I was just talking with my reader daughter last night and thought it might be blog worthy. Especially since it is something I would love some input on. Thoughts? I feel a little like the church lady on SNL. I'm going to give you a topic then talk amongst yourselves.
The topic - reading; in relation to being a reader for fun as a child and then later into adulthood. For years I have noticed a decline in students who are excited about the book order and fewer and fewer are purchasing books from our monthly order. This year it has reached an all time low of one student. ONE student orders from our book order. So what's the deal? Are kids not reading for fun at home anymore?
I try very hard to encourage students to learn to love reading. I try to share everything about myself as a reader and books that I enjoy. I try to read with them when we have our free reading time and I try to read every book that they recommend. I have reading challenges and we read books together. We laugh over the funny parts and talk about how the sad or scary parts suck. Over the years I have had many students tell me that they didn't like reading until they came to my class and now they love to read. I'm not bragging, because that is definitely changing.
Personally, I read quite quickly. When the students ask me to read a book, I try to get it read that day or maybe in a couple of days. Again, I'm not bragging and I tell the students that I'm not showing off. As I tell the kiddos, I wasn't BORN a good reader. I became one because I read. A lot. I'd love to say that I was motivated to become a better reader because I was all about improving myself. The truth was that my childhood was the roadmap for success towards becoming a reader. I grew up with a mother who read and read a lot. I grew up with a family that supported my going to the library and checking out books (because my mom was there checking out books too). My parents always supported me buying new books at the school book fair and those monthly Scholastic book orders. But it was more than that...
I'm not afraid to tell my students that there is a HUGE reason that I was a reader that just can't be replicated in today's society. I had an amazing childhood. I grew up on a farm on a single lane dirt road. We had 3 channels on TV and when the president was on, he was on all 3 channels. We were miles and miles from any of my classmates and my parents weren't going to be running me around constantly. The internet wasn't invented yet. Movies had to be checked out at the library or the Kwik Trip in town and were played on VHS tapes. We owned one Atari console with around 10 games and a few board games. We also had decks of cards, but being the youngest child by 7 and 10 years respectively, my siblings weren't about to sit around playing games with their annoying little sister. Communication came via snail mail or the telephone that you shared with the entire family and was attached to the wall with a cord. When it rained outside or was cold or going to play outside was not an option, reading it was.
Reading allowed me to be in a different world or a different time. I could be a race horse trainer alongside Alec Ramsey or a pioneer surviving the grasshopper plague with Laura Ingalls Wilder. I could be a kid hiding in WWII with Anne Frank or a teen at Sweet Valley High. Judy Blume taught me so much about being a good person and I cried along with every character that had some tragic life incident written by Lurlene McDaniel. How do we get kids to fall in love with reading when their new, fast paced, flickering screens lives are so much easier and more exciting?
I don't know the answer. I know there are some amazing new books being written every year. In the past couple of years students have recommended some series to me like Wings of Fire, Among the Hidden, Keeper of the Lost Cities and Gregor the Overlander just to name a few. I never had to assign minutes to my kids when they were younger but maybe I should have? Or maybe I should have limited screen time more? Libby, just a few years older than Sophie, grew up learning to love to read and still reads for enjoyment today. Sophie never fell in love with books or reading, despite my best efforts. Did I fail her as a parent or are we failing our kids as a society? What will happen when they don't learn the joy of picking up a book and escaping to another reality? What will happen when they don't learn how to tune out their fast paced world and tune into the world of reading? What will happen when they aren't exposed to new and more creative scholarly vocabulary and their vocabulary consists of Tik Tok slang? What will happen when they can't read the news and only rely on short clips of edited videos or memes as "news"?
It truly scares and saddens me. I'm going to keep doing my best to get students hooked on good books. What else can I do? Talk amongst yourselves (aka- share ideas in the comment section).
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