Personal Model of Reading Theory Two

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” said Jojen. “The man who never reads lives only one.”

-  George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

            In her book Reading Process and Practice, Constance Weaver outlines the three views on learning to read:

            “View 1: Learning to read means learning to pronounce words.

             View 2: Learning to read means learning to identify words and understand their meaning.

            View 3: Learning to read means learning to bring meaning to a text in order to get meaning from, or understand, a text” (2002).
After a semester of graduate work, I can without any hesitation dismiss the first two views as I feel that they do not adequately describe what it means to read.  Being able to read is more than just being able to pronounce words.  It is more than identifying and interpreting the words in context.  Reading is being able to do all that plus see the big picture – to make a personal connection to the text.

            In my first personal model of reading theory assignment, I stated that in order to be able to read children needed to be fluent, comprehend what they were reading, and make connections to what they read.  I still believe that, however, my attitude about how they get to those places has changed.  Now, I feel that a Comprehensive Literacy Program is definitely the way to go. 

Over the course of this semester, I have learned about the different aspects of a Comprehensive Literacy Program and I feel that this design is incredibly beneficial to the students.  For starters, take the read-aloud part of the program.  It is so important for readers to hear proper modeling of texts so that they start doing it themselves.  Another piece that I think is crucial is sustained reading.  Unfortunately, most schools have moved away from any kind of sustained reading in the name of time, but I remember as a child looking forward to that time where I could “escape” into my current book.  Lastly, take the individual conferencing piece.  While this is something that I had not considered using in the past, I am now looking forward to using in the future.

Reading is a magical experience.  It is also one of those things that is hard to explain to someone else.  Sure, I can summarize a book for you, but that would not be the same as you having read the book for yourself.  I want my students to have those firsthand experiences and live those thousands of lives.  I want them to want to read and not think of it as just something they are doing for school.  To instill this passion, I believe, is where those pieces of a Comprehensive Literacy Program come in.   If I read-aloud a book and show emotion, if I let them read something that interests them, and if I show genuine interest in what they are reading during our individual conferences, I feel, they will develop a lifelong love of reading.

Reference

Weaver, C. (2002). Schemas and Transactions in the Reading Process. In Reading Process and

            Practice (3^rd), (pp. 14). Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.