Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Group 10-Lauren Fraser- Interest Inventory
"Does anyone ever read to you?" Sean's response, "No." This was one of the questions we had to ask in our Interest Inventory assessment. I was surprised when the student I was interviewing, Sean, answered with a flat out no to the question asking if anyone ever reads to him. What I thought was even more interesting was that Sean told me he does not like reading at all and he especially does not like reading aloud. I started to wonder whether or not Sean would enjoy reading more if he had a family member at home or a teacher that read aloud to him. What do you think about that? Do you think a persons success or enjoyment in reading depends on whether or not someone reads to them on a regular basis?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
This same concern came about when I was doing my interest inventory. My student also mentioned that nobody reads to her at home. She said her parents are too busy. I asked her if she ever read at home and she said she reads at night when she has time. She said she enjoys reading and I've observed her doing a lot of it in the classroom. Whenever she has extra down time in class she always has some type of short story or chapter book in her hands. Her favorite type of book to read is mystery books. I was also concerned of the lack of reading to the students by the teacher. I feel that children learn a great deal of how to properly pronounce words by listening to others read. If they are not being read to at home or in the classroom, where are they learning verbal reading skills? I think that if a person is read to on a regular basis they will be more engaged in reading books of their choice outside of what they are assigned to read. The more they read the stronger their literacy skills will be. So in the long run their success will be affected by the strength of their literacy.
I think it is essential that young children are read to and have reading materials of all kinds in their environment outside of school. Children are careful watchers and like to model behaviors that they observe. If they see others reading for information and pleasure they will regard reading as an accepted and expected behavior and probably be interested and anxious to learn to read. Reading to children or to anyone teaches listening skills which are very important to learn and develop.
As many of you have mentioned, I too have received the same response from many of my students. I think a big misconception that many parents have is that their children only need to be read to at a young age. Or perhaps it is that they believe their child is old enough to left alone. However, as many of us know, this is not the case. Today, structured family reading time is less prevalent in homes today due to the lack of time that many parents have to spend on reading/school work with their children. With this said, it appears to have an impact on the students with less investment on thier part. One thing my school has done to try and encourage reading at home with students is to host a family reading night once every quarter. Families are invited to come to the school with thier student and have a story read to them in a classroom or they may go into the library and check out books as a family. This is just one way that we as teachers can help promote literacy at home. It also demonstrates how redaing can be an activity for the whole family, and at any grade level. Developing a love of reading at home in my opinion is very important to a child's succes in reading, and while it does not necessarily predict how successful they will be, it definitely is a strong support for those students who have it.
My student, Dakota, had the exact same answer. He said nobody besides his teacher reads to him. The only time he reads outside of school is to make himself tired and to put him to sleep. Here is this child who just looks at reading as a sleeping tool. I'm sure he is not alone. I do believe if parents continued to read to their children that this would greatly help. Parents setting an example is something that unfortunately we cannot control or count on. One of our jobs is to provide motivation for children to WANT to read, and I do believe that by reading aloud and making it an entertaining experience can help.
This sounds like the whole nature v. nurture debate which will probably rage on until the end of time or possibly past the end of time. I definitely think that if a child is read to at home this can open the door to a love of literacy; however I believe there are many different kinds of people out there. While literacy is absolutely a cornerstone of life, learning, and society a person’s rationale for reading can and will vary. If a child is oriented towards a practical outlook on life then a child will love reading if it is a means to an end. If the parent realizes this and orients their joint literacy experience to this end the child will love reading. However if a child of this nature is reading books of poetry with their parents they might gain a basic understanding of this genre of literacy but never love it or truly appreciate it. My mother loves reading medical journals because she is a doctor and I love my mother and have a basic understanding of medical journals, but reading a medical journal is not a way I would spend a Sunday afternoon. In essence it’s all about knowing your child, fostering their interest, and using these interests to foster a love of literacy.
Post a Comment