FIANL ESSAY D
How to improve the reading ability of young students
How can we improve the reading ability of young students?What are the methods? This is a
topic that is often discussed. Some people think students should learn the meaning of every
world in the article in depth. Some people think students should read some books that are
difficult to read. Everyone has his own opinion. But inappropriate methods have limited effect on
reading ability. Even a waste of time. However, in my view, young students had better read
books that interest them, start with a book that is easy to understand, think more,combine
reading with writing and increase reading volume.
Start with a book that is easy to understand. At the beginning of children's reading, parents can
choose some books with more pictures and less words for their children, which are easier to read.
Otherwise, no matter how interesting a book is, if the language in the book is very complicated,
children will not be interested in it. What is a difficult book for a child to read? Parents can tell
by opening a book and counting the new words. If the vocabulary is more than 30%, put off
reading the book until your child's vocabulary level is high enough. Secondly, the books with
many foreign words and technical terms are also difficult books. In the meantime, parents should
not be disappointed or worried, even if the books their children choose seem shallow. Because
reading is a cumulative skill, a gradual development, the child's understanding will improve, the
scope of reading will expand, reading taste will tend to diversify. When reading no longer meets
a child's needs, the child will automatically choose more appropriate or challenging content to
read. Just as a child reads picture books when he is young, as he knows more and more words, he
will be able to read long stories and even novels.
Read books that interest you. As we all know, interest is the best teacher. If you do not like a
book, it is difficult for you to concentrate on it. You will see reading as a task and can not enjoy
it. In this case, not only do you read very inefficiently, but it's hard to get any reading exercise
out of it. Thus, only when you read a book that you enjoy can you be fully engaged. We can see
it from the article, “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading”, written by John Holt. “I don't
want you to feel that just because you start a book, you have to finish it. Give an author thirty or
forty pages or so to get his story going. Then if you don't like the characters and don't care what
happens to them, close the book, put it away, and get another. I don't care whether the books are
easy or hard, short or long, as long as you enjoy them. Furthermore, I am putting all this in a
letter to your parents, so they won't feel they have to quiz and heckle you about books at home.”
Yes, reading should be regarded as a pastime. The author tells us an example. He has a student.
He had not assigned her a book to read, as most other teachers did. Just let her read books that
interest her. The student began by reading simple books. The author sometimes gives her
appropriate advice. Before long, the student was able to read some difficult books, which really
surprised the author. We can also see it from another article, “Learning to Read and Write”,
written by Frederick Douglass. “In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches
on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over
and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul,
which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance.” From the
experience of Douglass, we can see that reading a book that interests you can start a person
thinking. As you think more and more, your reading skills will naturally improve. In the other
hand, when children are young, because literacy is not much, reading ability is not strong, so
they prefer to watch TV, because television is simple, intuitive, there is color, there is sound,
especially watching cartoons, funny characters, progress exciting plot are deeply attracted to the
children. So they would rather watch TV than read books. But parents should not be discouraged,
because many cartoons have book versions, and parents can guide their children to read related
books by their favorite cartoon characters. For example, children love painting, he can buy some
more exquisite picture books; Children like adventures, dinosaurs, Star Wars, etc., so they buy or
borrow books for them. Only a child's favorite book can stimulate his interest in reading. In this
way, it can greatly stimulate children's interest in reading.
Not only read, but also write. Reading and writing are inseparable. Young students had better
combine reading and writing. We know that vocabulary and phrases are a factor in reading
ability. If you want to read an article, a sufficient vocabulary and phrases are indispensable. But
how can we improve our vocabulary? We know that memorizing words by rote is inefficient.
