I can read for my pleasure all the time and finish a book within hours, but when it's time for me to read for class I can't stay focus and it takes me forever. This is a problem that I am currently trying to fix. Majority of my classes require a lot of reading and I hate the fact that it is hard for me to complete all of the reading while actually understanding it, but if you give me something I will enjoy the book would be complete in no time.
I can really relate to this also. As a child, it is exciting to read and something new. The books take us to a different place. We read for the purpose of entertainment, not because we are being forced to read books that we do not like. Slowly, as we get older we must read every type of book in school. We read books required for classes in English, math books and science books. Reading starts to loose its value as being apart of entertainment. It looses it enjoyment when you have to read certain books for classes and no longer have the time to read for the enjoyment of it. The more I am required to read for class, the less I want to read outside of school. Reading not longer sounds fun. I also started using spark notes in high school and it has continued into my college years. Teachers often times assign so much reading it is too much to handle. It would really like to start reading for enjoyment again.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to post on this because I thought I related a lot your post. When I was younger I would read so many books and I would get really excited when I would finish one and could move on to a new one. As I got to High school I made less time for reading and focused more on going on the computer and watching TV. I now wish that I had continued reading many books on my own. During the Summer I try to catch up on reading for pleasure as much as I can but during the school year I find it nearly impossible. Since I am an education major with a focus on English there is so many books that need to be read for my classes that I hardly have time to read a book of my choosing. It’s interesting to see that many people feel this way too.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else I can relate to this also. As a kid i would get excited to read something new even though i would always go back to my favorites. We start off by reading for entertainment and because we enjoy reading because its what our parents do and at one time we all wanted to be our parents. But now, as we get older we are required to read certain books such as English books, math books and science books. This is when i stopped reading for enjoyment and pleasure because there just was not enough hours in a day. I no longer think of reading as being fun i think of it as homework, or a job. Someone above mentioned spark notes and i too started in high school and continue to use it now. Schools want us to be involved in things outside of school yet be a good student, with playing 2 high school sports and conditioning year around there is no way i could stay health, by getting sleep and eating meals, if i didn't use spark notes because there was just a huge amount of reading that was required. I'm glad yet disappointed that many other people feel that same way that i do about reading a book of our choosing.
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