Quote: Teachers need to consider the purposes they set for students because when students reead stories efferently rather than aesthetically, they don't develop a love of reading and are less likely to become lifelong readers.
Comment: I think the idea presented in this quote is important not just in teaching Literacy but in all of the other subjects we will teach. As a teacher we need to be very aware what our overarching purpose is in teaching each subject. When we teach history, do we want students to understand specific individual events? Do we want them to see overall patterns in the history of the world? Do we want to emphasize American history? Do we want to create more cultural awareness? The purpose should and will ultimately dictate how we are teaching. If we want to teach our students to have a lifetime love of reading our process will end up being very different than if our goal is for our students to simply score high on standardized tests or other forms of assessments. It is important for us especially as new teachers to figure out what we want that purpose to be.
Question: How can we teach our students the skills they need while still instilling a love for reading?
Your question is something I've been pondering for the past few days actually. There's a really thin line we have to straddle sometimes as teachers--on one hand we have to get the material across so that students can learn what they need to learn and do well on tests, and on the other hand we want students to love reading and find internal motivation for it. I think something that will help meet both of those ends is creativity. Kids don't like rote activities and busy work--if we are coming up with creative and non traditional reading/writing activities, they will learn the material and enjoy the process.
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