Readers--When did you fall in love with books?

[TooPatient]

Date: 9/18/2009 2:13:20 PM
Author: Black Jade
Rather easy to do nowadays. I had a lot of students who had never read a book. They weren''t reading Cliff Notes either. that would ALSO be reading.
They watched the movie version, sometimes.
But you can get through school without reading nowadays just fine--it gets easier and easier to do. Before college, you listen to class discussions on the book. Then, it''s a multiple choice test (scantron, you know, the teachers have no time to grade), you have a good cha ce of passing. If its a test where you actually have to WRITE (something that many also cannot do nowadays) chances are good that it''s a couple of paragraphs and that what they will ask for are YOUR FEELINGS about something in the text. All the students know all the politically correct things that they are supposed to feel about everything to get a good grade and can put these dow n (albeit, misspelled and with not much grammar) at a moment''s notice. Without any thought at all. In college classes, textbooks have more and more pictures, and those little boxes with a few crash facts and your professor is likely using powerpoint presentations a nd passing out the printouts of said presenatations, so you don''t actually have to take notes. Research is all done on the internet (try convincing them that wikipedia is not a valid source) and often consists of copy pasting large blocks of texts and fitting the together (with some minimal kind of attribution).

OUr students (at a quite well respected college) never had to read a whole text of anythi g--when we did the Aeneid, for instance, that meant chapter 4 (Chapter 4 being notoriously easy to read from a good feminist angle--not what Vergil meant, but it''s what students can understand well) ''Shakespeare'' might be a sonnet, which you would have to translate from English into 21st century speak--I''m not exagerrating. I wish I were. We have lived through a loss of literacy (people 40 and older) which is actually worse that what took place at the fall of the Roman Empire when the Dark Ages began and while there is an elite which still knows how to read its a rarer and rarer skill. As for writi ng--this is why ''English major'' has gone from being somethi ng you did if you didn''t expect to have to get a job, to one of the most desirable diplomas out there. Employers assume that if you did this, you might know how to write at least a little bit, a skill now very scarce on the ground.

That is what happened in high school and the year of college I did. (not me personally, my standards for myself were always much higher than the requirements)

One of the better examples is when we read one of Shakespear''s plays. 3/4 of the class sat an listened to the other 1/4 read parts. The teacher would stop them sometimes and have us all skip some number of pages because "they are just too difficult for you to understand and they aren''t important anyway."
This was a world literature course. Supposed to be one of the more advanced classes.

Another time, he mentioned 10 Angry Men. Said that the movie follows very closely so we would watch the movie in class. If we wanted, we could read it in our own time.

 

[Haven]

Date: 9/18/2009 3:13:20 PM
Author: TooPatient

Date: 9/18/2009 2:13:20 PM
That is what happened in high school and the year of college I did. (not me personally, my standards for myself were always much higher than the requirements)

One of the better examples is when we read one of Shakespear's plays. 3/4 of the class sat an listened to the other 1/4 read parts. The teacher would stop them sometimes and have us all skip some number of pages because 'they are just too difficult for you to understand and they aren't important anyway.'

This was a world literature course. Supposed to be one of the more advanced classes.

Another time, he mentioned 10 Angry Men. Said that the movie follows very closely so we would watch the movie in class. If we wanted, we could read it in our own time.

Not all English teachers are this negligent. Even the laziest teachers I've known were not this bad.

 

[TooPatient]

Date: 9/18/2009 3:17:17 PM
Author: Haven

Date: 9/18/2009 3:13:20 PM
Author: TooPatient

Date: 9/18/2009 2:13:20 PM
That is what happened in high school and the year of college I did. (not me personally, my standards for myself were always much higher than the requirements)

One of the better examples is when we read one of Shakespear''s plays. 3/4 of the class sat an listened to the other 1/4 read parts. The teacher would stop them sometimes and have us all skip some number of pages because ''they are just too difficult for you to understand and they aren''t important anyway.''

This was a world literature course. Supposed to be one of the more advanced classes.

Another time, he mentioned 10 Angry Men. Said that the movie follows very closely so we would watch the movie in class. If we wanted, we could read it in our own time.

Not all English teachers are this negligent. Even the laziest teachers I''ve known were not this bad.

I''ve had a few great teachers. They are out there.

For the people lucky enough to get into their classes, it is a great experience. Challenging and interesting.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 9/18/2009 3:13:20 PM
Author: TooPatient

Another time, he mentioned 10 Angry Men. Said that the movie follows very closely so we would watch the movie in class. If we wanted, we could read it in our own time.

There has definitely been a decline; even the number of men has diminished since I was in school! I think we are down two men.

AGBF

 

[Shoopy]

I was probably around 8. My dad worked in Manhattan and during the summer he would bring me $1 books that they sold on the street. My first book was Little Women. And the exciting part was finishing the book and wondering what book he would surprise me with next. I loved reading a lot that summer.

My dad was a huge fan of reading. He and my aunt used to have reading competitions. Whoever finished the book first would get to pick the next book. My dad hated when my aunt won because she always picked romance novels lol

I haven''t read through the responses so maybe someone has suggested this already but we should do a PS book club. I think that would be fun

 

[HopeDream]

When I was 5 my dad read The Hobbit to me - It was wonderful! I was captivated.

He also read Roald Dhal books, Michael bond (Paddington Bear) - (When we finished Olga da Polga we got a guinea pig!) , and Nancy Drew. We tried Watership down, but found it too disturbing.

In grade three I was chewing through the babysitter's club books, and Nancy Drew etc. I realy enjoyed the bunicula series. Also, Bruce covill and Judy Blume.

In my area we had the "book it" program sponsored by pizza hut -during the school year kids in grades 1-7 would make reading goals each month, and then if they met them, they'd get a free personal pan pizza at the end of the month. (I ate so much pizza!)

Our elememtary school district also had "The Battle of the Books" a list of 12 excellent books was set and teams of 3 would read them and then face off against each other answering trivia questions about the plots and characters of the books - it was fun!

My reading has realy dropped off due to university, but I've been listening my way through the works of Agatha Christie during hours of mindless data entry for my research projects

I hope to be able to read more books again soon!

 

[Lynnie]

Someone mention HIghlights - man, that brought me back!! My favorite thing about the Dr's office or dentist was Highlights!

I've loved books for as long as I can remember. Even before kindergarten, I begged my parents for books I saw on Reading Rainbow!
I really got into reading around 8-9... I tore up the Babysitters club, Sweet Valley High, and Nancy Drew.

Anyone remember those create-your-own-ending books? Those were my favorite! You'd read a chapter, and at the end, it would tell you, "If you think Johnnie should walk through the door, turn to page 26. If you think Johnnie should continue down the hall, turn to page 33".

I can't believe some people can get through school without having to read! I think I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the 8th grade (one of my faves of all time).