Read Some More!
It’s that time of the year again, when as educators we ask students to read, read and read again during the summer. We ask our students to read several books and even do book reports and return the book reports the first week of school. For the most part, some students wait until a week before school reopens. Then they try to read book/s in one week, not to mention complete the book report. Ten chances to one, they are not done properly and the point of reading through the summer to encourage learning is missed totally. How can we as educators motivate students to read more during the summer and, as it were, enjoy reading? It saddens me when I heard a student say recently that he couldn’t wait until the end of the school year because he knows that his teacher will give him a book report and he will throw his hands in the air (along with the book) and let his book report directions fly away as he lifts his hands showing his happiness.
Like everything else, we are motivated to do things we enjoy and will want to do them because they make us happy and they won’t be drudgery. One of the things that came to mind is what young Marley Dias initiated. She is an author and public speaker and the youngest member of Forbes’ “30 Under 30.” She started a campaign called #1000blackgirlbooks because she was frustrated that she hadn’t read books in school featuring black children who are main characters and were written by black authors. Marley loves reading and has always loved reading and wants to encourage students to love reading as well and not see it as a form of punishment. Through her initiative students can be exposed to books where the characters resemble them and hence can identify with and feel confident in themselves. I intend to be a part of that initiative by buying some of those books for the students I work with and include books of Latino origins as well. The primary aim is simply to encourage students to read at whatever cost.
I recently read an article about a librarian who had a custom made book bike filled with 250 pounds of books and cycles all over the city of San Pedro. Her aim is to introduce people to reading and how much fun it can be. See article below. Through this awesome program, the librarian has given away 5,000 books to many readers of varying ages. This librarian aimed at “introducing people to the magic of reading.” I have found that many of the students with whom I work, are not even members of the library. They would rather play video games than read! I also spoke with another adult who thinks that libraries are unnecessary, because I-pads and phones are at our fingertips. Of course, I do know that even though electronic devices are at our fingertips, there are still some people who do not have access to electronic devices and need to use the library. Or what if the electronic devices are not working, then going to the library would serve as a big help to fill the gap.
This school year after seeing some students in the third grade read aloud to a dog. I decided to read more about the benefits of students reading aloud to dogs. I discovered that since most students like dogs, that reading to dogs could help improve the students’ reading skills by reading in an atmosphere that is relaxed. This relaxed atmosphere helps calm them. Reading to dogs can also help to decrease the stress of reading aloud since the dogs are not talking back or ridiculing them. This definitely could improve the students’ self esteem, boost the students’ self-confidence and also encourage them to read more. I did notice also that the dog that was being read to was very calm and was trained to be around students. The students also looked forward to spending time with the dog and really enjoyed reading to the dog. It was evident that they would miss this activity one day per week. One of the students even asked the dog owner if they (the dog and its owner) would return in fall when they were in the fourth grade. In the meantime, I was encouraging my second graders to read more so they can practice to read to the dog in third grade. I felt that it would motivate them to read more and then when they get to third grade they would be more comfortable reading. As educators, we have to do as much as we can to encourage students to be life long readers; after all, reading is everywhere and today’s readers become tomorrow’s leaders!
Work Cited
https://abc7.com/education/librarian-pedals-with-books-on-mission-to-gather-young-readers/1357968/