Reading a Lot of the Right Books

Readings:

Ch. 2 What Really Matters: Kids Need to Read a Lot - Richard Allington

Ch. 3 Kids Need Books They Can Read - Richard Allington

Practice makes perfect.  That goes for basketball, playing the piano - anything.  It goes for reading as well.  This is the topic of Allington's Ch. 2.  He stresses this endlessly, citing numerous studies and research projects that back up his ideas.

I firmly agree with this idea.  A lot of this is based off of my own experiences as a reader and a student.  For whatever reason I adored reading from a young age, devouring book after book.  The more I read, the more I wanted to read.  It is a self propelling process, and once you start it is hard to start.  I credit the fact that I have done well in school partially to the fact that I have gotten so much practice reading.  I would follow Richard Allington's statistics very well, I think.

There is still the question, though, of whether students will read more because they are good at reading, or whether they are good at reading because they read more.  This is almost a chicken-and-egg question, and I doubt we will ever truly know the answer.  Whatever the true root is, it is important that we continue providing quality literacy education to students from a very young age.

What is a quality literacy education?  This is what Allington discusses in his second piece, Ch. 3.  He stresses the importance of not only reading a lot, but reading the correct books.  Books that are too easy or too hard are both equally likely to throw a developing reader off track via boredom or frustration.  Our students need books that are designed to be on their specific reading level.

However, they also need books that interest them.  Reading material that does not grab your attention is the most difficult to get through, and yet we constantly force children to read books that they do not choose.  Giving a little bit of a selection will help them to become excited about what they are reading.  Finding appropriately leveled and interesting books will always be a challenge.  This is why teachers must utilize the school library or media center, as well as focus on building a large classroom library of their own.  This is a part of being a teacher that I really look forward too.  I cannot wait to introduce my students to books that I have loved as a child and to have them introduce me to books that they enjoy as well.

Allington also states the importance of involving reading in areas other than "language arts."  Readings, books, articles, and magazines can relate to lessons in social studies, science, and more.  Why should they not be included in lessons?  Allington is also a fan of uninterrupted learning time, especially when dealing with reading.  Finding time in the day to focus on nothing but the actual act of reading will likely be challenging, especially with the large amount of standards we are forced to teach too.  But some creative thinking and careful planning will hopefully make it possible.

These chapters form an important basis for what the core of literacy/reading/writing lessons for children should be.  The best way to get kids interested in reading is to make it easy, accessible, and interesting by providing a lot of the right books.

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