As a kid, everyone’s parents struggle to make them read instead of playing a fun game on a phone or playing a video game. I know that whenever I had the chance, I avoided reading. I would put my phone on the inside of a book, so it would look like I was reading
Eventually my dad read me the Harry Potter series. I fell in love with the first book, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, and then the rest followed.
I struggled to find a new book that I really loved and appreciated after the Harry Potter series. I was in middle school being forced to read books that I wasn’t interested in and eventually I viewed reading as a chore or homework rather than something I could enjoy. Reading became boring for me because of this. If you are like me, and I know a lot of you are, I would just say don’t give up yet.
Once I got to high school my mom introduced me to the book, The Boys on The Boat by Daniel James Brown. I found myself truly engaged in this book and I started to enjoy reading again.
Now, I’m reading Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins. This book has captured me and pulled me into where I can’t stop reading. I don’t have to read every night to gain all the benefits of reading. I read maybe three to four times a week and although I’m still not a perfect reader and still don’t read as much as I should, I appreciate the storytelling behind every book and will give every one a chance when starting it.
I know a lot of you don’t enjoy reading because you are forced to do it by your parents, because it is boring, or because it feels like a waste of time but I promise there is a certain beauty in storytelling and reading the stories. In The Boys on the Boat and in Can’t Hurt Me I have found joy in reading the amazing story telling. I don’t think of it as reading because I want to get smarter, I think of reading as something that brings me into another world. A world full of crazy characters and ridiculous settings or even into a time that really happened in history.
Many students argue that reading is something that they are forced to do in class and not something they enjoy. It can be straining for someone’s brain, and without focus, can be very boring. Because of this many people forget about the significance of reading and try to put it off as much as possible.
Reading is one of the most important life skills one needs to have. It demonstrates many essential life skills including the ability to communicate and improved critical thinking.
Other than the beneficial aspects, reading can also just be fun. Being able to enjoy a book so much that you cannot stop flipping the page is a feeling that needs to be felt by more teens.
A great way LFHS is creating this feeling for students is through reading workshop. Reading workshops are a great opportunity for students to enjoy their time reading their favorite books. Personally, reading workshop is one of my favorite ways to spend an English class period.
If LFHS incorporates more reading workshop days I think that more students will start to enjoy their books and start to appreciate the importance of reading. By doing this students will be able to feel a certain freedom when reading. They aren’t forced to read something specific; they can just relax and read for an hour or so. I know this is how I feel every time I have a reading workshop
A common problem with reading workshop at LFHS is students picking up a random book that they have never looked into or read at all, and trying to sit down and read it for 45 minutes straight. What happens almost every time is students become bored and lose interest within five minutes and barely have a chance.
Students do this because they think of reading workshop days as a way to take a break from their work. This pushes students to come into class with a random book and fake read what could be a really great story because they want completion points.
I think LFHS should do a better job of ensuring that students have a book that they like during the reading workshop. Teachers could do this by making it an assignment for students to bring in a book that has already been started or to make it an assignment to get through a certain portion of the book in class.
