I’m thinking about starting my classes with the question “Why do we read?” I’ll have some individual, partner, and small group activities, and then we’ll watch the video here and react to it. I’m curious what the kids will think about the video and why they read.
Update: I worked for about four hours at the school today. I made copies, arranged desks, finished my postings, completed my paperwork, and finished all of my online trainings. Tomorrow I’m going in to re-arrange my office space because I’m sharing a desk with two other teachers, and (in truth) I really don’t need a desk. I don’t store things in the office, but I do bring some work there on occasion. Three days until the kids arrive!
From the other side of the world, where we are 3/4 of the way through the “year”, all the best with the start.
I challenged my junior students to see how long they could ‘survive’, once they’d left the school, before they ‘accidentally’ read something. I discounted house numbers, but everything else was fair game. Most, at their own admission, didn’t last 5 minutes having left school for the day! The idea was to show how much we read, even for those people who stated that they “never” read (e.g. books). It was a bit of fun and showed them how much they come into contact with language too.
I like your challenge. 🙂
I think when we ask kids if they like to read, the kids typically answer based on their reading of novels without considering comics, newspapers, billboards, blogs, magazines, and more. They read all the time!
Absolutely! I’m working on a Post that looks at recording all reading students do, as the “novel” reading has certainly shifted in light of devices. Having them realise their reading is certainly important