Writing is an effective way to increase your vocabulary. Write down unfamiliar words and
phrases when you read. You can try to write a short passage with these words and phrases. This
will help you remember the words better. Malcolm shared his learning experiences in his
autobiography, “I woke up the next morning, thinking about those words - immensely proud to
realize that not only had I written so much at one time, but I'd writ-ten words that I never knew
were in the world. Moreover, with a little effort, I also could remember what many of these
words meant. I reviewed the words whose meanings I didn't remember. Funny thing, from the
dictionary first page right now, that "aardvark" springs to my mind.” Constant copying made it
easy for him to remember many unfamiliar words. He started from memorizing words, gradually
began to read, and gradually improved his reading ability. This is how he learned to read. He
finally succeeded. In short, writing is really important, it can not only help you remember the
words, but also help you understand the article better.
Think more. If we just read, don't think. Our brain is only a container. Not only do we quickly
forget what we have read, but it does little to improve our reading ability. We should not only
read, but also think. This kind of reading is valuable. Discuss the plot of the book with your
classmates. Views on the characters. Talk about your favorite passages. The process of
discussion is a process of thinking and accumulation. In the other hand, we should read a book
with questions and thoughts, after reading the introduction, you can try to summarize a sentence,
what is the book saying? If you're going to share your feelings, you're going to have to tell
people what's good about the book, and you're going to have to make a section of the chapter that
you're reading, and each section is going to have to make a section of it, and then you're going to
have to string it together, and you're going to get closer and closer to what the author meant and
what the book was about. In the process of reading, we should enjoy the beauty of reading. Put
yourself in the context of the book and read with empathy. In the context of the book, what
would we do. Only by constantly integrating the thoughts in the book with their own thoughts,
can we truly have an independent mind and free soul. At the same time, the process of reading is
also a process of continuous thinking and reflection. It is a process of osmosis and
metamorphosis. Only by thinking more can we improve my reading ability effectively
Read more books. I think this is the best way in fostering reading for young students. As
Thoms Edison says, “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” Even
if it is a good method, if you don't stick to it, it won't help. But even if it is a bad way, you stick
to it, you will certainly improve. A reporter once asked Bryant, "why do you think you've been
so successful?" “Do you know what Los Angeles looks like at four in the morning?” He
answered. Diligence is important to everyone. We can see it from the article, “What reading does
for mind”, written by Anne Cunningham. “This is a stunning finding because it means that
students who get off to a fast start in reading are more likely to read more over the years, and,
furthermore, this very act of reading can help children compensate for modest levels of cognitive
ability by building their vocabulary and general knowledge. In other words, ability is not the
only variable that counts in the development of intellectual functioning. Those who read a lot
will enhance their verbal intelligence; that is, reading will make them smarter.” Early reading
improves us the most. Young students should read more books when they are young. Let me give
you another example, Malcolm X, one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black
America during the 1960s. Malcolm X dropped out of school early. He was given a new lease of
life in prison. “Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment
I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn't have gotten me
out of books with a wedge. Between Mr. Muhammad's teachings, my correspondence, my
visitors,... and my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being
imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.”, He wrote in his
autobiography. He lacks a lot of formal education compared to most of us. But it is diligence,
keep reading, so that his reading ability has been improving.
In the past when I was a child, my mother told me a bedtime story every night. These stories
are from a book, “one hundred thousand why.” It’s really interesting. Why not drink milk on an
empty stomach? Why do your eyes always turn together? Why can fireflies shine? Why is the
sun red? This question fascinated me very much at this time. What’s more, whenever I read, my
parents always praise me, which makes me happy. For this reason, I began to take great interest
in reading books. When I was in high school, my brother works in a library. He brought me a
large box of famous works, such as “Notre Dame Cathedral”, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, “The smile
Man”. Actually, these books were a little difficult for me. I don’t know much about the
background and feelings of these books. There are also many words I do not know. To
understand these books better,before I read a book, I surf the Internet to find out its
background. I read with a very relaxed mind. I only read the parts that interest me, skip the parts
that don't interest me. My reading ability has been greatly improved.
