Wild Readers….
In chapter one it talks about the importance of dedicating time to reading each day, addressing the “fake readers”, etc. Well that was me… for many reasons. Pretty much the whole time I was reading chapter one I felt like they were picking me apart as a child. I feel for the students that struggle like I did because it is awful. I hated the feeling of not understanding what I was reading (I say hated… this still happens all the time). I am such a hands on person and everything has to be so real for me to understand what is happening that I have always struggled with reading and having to imagine in my head what is happening. You could say I am not the most creative person out there. I can’t see what is actually taking place in books and this is hard for me.
When I had free time in class to read I struggled to stay focused because often times the books my teachers would recommended me didn’t interest me at all, but more often then that, I had the hardest time actually paying attention to what I was reading. I would try so hard to read and take it in, but I would find myself reading the words and feeling accomplished for reading the words, but at the end of the sentence I would have no clue what I had just read, but let me tell you I read every word correctly… and I was very happy I could do that. My mind goes many directions while I read… thinking about every medical bill I need to figure out how to pay from my moms battle to how I am going to raise my sisters while at school to “oh ya I need to send money for their school lunches this month” to I should be studying for my midterm. I don’t know reading is just extremely hard for me.
I am very worried about that as I go into the classroom, but I in no way, shape or form want my students to go through the same struggle I have with reading. I think it takes a special kind of guidance and support to become a wild reader and I know it is so important to develop that with my students, but as someone who struggles myself to make it through a book and actually understand what is happening will I be able to get my students to be wild readers? But I also think of this as kind of a place for me to start over. I am going to be teaching elementary school students, and yes many of them can read far better then me right now, but they don’t know that and this gives me a chance to widen my knowledge and find the love for reading that I should have as a teacher. I know it is doable, which is exciting, its just going to take a lot of work.