Affective Dimensions of Reading

Being a senior means that I’ve now been asked the “What’s your major?” question approximately 5,720 times; and, of the many responses I’ve had to my reply of “English Teaching,” a few have been most memorable: 1) (said in complete seriousness) “Oh, well, I don’t talk to English majors, because I know you’re all just judging my grammar and not really listening to what I’m saying.” 2) “Oh. I hated my high school English teacher. I blew up her dog.” and 3) “Oh. You must be a really fast reader.”

As one might imagine, I didn’t… er… really know how to respond to any of these; and while extending the discussions about the first two might make for an interesting blog post, it’s the general assumption alluded to in statement #3 that is a good lead-in to my discussion on the affective dimensions of reading.

Assumption being: that to enjoy/love reading, one must be able to mentally intake and process written texts at ridiculously high speeds.

This, to me, is one of the top 5 (if not top, er, 2…) reasons why so many of my friends and family members tell me how much they either “hate” or are “just not good” at reading and/or writing and, therefore, don’t engage in either. And the worst part about it is that, I think, schools are more often than not where this horrible belief is first encouraged.

See, if reading and processing information quickly is the mark of a good reader, I am not one. While my teachers always knew that I could read things at blazing speeds out loud, the fact that I was actually understanding none of the words flying out of my mouth was never really recognized. And while my lack of reading comprehension skills for some reason, never really affected me in high school (a good topic of another possible blog post…), it was in college that I finally realized that I wasn’t a genuinely fast reader and, consequently, when I began to full-out loathe reading for the first time in my life.

What taught me that I couldn’t “read well” was what I think teaches most people who feel this way about themselves: that I was assigned to read TONS; and, quite often, those assignments felt completely “pointless.” These three reasons (the words in the bold) are what I think teachers must properly address in order for our students to come away from their high school experience with a love for reading.

Some ways I might address these three problems:

1)      ASSIGNED

a.       Give my students options as much as possible! Not only allowing them to choose from, say, 3 young adult lit. books, but to sometimes decide whether they’d like to “read” a short story, poem or even a painting can teach students that being able to comprehend and enjoy Julius Caesar is NOT what indicates whether someone can enjoy and gain great benefits from reading.

b.      Give my students a say in what types of materials are assigned. Since units themes can generally be taught using many different texts, giving students a genuine say in what they will read will encourage them to think about texts they could enjoy reading and then, I think, feel more motivated to try to actually find enjoyment in them as they read.

2)      TONS

a.       This one sounds pretty simple: Don’t assign a ton of reading—either in OR out of class. Actually doing it, though, might be difficult, considering that things like AP tests often require that our students need to understand lots of material. Right now, I don’t really have a solution for this one… Only that a solution needs to be thought of. Great answer, huh? J

3)      POINTLESS

a.        While some might disagree with me, I think it is both important and possible for EVERY text being read in class to have some relevance to students’ lives and/or incentive for understanding it other than just getting a good grade. The trick, I think, won’t necessarily be finding stuff that is relevant, but effectively showing (and convincing?) students how the texts we teach are meaningful for them. How this should be done will, of course, depend greatly upon what the texts are, who the students are, and the teacher’s own personality and interests. Being willing to put in the extra effort to try and make these connections is necessary for this to happen.

As always, improving our students’ attitudes toward our subjects requires two sometimes-hateful words: MORE WORK. Being willing to put in the work is, though, what creates teachers capable of making a lasting impact for good upon students. Hopefully by addressing these big 3 issues in my English classroom, I can not only avoid having any of my pets blown up : / , but get to run into a few of my students years down the road and have them tell me how much they still love to read.