Reading Reflection

I believe that this class has helped me a lot as a reader.  If I hadn’t been required to read for this class, I would probably just have been reading a little bit of sports every now and then.  I have already read some great books that I really enjoyed because of this class.  Owl In The Cedar Tree by Natachee Scott Momaday was a very good book, as was The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis.  I’m also liking the book I’m currently reading, Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep.  These books have told wonderful stories full of a wide range of different emotions, including fear, love, compassion, determination, and anger.  When I am reading these books, I am very interested and curious about what will happen next.  I’ve learned a lot so far through reading this semester.  For example, Owl In The Cedar Tree told the story of a Navaho boy named Haske and his family, introducing me to a new culture.  I read about a Navaho medicine man who performed a ceremony to heal Old Grandfather and learned about Navaho homes.

I have been enjoying books written for older elementary students more than those for early elementary.  Stories that are a little more detailed and in-depth seem to interest me more.  You usually don’t get to learn too much about the characters in early elementary books.  I kind of felt like I knew and understood the main characters of the three books previously mentioned: Haske, Neftali, and Otter.  I learned about them and their lives as I read the story of their journeys.  The bad thing is that more in-depth books can take a long time to read.  I have found that I read best in short blocks of time, like 30 minutes or so.  Overall, this class had introduced me to some great books that I have definitely enjoyed.

Finding Time To Read

So far I haven’t had too much trouble getting my 4 hours of weekly reading in.  I have found that the evening is a good time to read for me.  Sometimes I read for longer amounts of time, like an hour, but if I am tired, I might only read for 30 minutes or so.  I have been able to find reading time between my classes as well.  The first week I was able to read all 30 Caldecott Award-winning books that were required.  These books were short children’s picture stories that didn’t take too long to read.  Last week I only read 3 books: Ralph S. Mouse, Owl in the Cedar Tree, and The Farmer.  I thought that they were all excellent stories.  Ralph S. Mouse and Owl in the Cedar Tree were longer chapter books that were more time-consuming to read, while The Farmer was a short picture book that I finished in less than 10 minutes.  I prefer the balance of some longer chapter books combined with some picture books to read.  It’s nice to mix it up and read a wide variety of books.

I believe that I can definitely improve my reading.  I am not a very fast reader, and I often get distracted while reading.  I hope to become better at being focused on the story when I am reading.  Sometimes after I read a paragraph, I think to myself, “what did I just read?”  I am going to try to make sure that I am reading in a quiet environment without distractions if that is possible.  I also think it’s important to enjoy the book you’re reading and have a positive attitude, rather than feeling angry thinking you are being unfairly forced to read.  I’ll try to enjoy all the books I end up reading for this class.

5-Image Story

I would not really consider myself a reader.  I enjoy reading about sports online or in magazines, such as Sports Illustrated and Runner’s World.  I will also sometimes read comics in the newspaper.  But it isn’t often that I will read a full book unless I am required to for a class.  I would say that I am a pretty slow reader.  When I think of experiences in my life that have shaped my attitude about reading, 5 key moments come to mind.

The first key moment was probably when I first started reading Sports Illustrated magazines.  I have a passion for sports and enjoy competing and watching them.  I also liked reading about them, especially my favorite team, the Miami Dolphins.  I still read about sports often.

The second key moment was probably the reading assignments during school.  I didn’t really enjoy the books we had to read, like Hamlet, Jane Eyre, and Romeo and Juliet.  I didn’t find them very interesting and that made me like reading less.

The third key moment was one day when I was bored and decided to read the comic section in the newspaper.  I thought it was a little funny.  Today I will sometimes read the comics, and my favorite comic strip is Garfield.

The fourth key moment in my life was when we did reading tests in school.  I found out that I was a slow reader, and that it was difficult for me to stay fully focused on the book.  That discouraged me a little and had a negative impact on my attitude regarding reading.

The fifth and last key moment that influenced my attitude towards reading was probably reading textbooks that were required for my classes.  Some of the information in the textbooks were interesting to me, but for the most part, I didn’t really find them exciting at all.