The author cited findings from a 2007 Associated
Press poll that suggested that the average adult American read only four books
a year. Talk about your personal
experiences reading as an adult. What
are your feelings about reading and how do you express those feelings to your
students? Are you a good model for
reading?
Respond to two others:
As an adult, I will say that I read more when I worked with students in the elementary school, and read what they were reading in class. As a preschool teacher, I don't "have" to keep up with books, so I haven't been as much. I do enjoy reading kids' books like Jen Robinson, the industrial engineer. I also like reading mysteries, realistic fiction, and religious books.
ReplyDeleteI try to express excitement of books to the preschoolers. I feel like I am a good model, but since I am not the main preschool teacher, my teaching is somewhat limited. I can and do offer suggestions, and the topic of reading will come up soon! I am familiar with most of the books in the preschool classrooms, so I can identify with some of the preschoolers' interests.
I too have the same issue with the preschool age children in regards to not being the main teacher. I wish there was more emphasis on reading in the classrooms I attend.
DeleteI think by showing your love of reading and reading to the kids is showing excitement about books. Kids that begin to love books at a young age, usually continue to love books.
DeleteMy students know that I am an avid reader. I read 30-40 books a year, more in the summer. Students will often talk about a book and I will then read it, did the Hunger Games a few years ago, not something I would read but did because all the kids read them. I do try to stretch my reading and not always read the same type of books, am now reading for my book club, How Starbucks Saved My Life, a non fiction, easy read full of life lessons book. Books on tape have never been exciting to me, but have done some on my long trips, and really enjoyed them, they make the time go by quickly. So I encourage my students to read and we can discuss books we have both read.
ReplyDeleteI have read some books because my children read them. I wanted to make sure I knew what kind of material they were enjoying. I too liked the books.
DeleteI have also read books that my own children were interested in. It does help to know what they are reading, some "teen" books are really not for teens, they have too much adult content.
DeleteMy children enjoy listening to audio books when we travel but we always seem to get to the best parts when it is time to stop! SO we sometimes are in suspense for awhile.
DeleteI found that I had a harder time attending to an audiobook once I got one started. It seems like a good idea for commuters and when doing mundane tasks, guess it depends on whether you can "get into" the book.
DeleteWhen I don’t feel I have time to ‘read’ a book students suggest, I try to get the audio version so I can listen to it while driving or on the treadmill. I believe it lets students know I care about their opinion of a book when we can discuss it together. I also get audio books for students; they listen to the book while following along in the hard copy. Listening helps them hear the flow of the passage and they get the enjoyment of reading. With iTunes and iPods I can sync the book so they can listen to the book and yet other students will think they are listening to music.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I love to read! At times I feel rushed and overwhelmed and don’t take as much time to read for leisure as I would like. Since I try to read some of what the students are reading and can make suggestions for their reading, I do think I am a fair role model. I know I could improve, but I honestly feel guilty if I am reading while they are reading. I feel like I should be listening to them read or reading with them.
Jerrie,
DeleteI am curious about how you sync a book. Does that mean you pay 99cents for a book then the kids listen as they follow along in paper version like books on tape?
Jerrie I have the same problem of feeling guilty when I'm reading while my students are reading. Some of the teachers in our grade school have implemented the Daily 5 which encourages teachers to read while the students are so that you are modeling the appropriate behavior.
DeleteI like to read but do not make the time during the school year. After reading this chapter, I guess I had better make the time. I enjoy reading and read a lot in the summer. For the past few summers, I have read about 5 books and they were not short! Several of them had 500-700 pages. I feel reading is very powerful to improve language skills, vocabulary, and one's creativity. I feel I am a role model to my language students as I read to them almost daily. I use book units to teach language and oral listening comprehension skills. I also use books when working with articulation. I always have books out in my room for students to look at or read if that is a choice during my short sessions. I incorporate books in my articulation sessions to practice carryover of sounds. I am excited about the books I have chosen to use with the students. Next year, I am going to let the students choose!
