Summer Reading, Some are not

The interesting news right now is the usual news for the end of the US school year. Summer reading. The general consensus is that if you want to be a good reader you have to read more. So the talk is of summer reading list.

Reading? Is that really what students want to do during their summer breaks. If you have to read more you will want to read faster. How exactly does reading more make you a better reader? Does it finally lead to the breakthrough of understanding what the author is explaining.

Or is it the freedom of not having to write the answer to the question. What do you think the author was talking about? And getting your answers wrong.

This post is more of a muse for me. I think we’re still missing something in teaching reading when the solution offered to solve poor reading is… read more.

How does enduring the frustration of spending our most precious commodity, time, without a better purpose than to be a better reader motivate us to read? How can a slow reader select books that are at least interesting enough to want to read. How does a boring book impact the motivation for reading. Poorly I think. I remember reading assignments in school. The assigned, girly book did little to encourage the male members of the class to read it. I too found it boring and preferred to read something else.

I suggest if you do summer reading goals, find some books that make it worth while.

© Alex K Viefhaus