This article opened my eyes to the perception that adolescents have of reading. I am guilty myself of seeing reading as a primarily academic concept, even though I come in contact with a variety of media outside of the classroom. The questions that were asked in this study showed me how teachers can easily show students that they actually read more than they realize. By wording questions strategically, students can truly reflect on their interests and how they spend their time outside of school.
By asking students about their use of technology on a daily basis, teachers can not only see how they are using these technologies to read but also what technologies are used in their students' lives. I would say that most students have access to a television, computer, or phone, with many of them having access to more than one of these forms of technology. I would like to use this fact to have students interact in class electronically. From what I have observed, many high school students use Twitter on a daily basis. Twitter is a great way to search what is trending, and you can see what other people are saying about a certain topic. For example, one can search #quadraticequations and find what people are saying about this topic. When I just searched this, I saw one person say that it took him four days, but he now knows how to solve quadratic equations. He posted a picture of his work.
The best way to make students realize that reading is not as academic as they think is to reach out to where they are and allow them to read in ways that make sense for them. I would much rather read a description of the quadratic formula on an interactive website than try to memorize it from the textbook. By placing ourselves in our students shoes, we can find resources that truly interest out students. I want to focus on finding many different resources and allowing students to choose which resource they would like to use to learn more about topics in their course.
I agree that it is easy to fall into the "Reading is Academic Only" mindset. I also fall into that trap. But you bring about great ways to help climb out of that hole. I like how you incorporate social media (something integral in the students' days and lives) into how we help students read in the classroom. I think Twitter is a great resource for the classroom. And as you stated, you can simply search the trends and see countless resources that help students in the classroom. This kind of resource would be highly pertinent to this generation and would help them stay interested in the material.
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