Practice, Practice, Practice!
Read
by Joyce Raatz
One
time I asked Coach Bell, “If one wants to be a great basketball
player, how many free throws should he or she practice every
day?”
He replied, “100.”
I
use this as a metaphor in my classes to show how to learn to read.
We need to practice every day if we want to improve our reading
skills. Renaissance Learning, Inc. —the folks who put out our AR
program—suggests that students read two hours a day for “optimal
improvement.”
I
realize that my students don’t always have this much spare time,
but I encourage them to read as much as possible inside and outside
of class.
In class we read silently, we read in
groups, we listen to others read, and we learn to analyze the
literature through the application of literary terms. We also do
numerous projects to help us comprehend and apply what we are
reading.
Here are some interesting things my students had to say about reading.
“Reading is fun!” ~ Kiley T.
“My favorite books are Holes or Steven King books.” ~Kurtis W.
“I think that I can read just fine, so if I can do it, you can too. No, really, I’m not joking. Do it, pal. It’s not hard. If you got this far, I think you can read.” ~ Forrest F.
“I like Lord of the Rings, action packed stories, and stories with fighting and killing.” ~Cole W
“Reading is OK.” ~ Evelynn A.
“My favorite book is Holes.” ~ Jordan S.
“My favorite book is The Outsiders.” ~Casei G.
“People in this world don’t know how important reading is. Oh, what the heck, reading rocks! You also need reading skills to go to college.” ~Shelby H.
“Reading helps with spelling and grammar so read all the time.” ~Dillon H.
“I thought the book Tex was very interesting. It was hard to put down at the end of the day, and I couldn’t wait until the next day when we read it again.” ~Kyle A.
“When I read a book, I feel like I am in another world. To become a better reader, read books. I did and look at me now.” ~Sheena O.
“To become a good reader, practice reading every day or the week-ends” ~ Tyler T.
“Books you should read are Doom Stone and The City of Ember. Those are two very good books.” ~Kylon F.
“To become a better reader, read the easy books first, then move on up the reading levels.” ~Justin H.
“Practice, Practice, Practice!” ~LaVan Y.