In conclusion, young students should read books that interest them and start with an easy book,
which can stimulate their interest in reading. In addition, they should combine reading and
writing in order to deepen understanding of context and memory of words. What’s more, they
should increase reading volume. Only continuous reading is the best way to improve reading
ability. However, there may be some sufferings in the early reading period. But I believe that as
long as you stick to it, your reading ability will definitely be improved. Reading will become
easier and easier for you.
Reference
1. Douglass. Frederick,learning to read.
2. Malcolm X, learning to read.
3. John, Holt, How Teacher Make Children Hate Reading.
4. Anne Cunningham, What Reading Does for the Mind.
FIANL ESSAY C
William Zinsser & Jonathan Kozol
Comparing students from higher evaluated districts versus those rating a lower status
represent big differences in the advantages they have and determine how prepared they may be
for college. Students who exit high schools with inadequate education have greater pressure in
comparison wealthier students. Because students with wealthier statuses have greater
connections through school and the variety of resources provided for them, it is simpler for them
to be successful. While students coming from poorer communities may have trouble having
resources needed in order to get a place in colleges considered to be good. Additionally, a big
percent of students from wealthy school districts get accepted into high rated colleges, when
comparing the lower income students these students tend to believe that college is not for them.
Typically, this is due to struggles with finances & feeling as if they don’t fit in. For students
trying to balance these pressures many choose the instinct of survival getting a job to help their
families or to live on their own and provide for themselves; this is where students of higher
income have advantage, these are likely scenarios that they do not often deal with giving them a
superior position over lower groups of people. Many lack of the ability of being able to take a
break that often times college students need and even those in or coming out of high school.
These are aspects that high schools do not prepare you for. I think because low- & middle-class
communities lack appropriate funding in their school’s students are not given and provided
adequate education and opportunities others receive. High school educators may tell you things
of how college works but in reality once you become a college students their views are invalid as
they do not apply to us and our experience is somewhat of a shock since it is not what we are
told to expect or experience.
Students that don’t come from wealthier communities have more pressure to do better in
school because they are expected to have good grades in order to look good for colleges. Parents
expect their kids to achieve more in life than what they have achieved. By virtue, this means
getting at least a degree in a convenient subject that will lead them to a good job & income. But
being a first year in college can be very difficult in the way of finding your way around, not
knowing anyone, getting the motivation to go to your classes, putting equal focus in all your
classes instead of just one, etc. Students end up having anxiety from all the overwhelming
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expectations colleges put on them. Because of this, students focus so much on school that most
times they forget to have social lives, & to take a break. Most students drop classes before giving
them a chance considering that they think they won’t be able to do all the assignments the
professors give out. College students typically struggle with being able to have a social life, work
life, and be a student at the same time it is hard to manage your time when there is so much on
your plate to deal with at once. Often, we forget that our personal lives have great impact in our
ability to keep moving forward and it is the number one thing we tend to ignore on a daily basis
because we emphasize on what physical attention. It is easy for students to think that dropping
from classes and falling behind is the answer to tying to get their other parts of life o track.
Education is the first aspect to suffer in one’s life, we rather go to work to be able to provide
food and a roof over our heads. Not all students are eligible for financial aid or grants/loans, and
do not fall under certain criteria to receive help from programs provided through school; this is a
battle for many and requires a great amount of time struggling students do not have. These are
the behind the scene characteristics that high schools do not prepare you for or speak to you
about, all we hear is that we must do good to get into a promising school but once we are in we
do not know what to do, given this is the part no one prepared us for and we are out to fence for
ourselves.
