As a child, I never cared too much for reading. Sure, I'd love when others would read TO me but to sit down with a story book just wasn't for me. At best, I might flip through the pages, look at the pretty pictures and make up my own little version of how the story might go if it were up to me. I was a much more imaginative child. I would have much rather looked at a painting for hours, imagining what they picture really meant, than read words in which someone else had already written, from an imagination other than my own.
As I grew older, my views about reading certainly didn't get any better. This was, in my opinion, due to the constant boring novels (or what THEY considered to be "classics") in which teachers kept shoving down their students' throats, sending in the mail a list of books to be read before the new school year began. I absolutely despised reading Shakespeare, along with ANY other works that I couldn't easily understand without the help of some kind of translation device, be it the internet, cliffnotes, or Shakespearean dictionaries.
My views on reading have somewhat changed throughout the years, although I must admit that I still cringe a little every time I receive the list of books I need to purchase for my college classes each semester. Only now, I don't assume that I can just cheat my way through the book by using sparknotes/cliffnotes. I actually do the work now. It isn't fun, well at least not most of the time. But, I feel a little bit smarter with every chapter I read.
As a future educator, it is important to me that I make my students' reading experiences as likeable as possible. I believe this starts with giving them a voice, an option, that way they don't feel intimidated or bitter because I'M the one telling them to read something. Sure, there will be times when yes, they might HAVE to read something but if there is any wiggle room at all, you'd better believe that my students will have a say in the matter as to what kind of material their minds will be filled with.
Not only will this make them feel as if their voices matter (which is an important feeling for children to have in order to make a difference in their community) but it will allow them to better grasp the material itself in which they are reading. I want to avoid my students reading the given work closely enough as to answer questions about it and then forgetting the material as soon as they’ve received a grade. I think that can only be done by employing the method in which I have discussed, by giving them choice. It would have made a difference for me.
With literature evolving into what it has become today, it’s especially important to adjust my teaching style to the material in which my students will be most interested in. The trends may be imaginative and magical, like the Harry Potter or Twilight series. They may be fairy tale-like yet realistic, like the works by author Nicholas Sparks. Whatever the trend may be, I need to adjust to it. After all, the times are changing, that means my students will too, and I should be expected to move forward right alongside of them.
