The phrase that made me shudder as a fifth grade teacher. During silent reading time, I would approach a student that I saw doodling in a notebook or staring off into space. When I asked why they didn’t have a book, many would tell me, “I don’t like reading.” This was such a common statement that I always had an arsenal of responses ready. I would suggest a few books that I knew matched the student’s interest. Or, I would motion them over to our class library and find some easier, light reading so they would start to see reading as an enjoyable endeavor.
I love reading. I always have. In fourth grade, I remember sticking “Babysitters Club” novels under my desk so that I could read about Dawn and Kristy instead of listening to my teacher. I have grown used to the slew of students bemoaning their dislike of the subject. But imagine my surprise when my first grade daughter looked up at me from her homework and uttered those four words, “I don’t like reading.”
What?!? My husband and I are both biblionerds. We have an entire room in our house designated as a library. My daughter has a foot tall bookshelf in her bedroom stocked full of her books. She loves cuddling up and being read to. What does she mean she doesn’t like reading? This countered everything I learned as a teacher and thought I knew about motivating kids to read. In my own home, I have provided lots of reading material that fit my daughter’s interests. My husband and I read to her nightly with enthusiasm and yet, here she was, flat out refusing to read me a book.
She knows hows to read. She’s read me the easy, pocket books brought home each night from Kindergarten. Yet, I noticed that she refused to stray past those eight-page, one sentence per page easy reads. If I asked her to read one of her library books to me, she quickly shut down and became emotional. I didn’t know what was wrong and she refused to tell me. Then, Friday, coming in the door from school I started getting little hints.
“I don’t like reading. You have to have your spelling book open when you read.” (I know for a fact that my daughter loves spelling, so this wasn’t it. But it leaned me in the school direction). Finally, I realized that it was something about school. After more prodding, I realized that my daughter was afraid of failing at a task that was obviously challenging. The conversation when she finally told me,
“I just don’t like reading (getting increasingly emotional). I couldn’t read the word “outcome” in the class song. (Sobbing) And then I couldn’t read the word, “Constantinople”
She’s five.
How much pressure is she putting on herself to be a perfect reader? How much pressure do kids everywhere put on themselves at such a young age? Reading is something magical and fun – at least that is how I always viewed it. How can we get this love of reading back in the classroom?
