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This conversation is dear to my heart. I'm sitting here with my son as we are both sick today :( He is in the 8th grade. I just asked him if he likes to read and he said, "Yes, as long as it's a good book." I asked him how he feels about reading the things he is asked to read in class. He is bored by the required readings in class and has the habit of skimming to answer reading comprehension questions/essays. My son is an A student and has already learned to play the reading comprehension game. What sparked his love of reading was our bedtime stories and our frequent visits to libraries and bookstores (1-3x per week). This is in addition to the books that I bring home from work (I'm an elementary school librarian) and the books he checks out in his own school library.
When he was little, he loved "Garfield" and "Calvin and Hobbes" comic books. It's funny how the vocabulary in those two series motivated him to use the dictionary on his own. He then graduated to "Pearls Before Swine". Back then, he said he had a teacher who required that his independent reading book must have at least 40-50 words per page. He counted the words in the comic book and amazingly it did! She grudgingly allowed him to continue to read comics...later making a "no comic book" rule.
He also read every "Goosebumps" book ever written. I still remember when he asked if he he could read "The Color Purple" when he was in 3rd grade. I never discouraged him from reading anything he was curious about. He began reading, asked questions, lost interest, and moved on to another book. Now that he is reading this, I suspect he will pick up "The Color Purple" and try again.
We still read together nightly (sometimes picture books, sometimes comic books, sometimes chapter books). I never expected him to love reading as a result of going to school...which is sad. I witness how the love of reading is being killed in the classroom and through the homework process. I don't know what the solution is. I do my part by introducing different genres and keeping the readaloud alive. This year I also stress that we are reading all the time (audiobooks, comics, blogs, internet articles/info, game manuals, cereal boxes, billboards, etc.). I know that my students struggle with language and vocabulary (90% English Language Learners) and they need to learn specific comprehension strategies. I hope we find the balance before they give up on the idea of loving reading.
Teaching the love of learning and literacy and the skill of the work do not need to exist in our classrooms as conflicting goals. Your stories, and these wonderful conversations that have emerged move us closer to the goal we all seek: competent, strategic, and passionate readers!
And it´s important, that parents mind that...
I agree. The language experience that comes from reading aloud, reading to children, and talking about reading with one another is immeasurable. Even more reasons to keep this important conversation going!