Solutions school staff have proposed are, meditating which would benefit a lot of
students that have developed anxiety due to different reasons one being pressure from college
classes. They also have suggested counseling sessions to find even more options to help balance
the difficulties of college. They’ve even tried breathing exercises & breathing apps for students
to try when they’re feeling academic anxiety kick in. An outside source I found was an article
called “How College Pressures Are Causing Serious Anxiety Problems in Students” by
Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas in March 27, 2019. The Article explains how students overwhelm
themselves while trying to get into good colleges. Some students are even hospitalized by the
academic anxiety they develop. This article really relates to the topic since they both describe
how hard it could be for a student to realize when they need a break from studies. The article also
states how academic anxiety & stress in this generation has increased compared to past
generations. I agree with this due to the fact that kids are expected to do way more academically
than in past generations, where socially every kid went in the same path. But today anyone can
end up anywhere, so parents push their children towards the best path they know, which can
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cause the feeling of being pressured into something not all kids decide is for them. Also, in the
article it says that a student goes to counseling because of all the stress and anxiety a “AP test”
had caused her. She claims that it has helped her feel better about her upcoming test. This student
usually gets up at 6 am & was at school at 7 am doing activities or volunteering. She states that
“Its good in the way that it’ll prepare us for college”, I find this to be true.
I do believe it is hard to balance social life with college pressures all while coming from
schools that sometimes weren’t adequate towards the students. I struggled a lot in high school, I
lost focus fast because I had ADHD, I also suffered from depression & anxiety which at one
point they prescribed me different medications. Until my junior year of high school, I started to
pass my classes because I realized if I didn’t put enough effort in trying to focus, I wasn’t going
to graduate with my classmates. The school told me even if I had passed some classes I was not
going to be able to graduate on time either way unless I went to a continuation school which I
did. So, my senior year I started at this new school not knowing anyone there, which to my
benefit helped me focus. I was missing over 100 credits from all my 4 years put together. They
told me it was going to be a miracle if I could finish all those credits in just one school year. I felt
devasted because at my old school I felt as if the teachers didn’t care to help me focus in my
classes. But at this new school I had all the support I needed & I felt as if they actually
understood me. The teachers there even planned a field trip to DVC to get our student IDs & to
sign up for classes. They helped me understand registration so much, I don’t think I would’ve
been able to register without my teachers supporting me.
I went to counseling once a week at school to talk about any problems I had in my classes
which helped with my stress with how many credits I was missing. Soon after I started to pass all
my classes by taking independent studies while taking my regular classes & ended up passing all
my classes, gaining all my credits, & even graduating earlier than my classmates at my old
school. I felt so accomplished & made my family very happy. Once I started college, I had my
sisters support since she was a sophomore at the time. She helped me understand college slur. I
then signed up for two classes that semester just to see how it went. I ended up dropping both
classes mid semester because I felt overwhelmed by all the expectations I had from school, my
family, & myself. I didn’t know how to balance my classes, work, & my social life, I ended up
giving up school & academic responsibilities just so I wouldn’t lose my social life. I wanted to
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go to college but always felt like school wasn’t for me since I had ADHD, & depression. I
thought I wasn’t going to be able to pass classes, sometimes I still think in those ways, but I take
deep breaths, & sometimes I even meditate. Meditation is a big help when it comes to stress &
anxiety. It has helped me in many situations when I am overwhelmed about an exam or a large
essay, it even helps me to sleep most nights.
Since I had dropped my classes due to my own pressures of thinking I wouldn’t pass the
classes I worked most of the time. I soon started to tell myself I wasn’t going to go back to
school. But then I found out I was pregnant with my son. Soon after I automatically told myself
that I was going to return to college & no matter how much I struggled I was going to get a
career out of it. As a parent you want the best for your child, you want to push them to be better
than yourself. I want to give my child the opportunity to have the resources I didn’t have. He is
my motivation & my balance in between college life & social life. I never imagined being able to
focus in my classes let alone get good grades. But now my son is 8 months, I’m taking 4 classes,
one online, 3 in person. My first class of the day is math at 7 in the morning, & it hurts to leave
him for those days but I know it will be worth it in the end. I do believe the student in the article
was right when she said waking up at 6 to be at school by 7 did prepare you for college. I take
morning classes from 7am to 12pm to have the rest of the day to myself & my son.
