Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Why I Read...
Since I was a child, I have loved reading. I do not get to read for enjoyment as often now, but I'm currently reading three books when time allows and listening to a book on tape when I go to work at the dairy. From 8th grade until I went to college, I read 132 books. I recorded the books I read in each school year and summer. I love to read fiction novels. I read a lot of Anita Stansfield and Nicholas Sparks. I also read any books that my husband's cousin writes. Check her books out at www.kearytaylor.com. In school, I loved reading when we got time to read our own books. I didn't mind reading anything that was assigned. In high school, the only book I did not finish reading as assigned was Pride and Prejudice. I love the movie, but I just couldn't get through the book. I didn't like the negative, whiny tone of the book. I read books almost every night as a kid. Sometimes my mom would take away my books for a little while because I wasn't getting enough sleep because I was up reading. I read the 5th Harry Potter book in 2.5 days. My family, especially my grandma and cousins, encouraged me to read the Harry Potter books. My mom and church leaders encouraged me to the Book of Mormon. I've read it most nights since I was 8. Church leaders also encouraged me to read the Bible and other scriptures. Sometimes I really don't like reading scriptures because they are boring and hard to understand, other times I become so happy after reading.
From my experiences, I can help my students find joy in reading. I actually do not read much in the field of agriculture. Sometimes articles about agriculture interest me and I read those. I should start reading more about agriculture so I can be an example to my students of an interested reader of agriculture topics. I quite enjoy reading fact sheets from the extension website when I need or want to learn new things. I can definitely encourage my students to love reading, not matter what it is. I will also encourage them to learn through listening to books on tape. I want to foster a climate in my classroom that allows students to enjoy reading. From my experience with my mom taking my books, I want my students to know that there is a time for reading and a time to do other things. In my 9th grade English class, two boys who sat next to me read the entire class period every day with the teacher's permission. I want my students to be engaged in the lesson. If they enjoy reading so much, I can give them my notes for the day and they can read along as I teach. I could also assign students research projects to read about subjects they are interested in and apply it to agriculture. I will use the reading comprehension strategies we've learned in class to help my students get more out of what they read and feel confident in their reading abilities.
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Hey Ashley, sounds like we are pretty similar in our love of reading. It's so sad when we don't have as much to read the things that we love because other things take precedence. I know what you mean about it being difficult to read things in your field. Music can sometimes be an area that difficult to find a good read, but it's for sure possible. I love that you want to encourage your students to read. It's so important to them now, but also in their future. It's how we continue learning and growing whether it be intellectually, spiritually or recreationally. Keep up the great work and ideas. I know that you will be a fantastic teacher with all the passion that you have for your field.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually some research that suggests that participation in religion often really supports literacy because a lot of religious texts (e.g., the King James Bible) are written at a very difficult level. Students who familiar tackling that can tackle almost anything.
ReplyDeleteI may have told you this before, but I know that my ag students have interviewed Dr. Warnick in the past and he has said that he kept agriculture magazines in his classroom, and his students just started to read them without being asked. I think that just having these texts available will make a big difference.
Thanks for your posting!