Sunday was almost entirely rainy, and I'd finished my chores and gone to the gym by noon. This window provided me the opportunity to do something I hadn't done in a while, despite being an English teacher: I brewed a pot of tea and spent the entire day with a novel. It was a thriller, Adrian MacKinty's novel The Chain (2019). It's a genre that reaches out from the cracked spine, grabs the sleeve of your shirt, and pulls you through each page until your reach the exciting conclusion. If reading isn't particularly engaging, I've found mysteries and thrillers to be particularly engaging. You can ask one of our librarians for recommendations.
Why do we have a school-wide silent reading practice? You've likely heard many different reasons, but here is why I stand by it, and why I ask you to bring your novels, newspapers, or graphic novels to class:
1. It can help centre us, in the middle of a busy day. I am often most calm and inspired after reading for an extended period, once I've returned back to reality after being engrossed in a novel. It reminds me of a quote from Markus Almond (2016): "Be the calm and centred version of yourself. This is the most productive and inspiring version."
2. There is ample developing research to show that our brains develop for the better when we are creating mental pictures, sequencing events, and reading between the lines (Carnegie Mellon, 2009; Goldman, 2012; Kamenetz, 2018).
3. Reading is experiential. It's not always feasible to go on a field trip to France or be a spy for a day at an escape room. When the author's writing is descriptive enough, it can feel that you're in that same space. Further, studies have shown that reading helps us develop our understanding of another person's (or character's) state of mind, and share those feelings (Rowe, 2018). This is called empathy.
My personal goal is to carve out at least 45 minutes of silent reading after dinner. I will do this on Sundays and the weekdays where I don't have evening training (CLE folk - do you see the strategy I'm using to goalset?).
Do you have a goal for reading outside of class?
What can you gain out of silent reading time?
If you haven't an exciting book, when can you make time to drop by our library?
Works Cited and Recommended Readings:
Almond, M. (2016). Motivational Quotes to Get the Blood Moving. USA: Brooklyn to Mars Books.
Carnegie Mellon University. (2009). First Evidence of Brain Rewiring in Children: Reading remediation positively alters brain tissue. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091209121200.htm
Goldman, C. (2012). This Is Your Brain on Jane Austen, and Stanford Researchers Are Taking Notes. Stanford News. Retrieved from https://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/september/austen-reading-fmri-090712.html
Kamenetz, A. (2018, May 24). What's Going On in Your Child's Brain When You Read Them a Story? NPR Education. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/05/24/611609366/whats-going-on-in-your-childs-brain-when-you-read-them-a-story
Rowe, D. B. (2018). The "Novel" Approach: Using Fiction to Increase Empathy. Virginia Libraries, 63(1), n.p.
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