In conclusion I do believe coming from wealth will help a motivated focused student
succeed. On the other hand, students that come from poorer households will have a bigger
obstacle in going further academically. We all want the same things, we just have our own
personal obstacles stopping us from getting to the places where we want to be. Some students
have to get jobs in order to help their academic studies, some have to leave their kids in order to
go to school to give them a better life. Some students just do excellently in school, & finish right
away. We all don’t have a fair shot & we deal with our obstacles the best we can. As individuals
we just have to determine what is more important. To compare each other to one another would
be unfair as we all have different paths in life. Personally, if it wasn’t for my son, I wouldn’t be
here writing to get a good grade. But I am because I want, I’m to have a good life, & never miss
out on a good opportunity.
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5
Rough B
As the three of the writers Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, and David Raymond, with each of
their articles. They supported the meaning and importance of writing and reading. This literacy
is a whole meaning of what life is. They talked about benefits, struggles, and how it applies to
real-world situations. Writing and reading support mostly why we are here, from a digit age
towards two-digit age, this literacy is used everywhere, that's why reading and writing is a
complimentary essential to our life.
The story of: "Learning to Read" by Frederick Douglass; tells us that Douglass learned how to
read and write by the presence of his surroundings. He made his friends with the poor street
boys, and because of his lifestyle, he could read and write." learning to read had been a curse
rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy".
From the early texts that he reads was the so-called "Columbian Orator" by a Boston
schoolteacher and the bookseller. It helps Douglass to understand how slavery works and how
it started. Understanding about history. He was also able to understand what abolitionist is. This
word seems familiar to him, but he was unsure about the meaning. He searched in the
dictionary, and it was unhelpful until he found out what it means when he reads the newspaper
about the slave trade and the abolition of slavery. He also learns how to write as he wanted to
write a story about himself.
The story of: "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X "talked about a street hustler named Malcolm
spending seven years of his time in prison where he educated himself and become a disciple of
Elijah Muhammad later one during his release. During his jail time, he began learning words
from the dictionary and started reading books from history, philosophy, and religion. Leading
him to open into a new life away from being a gangster. "Book after book showed me how the
white man had brought upon the world's black, brown, red, and yellow peoples every variety of
the suffering of exploitation." He uses his knowledge to fight racism and slavery. With his
experience, he becomes a famous speaker for the black Muslim community. He also fought for
freedom towards racism, violence towards African Americans, and even other religions.
In the story of: "On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read" by David Raymond," explains about
his life and as a child having a dyslexia disease. He has a hard time reading and writing." And it
was embarrassing. I only felt dumb. And dumb was how the kids treated me. They'd make fun of
me every chance they got, asking me to spell "cat" or something like that." He often feels
embarrassed and not belong to anything because of his disease. He also has a hard time
making friends, and he was disappointed and sad because of his condition. But luckily, he was
fortunate. He joined a camp school for exceptional people with a reading disorder. He was
enjoying the camp; he made his friends with others who have the same disease and sickness
as him. The good thing is that the director stated to him that he has a high IQ above the most
population. He realizes that people do care about him and what. The director said it has a
considerable effect on his confidence. He feels better. As readers, we realized that people
around us affect us, whether it's good or bad.
Every once in a while, people have asked why perusing is significant. There appear to be such
huge numbers of different activities with one's time. Reading is substantial for an assortment of
reasons. Text is a capacity that is key to working in the present society. Numerous adults can't
read all around ok. Filling applications, perusing clinical portrayals, understanding street and
cautioning signs is troublesome, making it hazardous and alarming as we think about it.
Reading is an essential ability in getting a decent line of work. Your works go before us or
present us. For instance, when we go after a position or to take a crack at a school, we have to
give a resume and now and then an introductory letter, or when sending messages to
somebody, we don't know well or haven't met at this point (work accomplices, clients, or in any
event, reacting for the organization you work for). On the off chance that we make a terrible (or
indecipherable) impression, the result for us may not be right. Poor composing may cost a great
deal; it might prompt misconception and misinterpret because of sentence structure, syntax,
accentuation, and spelling issues.
