Reading: What's Love Got to Do With It?
“My child does not like to read!”
“I spent a lot on books and I don’t understand why my child gets upset with my choices.”
“My child can read above grade level. I don’t understand why the teacher says their reading comprehension is low.”
“I feel like my child should be reading more chapter books instead of watching read alouds on YouTube. Is that Ok?”
“My child is way too old for picture books. Why are they in her 5th-grade classroom library?
Do any of these statements sound familiar? As a teacher who has taught lower and upper-level elementary grades, these statements from parents are very common. I want to provide some insight in this blog post. But first, let me explain why I entitled this post, “Reading: What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
This past school year, I showed a video clip of Jason Reynolds, an awesome Black author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade audiences. Jason explains how he was not fond of reading and did not really start reading novels until he was 19 years old. But he was a lover of poetry and rap around the age of 9 years old. We discussed what could have been some reasons for his dislike of reading and discovered the following:
1) He was given books to read as gifts that did not exactly speak to his interests.
2) He did not see himself in the characters of any of the books.
3) He was bored with the book offerings.
Many of the students, especially the boys, agreed wholeheartedly with these reasons. This opened up more discussions around how to choose the rights books and other alternatives like read alouds, ebooks, and even the value in picture books at any age. By the end of the school year, every student had identified their favorite authors, genres, and style of writing (helps with reading selections).
Tips to Foster a Love of Reading
Here are some things that I applied within my classroom and with my own children at home, to increase their love of reading.
Include your child in the book selection process. This may mean having a discussion and finding out what topics are of interest to them. Then take a trip to the bookstore or shop online together.
Find books that have main characters that they can connect or relate with. Children love to see themselves represented in the books that they read.
Be a role model for reading. Read books together and also let your child see you enjoy reading a good book as well.
So to answer the question, “What does love got to do with it?” Well, a lot. You tend to enjoy something more when are invested in it. These tips can get you started down the path of reading because you love and enjoy it and not because it is required or forced upon you. Happy Reading!