Tessa Hamstra Blog 2
When I opened the forward I was worried because I couldn’t get into it. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I did get more interested when I read the introduction because Miller wrote about how things had kind of changed since the book was first written. As I started reading the first chapter, I was skeptical but was quickly shown that Miller is a wealth of knowledge and it is only going to improve my skills as a teacher in the future.
The biggest thing that has stuck with me is the part about “Fake Reading and Reading Avoidance”. This is because when I was a young reader, this was me. For some reason though, I was always able to get away with it. The older I got the more I didn’t want to read. The only time I would read is when I had a book report due and it was usually the night before. This would make my mom upset but teacher was just happy to have my assignment in on time. I do wonder sometimes though if my mom ever talked to my teacher about my habits.
I’m scared that because I wasn’t a very strong reader and avoided it when I was young that I’m going to have troubles being able to teach it to my students. What if I can’t find something to spark their interest? What if all of my students become fake readers? Then again, will my past make me more motivated to not let that happen with my students? I sure hope so because I really liked what Miller said about students reading when they have time and not making it be an all or nothing thirty minutes. A part of me believes that because I didn’t think I had enough time or wasn’t good enough that I just wouldn’t do it at all. Someday I hope to encourage my students to practice reading as they would a sport or an instrument! I’m excited about what Miller has to say next.
One Reply to “Tessa Hamstra Blog 2”
Hey girl hey. I was worried when I read the forward too! We talk in class about how we put a book down that we don’t like, and I was like “ok, well that book is reading in the wild for me,” but then as I read Ch 1 I actually got into it! Within the first few pages of Ch 1 I was like, “huh, this lady knows her stuff,” and she introduced ideas that I hadn’t even considered. I totally have “fake read” in the past, especially when it was required in class to be reading. It was hard not to! I think we all have those worries you talk about in the end of this post though, but with the help of colleagues and workshops, I’m sure we can do it!