My concerns about reading

 

As claimed by Cubo de Severino, we, as teachers are constantly facing the same dilemma: students read but they can’t comprehend. That is to say, they can’t achieve the appropriate levels of comprehension which are necessary for the school level in which they are placed. I’ve worked in primary school for some years and I have encountered many kids who couldn’t comprehend what they read and I couldn’t successfully help them. So I asked myself, what is it that they cannot comprehend? Why? How can I aid them in their process of understanding texts? For long I’ve attended seminars and read books to investigate what I could do to help them tackle texts. I even travelled to New Zealand in the year 2009 to iexperience and read about their educational system as they are one of the best countries regarding literacy. Even though I only assisted kindergarten teachers in their literacy programmes, I discovered that CONSISTENCY, PATIENCE and GOOD QUESTIONS are key factors in order to obtain observable data regarding student’s reading skills.

I also have a personal issue concerning reading. I love reading, I used to enjoy my grandma’s reading very much. I used to get books as presents and I couldn’t stop reading to eat or have a shower. I gave my mother some headaches because I always kept my nose above books. I felt involved in magical worlds, full of mystery and imagination. I don’t want my students to miss opportunities to enjoy reading as much as I do. 

I really really LOOOOOOVE reading. I think in my other life I must have been a bookworm, a nerd or something of the sort. I have some anecdotes in relation to my life as a reader, which are rather humilliating but I will share them with you. When I started reading, I used to read every single billboard in the street and I used to get mad with my father if he drove the car too fast. Imagine trying to read out Pavón avenue!! Then, my mother used to get angry at me because I always kept reading at my room when I was supposed to be having dinner. Then, after a couple of "shouts" I would go walking slowly through the hall with the book right under my nose, and I would keep reading while eating. Most of my books were always stained! Nowadays I keep walking and reading half a block after getting off the bus at the corner of my house ´cause I can´t stop reading a very interensting paragraph. And worst of all, really embarassing, some time ago I took a book to the shower because I wanted to finish reading David Copperfield! I know I´m a weirdo!