Guilty Fake Reader

My biggest take-away from the reading is to take a book everywhere you go. You can always break it out when you have some downtime—waiting in line, in the car when a friend goes into the store, on the plane, at a doctor’s appointment, on the bus, etc. Reading just a little bit every once in awhile helps you capitalize on the “edge time” in our days. There’s never an excuse for “not having time to read,” you always have some time.

Another take-away I got from reading this is that you can’t build wild readers without finding the perfect books for kids that actually spark their want to read during their free time or “edge time.” Once you find that book series/author that gets them hooked, that’s what will encourage this new thought of wild readers.

I would definitely consider myself as a fake reader. I always have been since I can remember. Back in my elementary school days, I was the kid that pretended to read during silent reading time. I would even move my eyes left to right to make it look super legit and turn the page at the appropriate time. Sometimes I would judge my timing based on when the person next to me turning their page.

As a high school/college student I don’t think I’ve ever truly read a text book. I never felt it was necessary. I was able to get by with A’s by knowing the bare minimum or just studying my lecture notes. But like Donalyn states—it has definitely backfired on me. I wish I was a reader and actually retained the knowledge. Most subjects I remember and study for the test and then it wipes out of my memory forever after. I’m going to have to play a lot of catch-up now, and since I never was into reading stories and novels my vocabulary and comprehension is a lot lower than it should be as a 3^rd year college student. It is very discouraging and I always feel like I am dumb because I don’t understand things or write well. I’ve got a lot of work to do now if I want to become a teacher. Fake reading is NOT the way to go.