One Up Library and my own journey with reading started from understanding that we all our readers. My learning was challenged as I met child after child disinterested and disconnected with their own reading. I discovered that we have a very limited understanding of the term ‘Reading Process’. We as parents, educators need to recognize the...
Continue reading →Reading is an essential life skill.Independent reading requires intrinsic motivation that must be nurtured. One of the most important roles of a librarian/ teacher- librarian is to encourage the development of independent readers by inspiring and encouraging new readers.
One Up Library and my own journey with reading started from understanding that we all our readers. My learning was challenged as I met child after child disinterested and disconnected with their own reading. I discovered that we have a very limited understanding of the term ‘Reading Process’.
We as parents, educators need to recognize the fact that Reading is not just a basic skill. Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once and for always in the first few years of school. Readers decode (figure out how to pronounce) each word in a text and then automatically comprehend the meaning of the words, as they do with their everyday spoken language.
Contrary to reading being simple process of decoding and comprehension, reading is a complex, problem solving process. It is not just lifting the words off the page. It is a complex process of problem solving in which the reader works to make sense of a text not just from the words and sentences on the page but also from the ideas, memories, and knowledge evoked by those words and sentences. Although at first glance reading may seem to be passive, solitary, and simple, it is in truth active, populated by a rich mix of voices and views—those of the author, of the reader, and of others the reader has heard, read about, and otherwise encountered throughout life.
Good readers are . . .
Mentally engaged,
Motivated to read and to learn,
Socially active around reading tasks,
Strategic in monitoring the interactive processes that assist comprehension:
Setting goals that shape their reading processes,
Monitoring their emerging understanding of a text, and
Coordinating a variety of comprehension strategies to control the reading process.
In addition, readers being given the opportunity to respond with how they feel about a text is an important determiner in motivating and personalizing reading process. Asking readers, ” How did this reading change who you are.” adds purpose to the reading process.
As my understanding of ‘reading’ and ‘reading process’ grew, I realized how important it is to ensure that each of us becomes proficient in our reading process.
Today, children need to embrace this skill more than ever required in any century because it is the only skill that has the power to change the way we think about information, text, people, communities and world. This is a time of information overload, thus, the challenge to equip us with a finely honed reading and comprehension increases manifold.
Sharing from the book “Disrupting Thinking” – 9 Reasons to Read more-
From the above nine reasons that the author shares to “Read more”, for me personally the reason that reading helps us to “develop our personal identity” stands out the most.
People need to discover their own beliefs, opinions, values, contradictions, perceptions, based on the vast amount of fiction and non-fiction they read. We will be successful in creating more empathetic and compassionate individuals and communities if we identify why we want our children to read.
Thus, at One Up Library, we have embraced the role of becoming a reading centre dedicated to helping children find themselves through a variety of reading materials. Our goal is to use the safe space of library as institutes that motivate and inspire children to recognize and find themselves through individualized conversations, conferences and exposure to various learning groups. In their quest to find their own voice, identity and define their learning journey, we aspire to be their partners.
From the above nine reasons that the author shares to “Read more”, for me personally the reason that reading helps us to “develop our personal identity” stands out the most.
People need to discover their own beliefs, opinions, values, contradictions, perceptions, based on the vast amount of fiction and non-fiction they read. We will be successful in creating more empathetic and compassionate individuals and communities if we identify why we want our children to read.
Thus, at One Up Library, we have embraced the role of becoming a reading centre dedicated to helping children find themselves through a variety of reading materials. Our goal is to use the safe space of library as institutes that motivate and inspire children to recognize and find themselves through individualized conversations, conferences and exposure to various learning groups. In their quest to find their own voice, identity and define their learning journey, we aspire to be their partners.