ReplyDeleteDeanna,
DeleteGood for you for reading to your students almost daily! There is so much you can do with literature for vocabulary, speech and language, and the modeling. When we show excitement as teachers when we read and share books with our students, the excitement can ccarry over to the students quite easily.
I do better during the summer months than during the school year at reading for my own enjoyment. During the summer I read books all the time at the pool while the boys are swimming and I can stay up late at night to finish a book that I have dove into and not have to worry about morning LOL. During the school year I usually have a book I am reading but my time is more divided with work and my own two boys with their reading. Time is limited. At school I try and have picture books that I read to go along with the weeks theme to read to my pull-out students to model reading to them. At home with my own boys we share read tons especially for my oldest boy as he has not found the love of reading yet so he feels it is not all up to him and he sees it as a team effort and I can try and model fluency and such when we read. For my youngest as he is just learning to read I can model and help with sounding out of words.
ReplyDeleteAmy,
DeleteI too take advantage of those summertime non-school nights when I can read as long as I choose. It is tough to fit personal reading in when juggling a family.
I will be honest I just read for informational use then once I have read what I wanted to know then I am finished. I always wished I would take a book out in the summer days and enjoy sun while reading but the good intentions never work.
DeleteAmy I also read more during the summer than I do during the school year. My 9 yr old doesn't like reading, he sees it more as something he has to do insted of something he wants to do. I hope this changes.
DeleteAmy, It sounds like you are being a really good role model for you own kids. I like what you said about about wanting your son to feel it it's a team approach so he doesn't feel like the burden is all on him since he hasn't developed a love for reading yet. Hopefully, at some point he will read that one book that really grabs him.
DeleteI, too, take advantage of reading during the summer months when I don't have to get up quite so early! It's so much easier then!! :) I like your idea of the team approach to reading with your son. I think that would be a good approach to reading with my own son as well. Thanks for sharing it!!
DeleteI read all the time with my children when they were little. When they got older and more independent, we stopped reading together. I have a hard time sitting still to read now. I just can't shut my head off to other things I could be doing or should be doing. I have not been much of a model to my children or to students over the years. I sometimes even shared my frustrations with my own reading with students and it helped us bond a little because we had something in common. I am in the car so much that I do listen to books on cd. I can usually get into that pretty well but I go in spurts. My children do not read much for enjoyment now - I wish I could have been a better model - but it just hasn't been my go to thing. So glad to see all you teacher readers out there who are modeling the love of reading in front of our students!!!
ReplyDeleteShelly,
DeleteI read a lot to my kids when they were younger as well. Once they begin reading themselves, we quit reading together, even though they would probably enjoy it! My daughters read more than me now, and are always asking me, "Mom, have you read this book?" Most of the time, my answer is, "No." I haven't been much of a model reader in their growing up years, but they both enjoy reading a lot. Don't be hard on yourself for not modeling reading at home!
Shelly- I also read every night to my kids as they were relaxing for bed. When my kids were little I didn't realize what we could have talked about in a book we mainly just read the story and talked about it. I think if I had to do it over again I would have done things differently and definitely stressed books as important.
DeleteI think I read so much more with my oldest when he was younger then I do with my boys now. I've been trying to figure out how I can institute a family reading time to encourage everyone to read. I think that may be one of my summer projects...getting everyone to read, to talk about what they are reading, and to make it an important part of our daily life. Wish me good luck everyone! :)
DeleteI read alot more than 4 books a year! I always have a book at home that I am reading and like the author I books waiting to be read. My own children see me reading alot probably more than my classroom students. At school it can be difficult to find time to read for pleasure. Most of my reading at school consists of text books for my college classes or book studies. However this time of year during state assessments I get to read more than usual. While my students are reading the passages silently I am behind them doing my own reading.(I will stop and read the questions to them of course). But I find I have more time to read since they are on my computer testing and I have to be quiet! In my reading class we read books that both I think they will enjoy and the books the students have chosen so you could say that is also for pleasure even though there is an academic aspect to it. This year I am not teaching to the test since it does not count for AYP and I can tell my students are enjoying the reading class more.
