I am an Elementary Education major at Mississippi State University. I am currently working on a research paper for one of my classes. I thought I would take a poll of as many people willing to participate.
My question is : What is Reading? What does Reading mean to you?
If you would like to help me in my research, please reply to my post.
I would greatly appreciate any and all comments.
Thanks so much
Leah
I"M not really sure what you mean. Do you mean what is "reading" as a topic in school? or "what is reading" as an activity to do? I would like to help you if you could clarify, or perhaps that's the point of the question... just let me know!
Reading is a couple of things to me.
First it's the ability to absorb new knowledge, different points of view and of course current events. It's about learning anything I don't know, and learning why others believe what they believe, and either being influenced by their views, or becoming firmer in my own point of view.
Second, reading is a chance for me to escape from reality. To put my own life on hold for just a little while, and live vicariously through a character.
(Unless it's a People magazine......in that case it's junkfood for the brain! ) :grin:
Reading is the ability to experience all possibilities thru the wonders of the written word. Being able to read opens doors to knowledge, exploration, joy, sadness, fear, strength, all the emotions of mankind. It lays before the person who can read the possibility of being able to travel around the world, into space, or into the past or the future.
I love to read. I learned to read in first grade, in a matter of weeks. It was like someone had given a starving child a fully loaded table of all the best foods. By the time I was in the third grade, I had read the entire school library. The teachers in my school arranged with the public library for me to have an adult's card, so I could take out any book I wanted, and more than they would allow children to check out. It was the best gift they could have given me.
When I read, I can step into the book. I become one with the story. I see the sights, smell the smells, feel the emotions. I am not escaping my real life; I am enriching it.
Reading has enabled me to travel to places I will never go, experience events I may have missed, or could only imagine. It has also make it easier for me to learn how the world around me works, how people think and act, and to better understand them and myself. Reading lets us find ourselves by showing us all the simple every day wonders of the world.
People are always talking about the various handicaps. Being illiterate may be one of the very worse, because it cuts you off from one of the greatest treasures. But it can be cured.
I agree with so much that Jacqueline said. When I was in grade school I was a semi-invalid (asthma). I identified strongly with the "Little Lame Prince" (good kids book) - reading was my magic carpet that took me away from my sick bed to realms unknown. I have always had an insatiable curiousity that only reading can assuage.
Reading has enabled me to constantly improve myself and add to my store of skills and knowledge. Reading technical books made it possible for me to become a self-taught computer tech and programmer which is now my profession. So in this case reading opened a door for me to change vocations that would never have opened otherwise.
And reading provides an escape. I still can get on that magic carpet and learn new things, go new places, or relieve stress by going places that only exist in an author's imagination.
When growing up, my parents owned their own business....Book Stores !!! At one time, we had 3 - and I grew up working in the stores, doing inventory and reading all the books I wanted to !!!! Both my brothers and I grew up with a fierce love of reading and it continues on today. I second all the reasons others have stated - for me it is a marvelous way to relax.......and the ultimate is having 2 doglets snuggled in with me as I escape into other worlds !!!!
Thank you all so much for participating!!!! This is great stuff for my paper. April, just tell me what reading means to you. What do you think reading is?
I hope I can use some of the quotes in my paper and not offend anyone. Do I have everyone's permisson?
Leah
Feel free to quote me - I'd like to see the final paper. Do you think you could make it available on line?
I second that !!! I would love to see the finished product also :hello2:
To me reading is a way to escape from the ordinary. A stress reliever because I could take a break from whatever was going on and experience a change of scenery. As a result my favorite types of books are science fiction, science fantasy and fantasy. I always loved reading books as a child and would save up my money to buy them! I still love to read books when I get the chance, unfortunately it's mostly school related now so no escape for me!
Reading opened doors for me that would never have been opened otherwise. It allows me to expand my imagination and experience situations I would normally never have the opportunity to experience.
To me reading is both a way to learn and a way to destress. I love to read and have since elementary school. Now we have the library on the next block and in good weather I am there several times a week. When I find something that interests me I love to read more on it and try to find different angle of it. Fiction is the way I destress I love to be taken way to places like Mitford or Harmony and see what goes on in the lives of different people, even if they are not real. I felt a pang of sorrow when I read the last book on Father Tim of Mitford, but am happy that Harry and Mrs Murphy still live in Crozet.
I think reading led to my first career as a library assistant because I want everyone to read and find something that would fill that empty place in their heart or mind. We have two new babies in the family and as soon as they can read or be read to Auntie Marcia will be buying books like Eloise(my favorite 6 year old), or Curious George. And when they are older the Little House Series and the Hardy Boys.
Reading is the best thing to make your life complete.
Sure you can quote me. I'd also like to see the finished product. I'll also try to get my daughter to post. When she was little, we didn't have tv. We read together constantly from her infancy. She now uses her reading skills for inspiration for her own writing. She's quite the budding author.
Thank you all so much for being so supportive. The final paper is not due until the end of March. But as soon as I have it completed I will post it.
This is going to be a long semester. Pray for me :pray:
Of course you may quote me. Good to see you didn't wait til the last moment to do your paper, as many do.
Well, first I will say that to me, reading is exercise for the brain! It is a wonderful way for me to escape my own reality and go into worlds that only your imagination can take you. It is also a great doorway to education. For example, there are places/cultures in this world who forbid women to read (or know how to read) because it will give them information with which they can make intelligent, independent decisions. So in a way, I believe reading is freedom.
I was wondering what you think about audio books or books that are able to be downloaded to Ipods. The Today show had a segment on books that are downloadable to Ipod this morning. It just made me think about the books we had to read in high school, and how easy Ipod has made it for kids to just download the book (Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", for example) and simply listen rather than read. I know that there are pros and cons of this new technology, but I just thought this was an interesting point to bring up.
That's an interesting point, Beth. I'd rather have the printed material in front of me so I can go back and re-read a paragraph and really digest what has just happened. It also lets me interpret dialog the way my own brain "hears" it instead of the way the reader on a tape "hears" it. If something funny happens in a story, I can stop reading to laugh out loud, read it again and go on. You don'thave that freedom with a tape or ipod. Likewise if something intense happens. I think that's why I never like a movie made from a book as well as the book itself. It's someone else's interpretation instead of my own.
Quote from: BridgetLouise on January 28, 2006, 10:40:15 AM
[Reading] also lets me interpret dialog the way my own brain "hears" it instead of the way the reader on a tape "hears" it.........I think that's why I never like a movie made from a book as well as the book itself. It's someone else's interpretation instead of my own.
I feel the same way about books made into movies. I always find myself thinking, "That's not how I pictured that scene in my mind" or, "I didn't imagine that character looking that way".