Reading, A Thing of the Past?

By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins

Reading takes you places; unfortunately, as a little girl my trips were limited because I didn’t enjoy reading as much as I should. Why didn’t I like to read? Maybe I didn’t have books I like to read or maybe I was, dare I say, forced to read books that weren’t interesting to me. Or maybe I had no reading role models. But thank goodness, whatever the reason, I started developing an interest in reading when I saw my peers reading the Nancy Drew series. I wanted to fit in! It is safe to say that students who are encouraged, motivated to read, and taught how to read, will read.
As an educator, who works with students who are at risk learners, I encourage and teach students how to read and love reading. I am reflecting on the growth and improvement that I have seen over the last nine months of school and wonder what will happen after the summer months of no reinforcement. Research shows that summer reading loss grows over time and by middle school, some children who lose reading skills over the summer have accumulated a two-year lag behind their classmates. Most times the ball is in the parents’/guardians’ court to encourage and pass on the reading baton during the summer. The parents are often times not good reading role models, therefore the students’ reading fall by the wayside. As a child, I used to look forward to the summertime and the exciting outdoor games and activities. Part of the fun would be to read a book and do book reports for my aunts who were teachers.
Of course, there are the critics who think that reading is dying because with improved technology, reading physical books is unnecessary due to tablets. But what about those in other parts of the world who have no tablets or technology? Is it acceptable for them not to read? Are the uses of libraries dying? In some towns/places libraries have computers that members of the library can go and play games. Coincidentally, those are the same people, who, if they had computers at home, would opt to play games instead of finding a book to read or even use the tablets to read.
It’s interesting how through reading, I learned to visualize things and places, because I understood later as I got the opportunity to travel, I was able to see places that I read about and appreciated how wonderful the authors painted the pictures whether through figures of speech or imagery. Thanks to reading I could smile and think about the authors’ magic use of words, the figurative language used and I understood how their word choice helped to enhance the stories. I knew that reading was important and special. It also encourages me even more to emphasize the importance of reading to my students. Reading, without a doubt, broadens my horizon and I will try to find opportunities to reinforce that to parents of the students I meet.

Ten Reasons We Should Read Daily

• Mental Stimulation
• Stress Reduction
• Knowledge
• Vocabulary Expansion
• Memory Improvement
• Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills (Develops Higher Order Thinking)
• Improved Focus and Concentration
• Better Writing Skills
• Tranquility
• Free Entertainment
In general, it can be assumed that the value of reading is being reduced. For me, reading has made a positive change to my education and I know it can make a difference to students I encounter. Even though reading seems to be competing with technology and other gaming activities, it still makes a difference in education – it helps with students’ success. Hard to believe especially since the tests are being done on computers and students are required to read questions on the computer.
I do find that my favorite book, the Bible, has something to say and I relate it to reading “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feed on trash!” Proverbs 15:14. I hope most people will incorporate reading in their daily lives so we can feast our minds. Happy Reading as it really drives learning and transforms lives!!