Blog 2- September- The Pleasure Principle

As a First Grade teacher, I have the privilege of getting the see the light bulbs go off when students finally learn how to read. It is a precious thing to watch a struggling reader remember the sounds and patterns we've gone over and over and over and be able to figure out a "hard" word on their own and start enjoying reading. I have students in my class who can't get enough of reading and ask me if we can just do nothing all day and read. You may think I'm making that up, but I promise I had a student this year ask if we could read all day because he loves it. It would be a very sad thing to watch this student's excitement die down when he got to the higher grades because he love of reading was squished because of filling in the blanks, writing reports and studying vocabulary and other reading activities instead of just enjoying a good book. This article has challenged me to make sure my reading area in my room is a cozy place with lots of resources so students can experience reading with the excitement and comfort that they should. I want to make sure I provide my students with plenty of time to just read and not feel like they are about to be tested on it as well as provide nurture and encouragement in their growing reading skills.