To be employable, individuals must have two things, by and large: experience and a variety of
down to earth abilities. Composing just so happens to be a genuinely necessary and
exceptionally esteemed ability in the working scene – particularly in the corporate field and
private divisions – not because most employments expect individuals to do it every day and
week by week. Regardless of whether it is the law authorization official composing a
wrongdoing report, an educator drafting an exercise plan for the following day's class, or a legal
counselor concluding the legalities of a business bargain, composing is something most experts
are required to do, whether they are utilized in white-or manual employments. Indeed, it's
sheltered to state that because such vast numbers of organizations and associations require
their workers to in any event be reasonably capable recorded as a hard copy, many individuals
are procured basically because their ability for composing is superior to that of another
candidate. Envision the splendid marketing specialist writing the following catchphrase that
proceeds to make a shoe organization a large number of dollars; the copyeditor who gets a
linguistic or actuality checking blunder depicting an item that would make some way or another
have caused an undesired impact; the specialized essayist who can interpret the language of a
software engineer into the language of the shopper. His saying is intended to be amusing,
maybe even somewhat mysterious. To the regular individual, composing gives off an impression
of being an extremely basic action, simply placing single word before another to make
sentences. However, the craftsperson of terms realizes that it is a long way from reality. They
know that composting is rarely straightforward, and continuously a test however generally fun.
It's an incredibly dull, hair-pulling thing to be acceptable at. Also, along these lines, essayists
can help other people who aren't adequate at composing.
Individuals who are specialists at composing their language are commonly inventive
individuals with smart thoughts, an attribute that can cause essayists to exceed
expectations in the promoting/advertising, distributing and news coverage, and even
political fields. They pass on considerations in the composing structure, thoughts that
can eventually engage a peruser, pull in a customer, and charm a potential client. In a
few good manners, individuals who are acceptable scholars can prompt an expansion in
income. From all of these passages above, I learned that reading and writing are
affecting most parts of our lives. In any lifetime or situations, there would always be the
need to write and read. For me, reading brings me different understandings and
perspectives of others. It brings me variant knowledge for me to learn and absorbed.
Such as reading non-fiction books, watching the news, and reading the newspaper
gives us a better (Curtis)another different sensation and benefits us by using our
creativity. Exploring our thoughts and writing out our expressions and sharing our ideas
with the world and others.
Bibliography
Curtis, Alexandra. essaymasters.co.uk. n.d. 23 02 2020.
douglass, Frederick. Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass. n.d. 30
January 2020.
Raymond, David. The new york times. 25 April 1976. 30 January 2020.
X, MALCOLM. Learning to read. n.d. 30 January 2020.
Rough A
Differences with John Holt, Anne Cunningham, and Keith Stranovich
In the article “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” he stated that he “Believe
that drills and other traditional, structured classroom activities tend to destroy a students
creativity and desire to learn.” While Holt was a teacher and his students didn’t understand
words, he would make them look the work up in the dictionary so they can see how the word was
used in a sentence to get a better understanding about the word. He would then give them a test
based on the words they didn’t know, and after years of doing this be came to the conclusion that
this was “foolish”. Holt had a nephew who’s teachers made them “Microscope and x-ray”
treatment to the book, which means to look up and memorize not only the definitions but big
words they didn’t know. After every chapter they “microscopy and x-rayed” they had a test
questioning if they understood the text or not. Holt thought it was a good idea, but then his sister
told him that her son loved to read and once his teacher started making him do this crazy reading
and memorizing, that he didn’t like to read anymore. Holt thought to himself if children don’t
look up words they don’t know how are they ever going to know what the word means, until his
sister told him that he would read adult books all the time and never looked up the big words he
didn’t know. After hearing his sister tell him that he was speechless, he didn’t know what to say
to her. In his article he found a quote saying "According to tests, educated and literate people
like you have a vocabulary of about twenty-five thousand words. How Many of these did
you learn by looking them up in a dictionary?" I really like this quote because how many
people do you really know that read a dictionary, or look up words in the dictionary. I feel like
nowadays if someone is trying to look up a work they look it up on the computer or their phones.
