... is the one you read to a child. So I lied, I haven't actually quit reading for the summer. I've been reading a book called The Read-Aloud Handbook. I think it should be required reading for all new parents or expectant couples or teachers. The most important thing I've learned so far from this book (I'm only on page 34, but I had to share my thoughts with you in case I don't finish the book before school starts) is that the difference between high achievers and middle level students is their love of reading. Especially with the way schools are "supposed" to teach reading (through phoenetics... thank you No Child Left Behind for yet another dumb idea), children are being turned off to reading. So it's important for parents to read to children from a very early age (the author suggests beginning to read to your child in the last trimester of your pregnancy so that the baby already associates certain books with comfort) so that the child associates reading with pleasure and not with worksheets, etc.
This book has me thinking about changing my Master's degree from Youth Librarianship (for a public library) to School Librarianship. Parents need to encourage their children's teachers (throughout all of elementary school) to read out-loud to their children (with no reading quizzes at the end) and have SSR (Sustained Silent Reading). One principal in an at-risk Boston elementary school turned his school's reputation and testing scores around in two years by having 10 minutes of read aloud time each morning and 10 minutes of SSR each afternoon. If 20 minutes a day can make that much of a difference once the child is already in school, imagine what a difference it could make if you start reading to your child from infancy.
No comments:
Post a Comment