Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Group 3 - # 2 reading for enjoyment
By high school I hated to read on my own, but always read the assigned novel for lit. class. It is the only time I would have read what are considered great novels and I usually enjoyed reading them. Do you think assigning novels to read in upper elementary school discourages reading for pleasure or does it increase their enjoyment of reading by exposing them to types of books they would not chose on their own? should we let students chose their own novels to read, as in a reading workshop, or should we keep assigning novels to expose them to new, different kinds of novels?
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5 comments:
My best friend in high school, especially in English Lit Class, was Mr. Cliffs Notes. Without Cliffs, I would have never gotten so much sleep during my classes before lunch. Looking back, I missed out on so many classics; most regrettingly, Shakespeare. That was some great sleep, though.
That being said, I think it is hard enough to get kids to read at all, let alone convincing them to read assigned books, even if they are considered Classics. I do like the suggestion of a reading workshop. Exposure to new things can lead to greatness.
There are many ways to get kids motivated to read. When they are younger (like K-2) it is easier because they want to be like the adults they love. As they get older, things become more challenging to get students to read. In my classroom we use the pizza reward system and the school has the AR reward lanyards. The pizza system is set up with Pizza Hut and the teacher sets the goal (because I work with 4th graders, our goal is 10 chapter books at their level). Once the student meets the goal, they get a free personal pizza. I’m not a huge far of the AR system because I think it is easy to not read the books and still pass the tests, so it is not really promoting reading or comprehension, but the kids seem to like it and want to get as many lanyards as possible. Another key I have found in motivating readers of older grades is to pick books that center around their interests. There are so many books out there that are fun to read and we should be exposing the students to all of them, not just the classics.
I think a combination of both approaches would be most effective. By assigning a book, you can use your expertise and knowledge of your class to pick something well written, with a well-developed plot, that most of the kids will probably enjoy. I think most teachers have a good idea of which chapter books will create good discussion and lesson ideas. Choosing the books also gives you the advantage of selecting texts that will pair well with other subjects and topics in your curriculum.
When you let students choose the books, they will probably end up reading something of greater interest to them. The drawback is that they may stay in the same genre or theme instead of branching out and trying something new. Letting them choose something of interest usually encourages reading for fun and that is extremely important.
As a hybrid approach, I've seen teachers who select four or five different books for the class that are all similar in subject and reading level. Then they let the kids choose from those books, first come, first serve. When you use a technique like this, you give them some freedom of choice, but you are able to guide the process so that whole group discussions on a particular topic are still possible. Additionally, you expose the students to three or four books they may choose to read on their own later because they're interest has been piqued by their peers or classroom discussion.
I think exposure to new literature is always a good idea. I think teachers should model for their students. If a teacher is excited about reading then it may spark an interest in students. I think elementary should be about exploring. I wouldn't assign novels to the higher elementary grades but I would suggest them and possibly read them aloud to the class. If I read a chapter book that is interesting to my students then maybe they will consider reading other chapter books.
There are some classics like “Moby Dick” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that not only are a great novel but also reflect on American life and historical events or points of view that are very important to continue to teach. Assigning a novel to students without giving them a choice ie; mystery, adventure etc. could cause them to become disinterested and then they could lose interest in reading anything.
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