Fun Over Facts? Why Developing A Love For Reading Should Be Emphasized More in Education and at Home
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When I became a literacy tutor, it was both an exciting and frustrating time. First, I was super excited to use the skills I had learned to help young people meet their learning goals. However, I quickly became intimidated by those educators who had years of literacy instruction, workshops, lived experience, and early childhood education degrees under their belt. In contrast I was armed with a sad-looking certificate that I had earned after completing a few online modules that taught literacy tools based on the science of reading. So, I quickly got to thinking: In what way do I stand out? How can I show that I can teach reading to children effectively?
Well, have you ever heard of Reading Rainbow?
I know, this seems like a random question. However, as I mulled over this matter, I remembered how much I enjoyed that television program. For those unfamiliar with this perfect piece of kids entertainment, Reading Rainbow was a show that aired on PBS and consisted of host Lavar Burton introducing his young audience to various books before reading them and bringing them to life for young viewers at home. Reading Rainbow helped foster a love of reading, connecting the words on the page with everyday life by illustrating scenarios related to the topic of the book. For example, if the story was about making pizza, parts of the television program showed the host putting together ingredients to make his very own pizza at home, taking children through the process step-by-step. In the end, it is no wonder that Reading Rainbow was one of the most-watched PBS programs in the classroom (www.readingrainbow.org).
Unfortunately, nowadays, learning is not like this. In my opinion, the U.S education system has lost sight of teaching children their why. We are so focused on teaching children the mechanics of reading–the phonemes, letter sounds, word recognition, sentence structure, intonation, and everything else that is supposed to make a child a great reader–that we have neglected to tell them or show them why learning to read is such a useful and important life skill.
Think about it: even as adults, we often need to remind ourselves time and time again of our why when we are doing something challenging or hard. We ask ourselves questions like: Why am I doing this in the first place? What is my end goal? What thoughts will keep me motivated to keep going when things get hard? Likewise, your child needs a reason and a true motivation to learn to read. That is where a love of reading comes in. Show kids just why they should want to read. Start with a goal that is personal to them. If your child loves cars or dolls or fantasy, introduce them to these topics through books. Don’t stop there! Can you connect a fun book with an activity that teaches a child real-world skills or historical or other fun facts?
I have learned that as a non-traditional reading coach and literacy tutor, this is my superpower. I have the ability to bring out that much-needed why in children by showing them just how important this skill is to their lives, guiding them to build their very own love of reading, little by little.
When teaching your child to read, don’t just focus on the mechanics. Try your best to connect reading with other skills, games, or experiences that will help a young person associate learning to read with something positive and stimulating!
