Angel Post #3

This post was born from a response to the "Why Read?" article that Sherri posted. It was my second time reading the article, and I had new insights from my own personal experiences. I felt a personal connection to the article in ways I hadn't had before. I wanted to share with my classmates why this article meant so much to me.

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Engaged Readers in this Class
PEACOCK, MELISSA
4/13/2011

My thoughts about this article immediately turn to my own engaged or unengaged reading for this class. I find that there is fine balance for me between engaged and unengaged reading when I am assigned the work. As many of you know, I took this class last quarter and am taking it again this quarter through a learning contract and with a new set of books. Last quarter I found that some of my unengaged reading for this class became engaged reading when I became interested in the book. I couldn't really pin down for which books this would happen...it simply came to be as I read the book.

The article also reminds me how important it is for me to read for pleasure outside of all my other school reading. I am a literature major, so though I am always reading for my classes, it is possible that I could earn my degree and develop a bit of distaste for reading. When I found this out about myself over the course of last quarter, I made up my mind to always be reading a book in addition to my assigned work. I have found that this keeps me an engaged reader in the book I am choosing, but it also makes me a more engaged reader in the things I am assigned. When I know I am reading something for the purpose of class but also have a good novel waiting for me later, I am more able to focus on my assigned reading!
I am very worried that we are raising a generation of unengaged readers. We are forcing kiddos to read certain books of our choosing and not allowing for much choice in the classroom. Children must develop a live for reading outside of their work else they won't carry on their reading habits after school. Reading is so important, but I think even more important is a child's ability to make what they are reading their own-to explore their own interests within the world of reading.

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RE: Engaged Readers in this Class
MOALA, MARIAH
4/19/2011

I think what you said about not being able to pin down which books you would be engage in until you started reading the book made sense, and this is how I feel when reading. Knowing this, I really thought "What is a Good Book" would help me out by givingme tips on how to recognize what books would be good for me and which wouldn't. But that reading just didn't make sense to me because it seemed like in order to know if a book was good or not, or if you would be interested in the book, you would have to read the book! Maybe this reading didn't make sense to me because I wasn't engaged! And I also feel like there is this new generation of unengaged readers because the way people are trying to get us engaged is to assign more reading, which is where the problem starts in the first place. I think a solution would be to allow students a bit of extra time to choose what they want to read, instead of choosing for them. This way kids can engage themselves in books instead of it trying to be forced upon them for an assignment.

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RE: Engaged Readers in this Class
SHUTT, CRYSTAL
4/13/2011

I think this has been an ongoing debate. How children are forced to read books they aren't interested in and how is squelches any love for reading. For me loving to read was taught outside of school. School certainly isn't an environment that fosters good feelings towards books. Even when kids get to choose a book they want to read they still have to give a book report or something equally annoying. Instead of reading for pleasure they end up reading for plot, characters etc. I wish I could think of a clever solution to this problem, but my only thought is that learning to read comes from home. But it isn't something that can be forced or else kids run screaming the other way.

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RE: Engaged Readers in this Class
NEVAREZ, MELISSA
4/13/2011

I really like and agree with your view on how we are bringing up an unengauged generation. When I read that in your post it made me think of my little brother who doesn't want anything to do with reading if he has a choice. I also like to read for pleasure on the side of my school work, but sometimes find it hard to fit the extra reading in with my busy life schedule.

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RE: Engaged Readers in this Class
NEAL, DANAE
4/13/2011

You're suggestion of reading a novel along with class readings is something that I have never thought of before. I'm going to try it!