Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Reading for Pleasure?
During high school I lost my love for reading because I was constantly forced to read books that were not of my interest. I would read them because I had to, and begin to forget how I enjoyed reading. I began to look at reading like a chore, and only read when I absolutely had to. The year before I came to college I began to enjoy reading again. I had alot of free time and found myself reading a good book whenever I was just hanging out. I realize that whenever I don't have other things going on I pick up reading again. This year I have many books to read for my classes, and have no time to read books for my personal enjoyment. I can only hope that I don't begin to dislike reading as I did before, because it really is an enjoyable thing to do. This made me wonder if kids in school feel the same way. When there just simply not enough time to sit down and read a book you begin to forget how nice it really is. I think that teachers should incorporate books that would interest there students into lessons early on. If children were about to read books that they enjoy, as well as learn from them, then they would enjoy reading alot more. Bud, Not Buddy is a good book for children because it teaches children about history and it also allows them to enjoy the story. They story draws on many different emotions which would keep a kid interested. I really liked the style of writing in the book also. If a kid was reading this book they would be able to put themselves in Bud's shoes and imagine his journey. Even though it was a children's book I found myself reading more for pleasure than a chore. I used the book as a break from my other homework because I found myself wanting to keep turning the pages. The more a child enjoys a book the more they will learn from it.
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I found that a similar thing happened to me. I love reading for pleasure but have not had much time to do it since high school. The increased work load and extra curricular activities made it difficult to find time to read anything other than what was assigned. College only made it worse. Not only an increase work load but a job (or two) leave very little free time, and, what socially acceptable college student reads for fun?
ReplyDeleteIn high school, my teachers would usually have one project a year where you were able to pick your own book and do a report of some form on it. When this would happen I was able to find a book I enjoyed and thus finish my book long before most people started theirs. This made me realize I still love to read, I just need the time.
YES! I agree. In high school, there were so many books I was forced to read and on top of that in my AP Lit class senior year, my teacher would have us do a pleasure read. However, I never had time for that and quickly became overwhelmed. I was reading for the quiz, paper, or grade and didn't enjoy any of it. Looking back, it was cool that my teacher allowed us to use personal books for assignments but this was on top of our required reading. I think even in elementary classrooms, teachers should try to incorporate lessons where students can pick out their own books and maybe they will not lose their love for reading like we both did :(
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