Inculcating good reading habits in children has always been a concern for all
stakeholders in education. Now with the introduction of CCE and grading in
secondary education there has been a paradigm shift from getting marks at an
end of the term summative examination to the process of learning and acquiring
better language skills.
With everything – information, entertainment, videos and even books within
reach through the internet, it is indeed a challenge to convince students to pick
up books and engage with the author, story, character and ideas presented in the
reading passage or book. It is not enough to offer children what is considered a
good selection of reading text as merely presenting a good selection of reading
texts will not ensure that the child will read a passage and become a good
reader. A conscious attempt needs to be made to help children to relate to the
text in a meaningful way. Reading any text should be done with the purpose of:-
1. reading silently at varying speeds depending on the purpose of reading:
2. adopting different strategies for different types of texts, both literary and
non-literary:
3. recognising the organisation of a text:
4. identifying the main points of a text;
5. understanding relations between different parts of a text through lexical
and grammatical cohesion devices.
6. anticipating and predicting what will come next.
7. deducing the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items in a given context:
8. consulting a dictionary to obtain information on the meaning and use of
lexical items:
9. analysing, interpreting, inferring (and evaluating) the ideas in the text:
10. selecting and extracting from text information required for a specific
purpose.
11. retrieving and synthesising information from a range of reference material
using study skills such as skimming and scanning:
12. interpreting texts by relating them to other material on the same theme
(and to their own experience and knowledge): and
13. reading extensively on their own for pleasure.
A good reader is most often an independent learner and consequently an
independent thinker capable of taking his/her own decisions in life rationally.
Such a learner will most assuredly also be capable of critical thinking. To bring
books and children together is indeed a challenge, especially in today’s
environment of overexposure to media.
The purpose of inculcating the habit of reading among children is to create
independent thinking individuals with the ability to not only create their own
knowledge but also critically interpret, analyze and evaluate it with objectivity and
fairness.
Creating learners for the 21st century involves making them independent learners
who can ‘learn, unlearn and relearn’ and if our children are in the habit of reading
they will learn to reinvent themselves and deal with the many challenges that lie
ahead of them.
Reading is not merely decoding information or pronouncing words correctly, it is
interactive dialogue between the author and the reader in which the reader and
author share their experiences and knowledge with each other which helps them
to understand the text and impart meaning to the text other than what the author
himself may have implied. Good readers are critical readers with an ability to
arrive at a deeper understanding of not only the world presented in the book but
also of the real world around them. They not only recall what they read but
comprehend it too. Their critical reading and understanding of the text helps them
create new understanding, solve problems, infer and make connections to other
texts and experiences. Reading does not mean reading for leisure only but also
reading for information. The child may be encouraged to read on topics as
diverse as science and technology, politics and history. This will improve his
critical thinking skills and also help in improving his concentration.
The library in the school should be kept updated and a reasonable sum of the
annual budget should be made use of in buying books, CDs and reference
material for the library. The library, by strengthening its resources should be
developed as not merely a repository of books and information but a centre of
knowledge creation. Children should be encouraged to visit the library as and
when they wish to, a number of notices can be put up encouraging children to
read books, informing them of the various types of books available in the library,
even vocabulary building games can be a part of the library collection. In short a
welcoming and inviting atmosphere in the library will be the first step towards
motivating the children to visit the library and pick up a book to read. Children will
be encouraged to read if they see their role model i.e. teachers and principals
reading themselves hence before a book is introduced in a classroom it ought to
have been read by the teachers.
It is often seen that reading book projects are assigned to children in which
children are expected to read a book and write a report on it. Though the spirit
behind the assigning of the project is commendable, the project does not often
interest the students nor does it fulfill the objective which is to inculcate in
students the habit of reading.
Reading a book should lead to creative and individual response to the author’s
ideas presented in the book in the form of a:-
· short review
· dramatization of the story
· commentary on the characters
· critical evaluation of the plot, story line and characters
· comparing and contrasting the characters within the story and with other
characters in stories by the same author or by the other authors
· extrapolating about the story’s ending or life of characters after the story
ends
· defending characters’ actions in the story.
· making an audio story out of the novel/text to be read out to younger
children.
· Interacting with the author
· Holding a literature fest where various characters interact with each other
· Acting like authors/poets/dramatists, to defend their works and characters.
· Symposiums and seminars for introducing a book, an author, or a theme
· Finding similar text in other languages, native or otherwise and looking at
differences and similarities.
· Creating graphic novels out of novels/short stories read
· Dramatising incidents from a novel or a story
· Creating their own stories
Reading Project in schools
1. The CBSE is planning to introduce a Reading Project for upper
Primary and Secondary classes. The list of books recommended for
the Project is enclosed at Annexure I.
2. Schools may choose to use some of these books or others of their
own choice.
3. Schools can vary the level but at least one book per term is to be
read by every child.
Teachers may opt for:-
· One book;
· Books by one author; or
· Books of one genre; to be read by the whole class.
The Project should lead to independent learning/ reading skills, hence the
chosen book/selection should not be taught in class, but may be introduced
through activities and be left for the students to read at their own pace. Teachers
may, however, choose to assess a child’s progress or success in reading the
book by asking for verbal or written progress reports, looking at the diary entries
of students, engaging in a discussion about the book, giving a short quiz or a
worksheet about the book/ short story. The mode of intermittent assessment may
be decided by the teacher as she/he sees fit.
These may be used for Formative Assessment (F1, F2, F3 and F4) only. Various
modes of assessment such as conducting Reviews, Scripts, Reading,
Discussions, Open Houses, Exchanges, Interact with the Author can be
considered.
No comments:
Post a Comment