I was never really a fan of reading books until high school when I started to read biographies and autobiographies. In high school I was very interested in music, bands, and the music industry and I started reading Alternative Press, a magazine that had a lot of articles and interviews with bands and musicians I liked at the time. In reading those articles I was fascinated by the lives of these musicians and eventually I came across The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx's autobiography. For some reason I was so intrigued reading his story of his rise, demise, and comeback. After reading his autobiography I read several more from other musicians from the same time period. I also started reading autobiographies of athletes after reading Kicking Up Dirt, Ashley Fiolek's autobiography which told about her life as a deaf, female professional motocross racer. Reading books about people and their lives, struggles, and successes made me passionate about reading.
I also love to read for the purpose of learning new things, I like to know random facts. If I wonder about something or I don't understand something, I have to find out the answer and that is where most of my reading stems from. I read a lot of online articles, brochures, fliers, really anything with information printed on it. I read the packages for almost everything that I come across. My desire to learn knew things fuels my passion for reading and makes it enjoyable and not the strenuous task I used to see it as.
I think reading is something that everyone does and learns to love for their own reasons, I did not always love reading but I learned to. Reading can be enjoyable for everyone once they find what interests them and what makes them genuinely want to read, which is why it is important to let students explore many different genres and books on many different topics.
I totally agree with you "I was not a fan of reading until high school either." I was always forced to read certain things in school and I HATED it, then in high school I was able to pick and read what I enjoyed and then I started to love reading. You made some really good points here especially in the last two paragraphs. It is true that we should let our students explore different genres and not force them to read things they would not enjoy. They would be bored and might HATE reading, just like I did before high school. We should let them enjoy reading by picking what they want to read.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how your growth oas a reader began not with instruction but with choice. Interest and motivation cannot be separated from reading.
ReplyDeleteAnd once we introduce assessment into reading we fundamentally alter motivation. I am not saying we never assess reading. We just need to be smarter about when and why we do it.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI agree that reading can be enjoyable for everyone once they find something that interests them. I am only a fan of reading if I find a good book about a topic that I like. It is crazy that you went from hating reading to enjoying it. Its great that you read out of the enjoyment of learning new things. Great post!