Over these years as a teacher and as mother of two kids, I have observed that many children who do well in academics (may it be a writing skills or oral participation) seldom read books!!!
It’s a point to ponder,How and from Where ……..they share those information to the whole class?
It’s true that reading books makes any one achieve more. Then why are some kids reluctant to choose and read it.And mostly, I find that children who are responsible enough and do well in school are the ones who think ‘Reading is Boring’.They just do it as a chore-to-do.
Well there could be many reasons behind it. I would like to share a few here that I learnt from my own personal experience and through few sources.
1.Firstly it could be gender specific. As it is proven that they have different style towards learning,possibly their reading habits are also different.Boys may not prefer doing any task that requires sitting for a longer duration.Boys may not be interested to read short stories like Red Riding hood except for the part where wolf enters.Girls may find it easy to just pick a book looking at its cover and patiently go through it.Girls may not choose the book at sight if it has ‘screw and bolts’ on the cover page while a boy may like to pick that.Boys may like to read books in a bright garden/out doors as against the library room with four walls around. So next time, try out different options keeping in mind that they are wired differently according to Neurosciences.
2. Reading habit could be a herculean task if the level of the book is too high for them to read and understand .At the same time if its too low it could be a waste of time.
3.Vision play an important role which parents/ teachers some times fail to notice.Getting their eyes checked up may solve the problem once for all.
4.It’s not necessary that if parents or siblings are voracious readers then the child also needs to be a good reader.Yet he/she could be doing very well at school.Many times they pick information from different sources.It could from a discussion between parents,listening to their peers,from a video they watch,magazines/pamphlets and news papers too.It is very important that books and knowledge based material should not be kept confined to one spot at home or inside the class.It needs to be spread over such that it attracts their attention.
According to The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac. Some of those rights are the right of the reader not to read; the right not to finish; the right to skip; and the right to read anything.
It is also suggested that if the child has enjoyed a film recently, she/he may be interested in reading a book about it.Forcing someone to read is completely counterproductive (courtesy-the guardian)
Well, this applies to teachers as well.If not a book try to choose some reading material which interests you ! Happy reading.
Do you have any personal experiences that made a child ‘pick a book to read’? then leave it in comments for others to read and benefit.
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