16 December 2008

The Importance of Reading

The importance of reading
Getting students to read their textbooks is hard. Getting them to read books just for the sheer pleasure of reading is especially harder since kids just don’t seem to be interested in reading these days. Gone are the days when kids curled up with a nice little book when it was too hot to play outside. Today, students spend any free time they have watching TV, going to the mall, tinkering with their mobile phones or playing video games.Still, the many benefits your students could reap from reading regularly should make the challenge of making them read a small price to pay. Consider the following:
• Reading develops a person’s creativity. Unlike movies where everything is determined by the producer, writer and director, books allow students to create in their minds how a particular character looks like or imagine how a scene plays out. Reading a book therefore, allows a student to exercise and cultivate her/his creative thinking skills.
• Developing good reading skills can improve your students’ ability to comprehend concepts and ideas.
• Reading develops critical thinking, thus, ensuring that your students will be able to think and make good decisions for themselves.
• Ones’ fluency in a language and, consequently, communication skills are improved by reading.
• Reading introduces your students to new things and has the ability to broaden their interests. A student who reads a biography of Albert Einstein for example, may be inspired to take his high school Physics class more seriously.
• Reading regularly increases the vocabulary.
• Reading can develop positive values in your students. According to a study conducted in the United States for example, students who learn to read by the time they are in third grade are less likely to take drugs, drop out of school or end up in prison.
• One of the main problems of today’s students is their inability to concentrate on their lessons (a result of their shortening attention span.) A solution to this problem is to encourage students to read. According to studies, reading increases a student’s ability to concentrate.
• Developing your students’ reading and comprehension skills early on in their education also means that you are preparing them for the “real world.” Being able to read well means that they would have no problem understanding manuals, guides or contracts - vital documents and papers they will surely encounter when they join the work force.
• Spelling improves when words are seen in print.
• Reading also improves your students’ writing skills as they are able to “subconsciously acquire good writing style.
The fact that students reap great benefits from reading cannot be doubted or questioned. It is for this reason that teachers must instill in students a real love for reading and groom them into becoming lifelong readers.
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