At a young age, around 8 years old my dad would tell me, “Christina, remember when you read you succeed”. As each passing year went by those words became real to me. It is so true! The more we read, the more we succeed. Let’s think about us adults for a second, when we read anything, aren’t we learning something? Yes! Whether it be a resource we can use in our life or not we just read something that we now know more about! Right? Keep in mind, Reading is a must!
I recall vividly when I picked up the Holy Bible and I was only able to comprehend certain things, OVERTIME when I began to read certain scriptures continuously, I then began to understand what I was reading, the connections between scriptures and relating it back to my own personal life! I use this example because it’s just not about reading to read either, it’s reading to come to a deeper understanding of what is being read. This is an extremely important piece for an adult BUT especially a student. Why? Well think about it like this, we don’t just learn to comprehend what we read, we learn to comprehend by rereading, with questions we may have or questions from others. The next time you are reading to your child, student or just listening to your child or student read ask questions. Questions like, “Where was (add character’s name) going and why?” “Why do you think (add character’s name) wanted to go to the farm?” followed by, “What makes you think that?” or “What in the story makes you think that?” these are just a few of the many literal and inferential questions you can ask. Literal questions are directly from the text, inferential questions would be thinking outside of the text (not easily given from reading).
I am passionate about this topic because we should begin to be more aware of allowing our younger kids and students to think outside the box on their own. Reading is one of the best ways to begin exercising this skill!
FYI, start from a young age so that it becomes a habit! As adult’s answers are not always given to us the first time we inquire right? We need to teach this to the future generation 🙂
