Tonya Hendricks Blog 2 The Pleasure Principle

This article is such a wonderful reminder of how important it is to allow the youngest of children the opportunity to read just for fun.  In addition it is important to give students the opportunity to choose what they are reading.  Throughout the day I provide my students many opportunities to be exposed to books and reading.  We have a group story time where I sit on the carpet with them and read.  Following that time the students and I usually talk about and discuss what the book was about or have a time where we practice our writing and drawing skills by having a writer’s workshop time.  This is a time where students draw and write about a book we have read in class.  In addition I also have many times throughout the day where I allow students the opportunity to choose books to read just for fun out of our book basket.  Whether they are sitting on their carpet square, table seat, or just curled up on the rug with a pillow, I allow them the opportunity to freely read books.  Although they can’t actually read the words in the books they are still excited by the time they have to look at the books.  It is so fun to first watch them trying to decide which book they will choose to read.  Some students spend a lot of time picking the perfect book, while others just choose the first one they can put their little hands on.  Once they start to look at the books they begin to smile, laugh and even talk to the other children around them.  However, it is clear when they do not like the book they are looking at because they quickly loose interest and start to focus on other things.  As a teacher I appreciate this article because it gives a new respect for the word “choice,” during reading time.  The “Reader’s Bill of Rights is a wonderful resource that I will implement in my daily reading times.  I appreciate the ideas of skipping pages, or not finishing a book, especially speaking of the young age group that I work with.  I also respect my student’s choices therefore the idea of the “right to read anything,” makes perfect sense when working with young readers.  “The right to read anywhere,” is also very valuable to my young readers because they enjoy laying out on the carpet with a pillow and a good book.  I truly appreciate this article because it focuses on reading as being a student led “discovery,” by choice alone.  When students have the freedom to choose then they are also being given the freedom to independently discover what’s in a book.  As a teacher this is one of my ultimate goals for my students, to learn through self-engagement and self-discovery.