When I was younger I despised reading with a passion...obviously my view on the topic of reading has changed and all it took was one book. I was lucky to have found a book that changed how I saw reading and thought, "why not give reading a chance". Growing up a lot of kids are turned away from reading because of the content they push on them. How do you develop a love of reading, if you hate what you're reading? Not everyone happens to give it a chance like I did.
You see as everyone grows up they are taught how to read and how to interpret what is being read. English teachers force novels on us that are sometimes hundreds of years old. Let's take Shakespeare's plays for example, or Catcher In The Rye, how about How To Kill a Mockingbird. While some of these aren't hundreds of years old, they aren't from our time and somehow they are considered classics. Now these are all classic books with bigger themes that can be interpreted, but how can we teach a love of reading when our teachers are forcing books we may not care for on us. If the content doesn't interest a student they will space off, even if they are trying to read the material. So how do we develop a love of reading? In my opinion it's a simple two step process.
First all it takes is the right book, so you have to let the student find it. Give more assignments that focus on novels that the students pick out. Giving them the opportunity to learn from the author themselves. I know when I read I pick out the bigger themes, enjoy, and honestly take to heart what I learn from my books.
Second, if you want to read a novel as a class go for current series that are making an impact on society today. Harry Potter, Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, The Fault In Our Stars, If I Stay. These are all big name novels that students know well, and they all have themes just as large and serious as the older books. The current novels will help spike the students interests.
So how is this two step process working? Well students will start to enjoy themselves, and it won't work for all, some people just aren't readers, but it will work for more students than it is right now. You see we need to teach the "love of reading" not the pain of forcing a student to read a novel they don't care about. It turns them away from reading and this isn't what we want. Being a reader makes you a better writer, speaker, and person in general because a readers imagination is a hundred times the size of a non-reader. You see readers live the lives of thousands, we walk in the shoes of others every time we open a new book. So we know what it's like to stop and think that someone might be seeing the situation completely different.
There are so many upsides, so why not give it a shot. Teach the "love of reading" not the pain that so many people see it to be, but I guess thats just what it means to me.
I wish this was Facebook so I could like the crap out of this post. As a future English teacher, it makes me so happy to see that people still care about literature, and that they're actively trying to make sure that the love of literature doesn't die out with our generation. I also love the fact that you tie it into education, and give ideas for teachers to try in order to get the students more engaged in reading. I read a quote once that said "There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book" and I plan to put it up in my classroom. I completely agree with your belief on it. This was refreshing to read, and I thank you for being a fellow book lover :)
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