I am a huge believer in the importance of literature in a child's daily education. I know from my own experience that my academic success was due to the fact that I was a reader. Without books as a child I wouldn't be a teacher as an adult. Stories create curiosity. A book is a child's window into the rest of the world. It offers them the opportunity to learn about things that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. A story can invigorate, relax and inspire. Everything is better with a story. Books should be available to children as all times. As part of my personal belief in the power of books I have acquired a large collection of children's books. I make reading and access to them a priority in my classroom. Reading a story to my students is by far one of the moments I enjoy most as a teacher. I believe it's part of my job to put all I have into the story I'm reading. That means my tone, expression, voice, and emotion. It should never be boring to sit and hear a story. If my students are bored with the way I read or the book I am reading, I STOP and try something else, because I know doing more harm than good. I never want to turn a child off of reading. Reading TO children is the gateway to getting them to read to themselves. If they are interested in the stories that you read to them then they will be interested in the stories they will one day be able to read to themselves. In this generation there are many ways to get exposure to literature- television, movies, electronically i.e. podcast, audio books and ebooks. I use all these methods to bring these stories into my classroom, but I still believe the most important way is just a good old fashion book. In my mind there is nothing more wonderful than seeing a child sitting down with a book, regardless of whether or not they can read the words yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment