I think I am an okay reader. I have a hard time understanding text but I am proficient enough at it. Some texts are harder to understand than others but what it really comes down to is how interesting it is to me. I am more willing to read something four or five times to understand it if it is something that I really want to know. If my degree of interest is low, I don't take the time to really get through the text in a comprehendible manor.
I was encouraged to read on every side when I was growing up. My family, my teachers, my friends, my church leaders all valued reading and therefore I was encouraged to read to keep up with my world. However, I was my own discouraging factor when it came to reading; I wasn't good at it and I knew it. Whether that was a label I picked up somewhere or a reality is hard to say. I tried to emulate the good literacy examples around me but found that I quit reading books more often than I finished them. I don't remember what I read even when I read it thoroughly so I can't justify spending that much time doing it.
At any rate, I think literacy is very important. As I've said before, I don't think literacy means that you have to enjoy everything you read. For me, when I read it is because that's how you get to knowledge and I love new knowledge. If I can get it some other way then I will forgo the reading and get it some other way.
In my future classroom, I'm not sure what I'm going to do to encourage reading. I have a hard time pushing it on students because I have a hard time with it myself. I hope to learn some strategies that might help me to improve my outlook on reading and maybe that will be something that I can use in my classroom.
For right now, I think that the most beneficial thing I can do is provide reading at the different reading levels. I also think it is a fantastic idea to provide students with a recording of the text that they can follow along with (maybe a listening station somewhere in the classroom for those who prefer it?). I'm sure I will continue to develop ideas through this semester and my career.
I can see how your experiences as a reader have shaped some of how you will incorporate text and other reading assignments as a teacher. These perceptions we have of ourselves as good readers or poor readers can be surprisingly sticky and can inform so much of what we do with our own reading habits. It becomes clear how what we do as teachers will also either reinforce or negate labels our students enter our classes with. Thanks for sharing your experiences and for taking the time to reflect on how this will influence your own teaching
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