Even when people didn’t have the internet to look up words I feel like they still wouldn’t have
looked up words in the dictionary or even read a dictionary. I think a lot of people learn new
vocabulary from talking to new people in their day to days life’s and just hearing them, even
talking to the same people could help you expand your vocabulary. When Holt was teaching fifth
grade, he had all his students write down every book they read and a one sentence summary
about so he can have an idea of what books they read. As his students begin to write he noticed
that most of his students had few books and he wasn’t sure why. Holt wrote a book called “How
Children Fail” and he realized that school is a dangerous place and students are just trying to stay
out of danger. As kids growing up you were taught to read aloud whether it was with your
parents or at school. In Holt’s article he describes that having children read aloud can be very
painful or traumatizing in a way for the students because if they mess up on a word other
students could make fun of them or the teacher will call them out for mispronouncing the word.
This relates to me so much because having dyslexia, reading aloud is very scary and when you
get called on you don’t want to mess up a word because you know that if you mispronounce a
word everyone is going to make fun of you and then you get embarrassed. Holt states
“As true of children as of cat.If they, so to speak, sit on a hot book a few times, if books cause
them humiliation and pain, they are likely to decide that the safest thing to do is to leave all
books alone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years I felt quite sure of this theory.
In my next class there were many children who had had great trouble with schoolwork,
particularly reading. I decided to try at all costs t6 rid them of their fear and dislike of books,
and to get them to read often and more adventurously.” This quote means that by having students
read something interesting and they like, that the students will like it ten times more than a book
they are forced to read because a teacher told them they have too. Holt had told all his students
that just because you start a book, doesn’t mean you have to finish it. He said just read at least 40
pages and if you don’t like the character and what happens to them just close the book. When he
told his students that they all were in shock. As John Holt once said, “Find something, dive into
it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else.
How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child gets every last little scrap
of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.” In the article “What reading does for the
mind” she found that the more you read makes you smarter, and it keeps you sharp as you age.
Reading is an amazing way to get where you’re wanting to go. The article says “No matter what
you’re wanting to do or become, you can’t do it without more knowledge.” The more you read
the more knowledge you’ll know and a better chance of getting a job later on in your life. As
Reading can be very beneficial to helping you get a better job in your life, I also believe it’s what
you know but who you know is very helpful in your future work life. In a workplace knowing
someone high up in the industry is very beneficial to you and they can help you get a better
paying job. Reading a lot can get you very far in life but also knowing people can you far too. As
I agree with Cunningham and Stanovich reading does make you smarter and can help you get a
really good paying job later in life, reading can be very hard for some people. Take for example,
I don't like reading because when I read I can comprehend what I read so it’s not easy for me to
read. When I read my brain has to work extra hard just to comprehend what I read, so personally
I don’t like to read. Not that I don’t think reading is bad, I agree with the article that reading
grows your brain and gets you smarter, I just don’t like reading for personal reasons. As for other
people they like to read and reading on a daily basis in fun for them, and that’s good for them
and will help them in the future. People also like to read for fun all the time not to to grow their
knowledge but to relax and just read a book. Many people find reading very relaxing and fun to
do, that’s why they do it for fun.
Holt, John. “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading (John Holt).” HCCS Learning
Web, learning.hccs.edu/faculty/ioanna.panos/engl1301-165-166/unit-3a-collegelearning/how-teachers-make-children-hate-reading-john-holt/view.
Cunningham, Anne E, and Keith Stanovich. “What Reading Does for the Mind.” What
Reading Does for the Mind, 1998,
www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/cunningham.pdf.
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