ReplyDeleteyes, taking the testing element away reduces the pressure and increases the pleasure, potentially! Maybe, just maybe, we can begin emphasizing teaching - not testing - and get our students hooked on learning and loving to read, whatever the text type.
DeleteI am always looking things up in front of my students. Throughout the day I read and write notes back and forth to teachers or paras. I believe this shows kids that reading and writing has a functional purpose. I also constantly look things up on google images to explain vocabulary students don't know or reference spelling or definitions on dictionary.com. Overall, I use reading as a tool to constantly learn something new, answer questions or curiosity, or enhance knowledge about a subject. I think as a role model, I demonstrate that no one knows everything; even adults are constantly learning. If need to know about something, then a person can look it up and learn about it.
ReplyDeleteI have observed both types of teachers the author talks about----the ones who teach from the inside out and the ones who teach from the outside in. I can imagine the teacher that mostly teaches by skillwork thinking he/she does it right. Wouldn't she just gasp in disbelief if she knew all the time and energy she put into group skill work was outdone by that teacher who believed in the "intellectual and emotional journey" of experiencing reading without as much time and energy.
I also think after reading this chapter that I should reread some childhood favorites to analyze and experience those favorite books again. So here we come Harriet the Spy, the first one my all-time favorite list!
Both of my children were into Junie B. Jones books when they were in the lower elementary grades, I enjoyed them with my kids!!
DeleteAs an adult I read more for information and don't read alot for enjoyment. Working with preschool I use modeling of the basic skills such as book handling skills, picture walks, viewing the letters and words within the book, and talking about the author and illustrator.
ReplyDeleteWe also use books for home visits to work on increasing vocabulary especially for ESL students and express that books are used for many purposes in the learning process.
I can identify with what you said about not reading much for enjoyment. Even though I love to read and teach reading, most of my reading is for information purposes. The crazy thing is that I don't feel like I have time to devote to reading because there are so many other urgent things waiting to be done. But yet, when I reflect on the time in my life that I read the most, it was when my children were young. Surely now that my children are grown I should have more time to read. I guess that I am just not placing a high enough priority on reading for pleasure.
DeleteI try to read to my students daily. Even if its just a few pages. They reallly seem to like it and its neat to see how they then try to change their voices while they read also. I read to my own children every night. My four year old and I read two books every night, which she loves to
ReplyDelete"read" a book to me as well. My nine year old and I read together at least a chapter every night. I myself read more in the summer than I do during the school year. I find that making sure my own kids get what they need finished and working on my stuff I just don't feel like I have the time.
I love to read and I express that to my students frequently, but I guess I feel like a hypocrite because I don't feel like I do enough of it myself. I do read tons of informational text, but not much just for the pure pleasure of reading a good book. Last year I did read several young adult books, but I didn't read them for me, I read them for school. I guess it's time that I assess my priorities to see if I can't give up something else of less value in favor of finding time to read.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I think that I am one of those adults who if asked, I would say I only read a few books a year. I love reading, but find it difficult to find time in my daily routine to sit down and read. I always read way more during the summer because I don't have as many of the daily demands and work to deal with. I don't feel like I'm as good as a reading model for my own personal kids as I am in my classroom. That makes me kinda sad when I think about it. As a teacher, I read or listen to a story everyday with my students. As a mom, I put reading off. I have been trying to figure out a way to institute a family reading time. I have decided that this is a summer project that I will work on. It is a goal of mine to have reading be fun for my boys and something that they will enjoy for life.
ReplyDeleteI read as much as time allows or when I have a book to read. Sometimes I don't have anything readily available. I like the author talked about the two types of reading for knowledge and for enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteI think that I read for both.