Ever since I was little, my parents were constantly reading books to me. They would have me try to read some of the words in the book until I could read a few words at a time. At my baby-sitter's house, she had a bookshelf with leveled books. This boy who was also at the baby-sitters would read the books, so I decided to as well. We would have contests to see who could read to the highest level. This made me competitive as a person, and also develop a love for reading. After reading those books, my trips to the library became frequent. I loved diving into the stories and placing myself in the shoes of the main characters. I believe this made me a more creative and innovative person.
As for the classroom context, last year I tutored a fourth grade boy who struggled terribly with reading and writing. Colin was way behind his reading level, and became very unmotivated to learn how to read. It wasn't only reading time that he was stressed and had a lack of focus. He struggled with every subject in school because he was unable to decode the words on the page. Colin relied heavily on listening to what the teacher said, but even with having a learning disability, this wasn't easy. Later in the year, I was told that both of his parents are in jail, and his elderly grandparents raise him and his sister. I compared his story to mine. He doesn't see literacy as being important. Colin's guardians didn't read books to him growing up, and didn't enforce literacy as being important. This helped me as a person and future teacher understand that although I had the support and resources to grow as a reader and writer growing up, others may not. This helped me want to reach out to more students struggling with literacy, especially Colin.
He realized how important literacy was and really dedicated himself to learning how to read, speak, and write. He uses his listening skills to his advantage to help him excel. The confidence and motivation in Colin has sky-rocketed because he actually knows what he is reading and can participate in class discussions. This event really opened my eyes to how different my students' backgrounds with literacy could be from my own, and that literacy is not only crucial for the success in other subjects, but also for the student's intrinsic motivation to want to do better in school altogether.
My journal with literacy is very similar to yours! Some of my earliest memories were reading with my parents on the rocking chair in my living room. I was always encouraged to read, and really developed a love for it. I, too, would put myself in the main characters shoes and really feel like I was a part of this adventure too! It was awesome, and still is! I think it's really important that we share our stories like this with students who really dislike reading, because maybe they can do what we do, and put themselves in the situation of the characters, instead of just simply reading. I think helping students learn to love reading is so important. It is, like you said, the intrinsic motivation to want to do better and enjoy themselves that is the most important thing. Helping a student love reading will help them develop many other skills as well.
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