Blog Post #1 "The Pleasure Principle" Kristen Duncan-PE

For so long reading has become something students “have” to do, not something students enjoy or want to do. Students are forced to read this book for English class and they are supposed to have another book read by the end of the year.  There is never a time where the teacher says “we are going to spend 30 minutes reading, you can choose your book and a place comfortable for you, and I want you to dive into a book that you enjoy”.  If that were the case I think we would have a lot more students enjoying reading and a lot more reading in general taking place in our classrooms.  Nancy Atwell states in The Pleasure Principle that literate grown-ups who help children seek and find delight in books, give these students a good chance of growing into adults who enjoy and love reading.  No one wants to walk into a classroom with no color, all desks and chairs, nothing appealing and sit in a desk and read.  Teachers need to make reading inviting!  Who wouldn’t want to read in a classroom with dim lights, bright colors, beanbags, couches, soft music, and a warm atmosphere?!  I am not an avid reader and even that would make me excited about reading!  As a teacher I know if someone walks into my classroom I want them to see the most amazing and prestigious teaching going on, but maybe that’s where we are wrong.  Even though it’s not glamorous and exciting, maybe the sight of our students curled up, smiling, engaged in a good book is the key to higher test scores and increased intellect.

 It is our job to teach students for a lifetime, not just tomorrow and what better way to teach students for a lifetime that encouraging them to find a love and a pleasure for reading.  And why test everything??  Why would I do something for the love of it, just to know that later I am going to be AR tested on it or that I have an essay to write?  Why not just let them read for the love of it.  We read, we talk about it, we discuss it with peers, maybe even act it out, but let that be the “test” at the end of the book.

 I love the “Reader’s Bill of Rights”!  These give readers the ability to love what they are reading and not be forced into reading something they are not excited about.  “The right not to finish” is one that I was most drawn to.  As a student I remember being forced to finish a book even when I had no interest what so ever in it.  It would have been nice to have my teacher tell me I could find another book if the one I was in wasn’t interesting.  The other bill of rights that I definitely agreed with the author about was “The right to not read something”.  I think both of these rights go hand in hand.  Just like the right not to finish; if I wasn’t interested, I didn’t want to read it.  Having the right to not HAVE to read that particular book and be given a choice instead would have made me want to read more than I did, thus giving me more of a life-long love for reading.   

I believe the best part of this article was when Nancy Atwell was talking about how we reward reading and how reading itself should be the reward.  Why do we need principals dressing up like super heroes, ice cream parties, and lunch outside as rewards??  Since when is reading not enough.  One of the most exciting part of book is to let yourself dive into the book and be taken to a faraway place that you may never in your life experience.  Some of our students may never experience a Walt Disney World vacation, so to read about it and to put yourself in the characters shoes in their Walt Disney World vacation is like a vacation itself.  To let their minds go on an adventure and to use reading as a tool for happiness is the highest reward.