Kids who CAN read does not equal kids who DO read.
I've known for a long time that simply teaching kids to read isn't enough.
Most videogames require reading out of textboxes and such, but that's not book reading, now is it?
In order for kids to actually take the time to read books, they have to LIKE doing it. Just knowing HOW isn't nearly enough.
This has become painfully obvious in Aerisolphal's own class.\
The "not-so-great" readers are more than happy to sit down with Aerisolphal and I and have US read a book WITH them. But once we're not with them, they're just as amused playing with blocks or drawing with markers.
In the meantime, the "great" readers, don't really even need us with them. They'll go out and find their own books to read by themselves.
That there shows the profound difference between those who CAN do it, and those who LOVE TO do it. We ought to be teaching more than just the HOW. We ought to teach the WHY and the FUN of it. That's how we'll get these kids to read!
How would you get the kids to the point where they were intrinsically motivated to read just for the joy of reading? Maybe you could talk to the kids in the class and see how many are read to at home and what access they have to books. I wonder if that will be where the difference comes from?
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