Blog #5: Wild About Reading by Jacqueline Mora

 

My take-away ideas from Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller, was all positive. She gave many examples on how to get students motivated and excited about reading. I really enjoyed reading in this chapter about Reading Itinerary were the students were asked to record on a calendar log for a week every place they were when they read and how much time they spent reading in each location. She believed by doing this the students would “reflect on their reading habits and determine patterns they might not recognize day-to-day.” (Pg; 18) I enjoyed how this Reading Itinerary is not graded it is a self-refection for the students’ to know more about their reading habits and values outside and inside the classroom environment.

What seemed challenging about teaching students how to become wild about reading would be finding out what students are having challenging time reading, and how I would be able to fix that. Miller describes a section called Fake Reading and Reading Avoidance as one of the most challenging parts of teaching children how to become wild about reading because many of these students “have learned how to fake-read, and they have become so good at playing the game at school.” (Pg; 26) I have met many classmates that learned “how to beat the system” in their eyes but at the end this “beating the system” is only hurting them in the long run.  The challenge would recognizing why students’ fake-read and what I could do to help the students overcome their fake-reading and reading avoidance habits.

What I most look forward to when teaching reading to students is when they pick up a book they truly enjoy reading from point a to point b. I look forward to the day all my students start recommending books to each other because that means they really enjoyed the books and they want other classmates to feel the same. I am most afraid of not engaging all students the same way about reading. I know not every student is the same and everyone enjoys different hobbies, but I honestly do believe reading is for everyone.