A Response to “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” Essay

Summary washbowl Holt is a former teacher who shargons ain anecdotes in his demonstrate How Teachers Make Children hate Reading. Holt remembers taking a traditional glide path to tenet as a commencement elementary school teacher. He initially thought that quizzing students over assigned informations and requiring them to apply a dictionary to look up unfamiliar lyric was a high hat practice. However, a conversation with his sister challenges him to recall critically ab pop the effectiveness of his style, and he realizes his method actings were foolish (359). An avid reader, Holt recalls he neer looked up words in a dictionary as a child, unless the lack of a dictionary did non make him any(prenominal) less prehensile or appreciative of language. He, like umpteen other literate people he met, developed his vocabulary by encountering the same words over and over again, in different contexts (359). Holts understanding of what it weighs to facts of life a love of met er practice session in children from an early age evolves throughout the essay. He argues that reading would be a much enjoyable experience for children if parents and teachers allowed children to read stories that occupy them and not call them to understand both word or interpret e very meaning behind it. Critique I discovered several strengths and weaknesses in Holts argument. I check off with him that it is unrealistic to expect children to look up words in a dictionary to appreciate words.Holt is not against using a dictionary as long as the reader uses it a great deal to look up words that amour him or her. To look them up in order to fulfill an assignment, however, get out not promise vocabulary development. It is possible that forcing words upon a beginning reader will do more harm than good. For intimately children, acquisition how to read is similar to makeing a new language, and this skill develop improves with practice and patience. I also agree when he says we must s diligent not to embarrass students if they make mistakes this method usually causes the student to give up altogether. However, Holts argument at clock seems biased and over generalized. For example, he asserts that for nearly children school was a place of danger, and their important business in school was staying out of danger as much as possible (360). His implication that children hate reading because they fear making mistakes is valid, but I disagree that most of them view their teachers as literary predators.Childrens attitudes about(predicate) reading and education in general are affected by a get along of factors such as learning styles, personality, the acquired habits, and congenital and extrinsic motivation. To place the blame on us teachers in his inclusive comments about how we humiliate and shame children through our teaching methods is unfair because I can see of several examples where this is not always straightforward or was not necessarily right ful(a) during the time he wrote the essay. His suggestions about how teachers should respect and evaluate student authorship contradicts many another(prenominal) of the modern teaching guides I stupefy read, which posit that holistic grading includes teacher and student feedback. Application Holts essay allowed me to think critically about my admit teaching methods and reflect on what has worked successfully in the classroom and what has not. Many college students take English because it is a requirement and their attitudes toward writing are much like the first-year that Holt describes in the conclusion of the article.They are very anxious about their writing eve if they are strong importrs, and they seldom write for pleasure rather than for necessity. Holt discourages teachers from using reading as a tool for globe humiliation and promotes student-centered learning, which I advocate. While I realize there are students who face on being told exactly what to do for each as signment they are given, I have observed that most students amplify when they have control over what they learn and discover new ideas independently and collectively. This is pillow slip of learning is supported by supreme reinforcement. Rather than settling on any one way to motivate students, I realize that effective learning comes from an range of different approaches, and sometimes old-school teaching methods sedate are useful.Works CitedHolt, John. How Teachers Make Children abominate Reading. The Norton Reader. Eds. Peterson, Linda et. al. 13th edition. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. pg. 358 366.