“We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it’s this wonderful adjunct…We’re still thinking in terms of enticing kids to read with a sports book or a book about war. We’re suggesting that they’re missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.”Ferriter continues and adds, Reading NONFICTION is not optional. Most kids read fiction these days and he urges kids and teachers to explore nonfiction content, especially for kids over the age of ll. He urges teachers to model interesting nonfiction topics by sharing biographies and adventure stories that really happened. Help students find books that support their personal interest is a great gift.
An aside: My son, Dan, hated to read when he was a pre-teen. However, you'd never guess what he was attacted to and consumed with a passion....The World Book Encyclopedia in our family room! Book by book, he read with enthusiasm, even looking forward to each year's updates. Today at 40 years old, he has the same kind of reading preference, looking up "stuff" to learn about things he's interested in....still no fiction for Dan!
Reading nonfiction is not optional. Bill Ferriter. 9.6.12. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Education - Literacy
http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/09/06/reading-nonfiction-not-optional/
