The main concept to take away from the IRA Position Statement is that it is the job of the teacher to constantly immerse the children in reading and literacy. Every aspect of the school day should have, imbedded within it, various literacy ideas so that the children are able to easily develop the skills they need to be excellent readers! Learning to read is similar to people who are learning a new language. The easiest way to become fluent in a different language is to go to the native land of the language and become immersed in the customs, culture and environment of the language. It can be intimidating and overwhelming to be an outsider trying to quickly learn such an intricate concept. Teachers must understand this as they approach the task of teaching their students how to read. By making reading fun and exciting, with various activities and methods, the children will be less intimidated and more eager to learn to read. What are some ideas for teachers to implement in the their classroom to make reading exciting and fun?
I like your reference to learning a new language. It is definitely true that learning to read is just like that! You make a good point in saying that they must be immersed into it to get the best results, otherwise if they only study it every now and then it would be much harder for the material to actually stick into the child's mind!
ReplyDeleteI had never thought of learning to read being like learning a language. When I think about it, children really are being immersed into something very foreign to them. If a child has had little background in reading at home, coming into a school where reading is such a large part of the curriculum must be very intimidating and overwhelming. I'm so glad that you equated the two situations because it has really made me think of reading in a new light!
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