As a reader, most of the time during my grade school years I was reading for completion rather than reading for understanding. In order to truly understand what you are reading you have to become one with the text. In other words, you must have some kind of knowledge about what you are reading. That definitely wasn't me. I had a strong displeasure for reading, so I would read books just for completion purposes then throw it back to the library. The only books I had a genuine interest in reading were 30-50 page sports books, and the Captain Underpants series. That trend eventually ended after I received my first F in literature my junior year of high school due to my lack of interest in the Canterbury Tales and Beowulf. At that point I knew I needed to start liking reading very soon.
If I had to define reading, I would define it as looking at written material silently or even aloud. Subjects Matter suggests that good readers have a stable of effective strategies to help them understand. These strategies include visualizing the text, connecting the text to a real life experience, question any uncertainties, etc. Does it make you a bad reader if you don't use these strategies? That question would be a no from me. I didn't learn about those strategies until now, and look how I turned out; a graduate student at the University of Georgia. That sounds like a winner if you ask me. -249
If I had to define reading, I would define it as looking at written material silently or even aloud. Subjects Matter suggests that good readers have a stable of effective strategies to help them understand. These strategies include visualizing the text, connecting the text to a real life experience, question any uncertainties, etc. Does it make you a bad reader if you don't use these strategies? That question would be a no from me. I didn't learn about those strategies until now, and look how I turned out; a graduate student at the University of Georgia. That sounds like a winner if you ask me. -249
I can really relate to your post about reading for completion and not understanding the material. Like you, this came back to bite me in the butt in high school. Because I hadn’t be reading to understand I had to refine those skills and that was hard for me and my grades reflected that. I think our stories will be really beneficial in the classroom because we can help our students learn to read to understand and explain the importance of this skill to them and how beneficial it is to master this skill early on in their school career.
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Hey Antjuam! In your blog you talk about your prior experiences with the Canterbury Tales and Beowulf, which seems to me like you're using "real life experience" to help you think about the reading. Although you may not consciously use the kinds of reading strategies mentioned in SM, do you think there's a chance you at least some of them unconsciously (I'm thinking of the "auto-pilot" idea in SM)? If so, that would be a testament to your strength as a reader, I think. Just a thought!
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