Early Engagement Research Paper

In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.

Reading can promote more meaningful learning. According to results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2004),

Once the basic skills of reading are learned, like vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency, there is rarely any more practice being done and most of the time is dedicated to the writing process. At the college level, professors have limited time to talk about everything, therefore reading instruction unintentionally yet easily gets ignored when professors want to move on and talk about other material. The article “Not Just for Writing Anymore: What WAC Can Teach Us About Reading to Learn” by Mary Lou Odom discusses the importance of reading to learn and how many students and faculty struggle with this concept. Odom emphasizes that students receive little to no additional instruction in reading once they have mastered the skills taught at

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was in elementary school, my mother would take my brother and I to the library every week to pick out books. I would take the books to school and read them all in one day. I loved reading so much that my teachers would call home and tell my parents that I was reading my library books during class instead of my textbooks. Reading has always been a major part of my life. I used to aspire to become an author. I even wanted to become an editor at one point. I used to make daily household newspapers and magazines for my entire family to read and enjoy. My strong love for reading certainly came in handy during my freshman year of high school.

After taking the literacy survey I asked my dad why he thought reading was important. He gave me a look that said I’ve told you this a million times and said, “Reading is the key to success.” This is a common truth. However, the real question is, if reading is so necessary, then what can I do to master it. After twenty-one years of life I cannot say that I know all there is to know about reading and writing, but I can say that through my experiences I have learned to love reading and it has made all the difference.

When I entered the third grade, I had a preschool aged child’s reading level. That was about four years behind my peers. With the new reading program in place and myself gaining a love for reading, I started to broaden my realm of books that I would try and attempt to read. By the end of the school year I was reading small chapter books on a fifth grade reading level. This greatly increased my confidence for reading and was no longer embarrassed to share my accomplishments. I was able to read material that left my mind in an imaginative place. I realized through reading at this age how much of a vivid imagination I truly had. I was able to paint a picture in my head as I read almost like a movie. This greatly helped with my level of reading comprehension as I dove into more difficult reading

Many of us go through our everyday lives not realizing the many things that have built us to become who we are today. We were blessed enough to grow up in a well-educated society, where we are constantly growing and bettering ourselves. We have taken this education or more so our “foundation” and utilized it to help build ourselves. Reading is one of the most substantial learning blocks, it’s something that we use in our everyday lives that help us reach our maximum potential in life.

A growing body of researchers claim that if students are not motivated and engaged in reading, they will not achieve their full literacy potential (Gambrell, 2011; Serravallo 2015; Warner, 2014; Irvin et al., 2007; Parsons et al., 2015). How and why would they read a “broad range of high-quality, increasingly challenging” texts if they are not interested? Research now shows that engagement and reading achievement actually have a symbiotic relationship, such that they must exist simultaneously (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000, as cited in Springer, Harris, & Dole, 2017). As students become more engaged in reading, they develop an increased level of competence, which supports their literacy achievement (Irvin et al., 2007; Springer, Harris, & Dole, 2017). As students’ reading abilities increase, they hold a greater desire to continue reading, along

The lack of interest in reading is due to many things, but tends to begin with young children. Schools and parents do not encourage their children to read for fun (Charleston). Parents do so because they were not taught to enjoy reading, or they do not have time. Schools, on the other hand, create an environment where reading becomes more of a chore than a fun activity (Denby). Schools do try to teach kids to enjoy reading, teachers will set times or page numbers for their students to read. A study on this method has shown that when told to only read a set amount of time or pages, children will only read the amount required by the teachers. The things that children read are normally not something they chose. This decision creates a hatred for reading in children, even if they loved to read before. “In many case, such as assignments make the students hate the book they have just read, no matter how

We all know reading is boring, time consuming, and compulsory. All though, most kids would agree with that statement, some may disagree. Some can say that if one does not read they can lose knowledge and become less smart. If you don't read there can be consequences for stopping. Reading is valuable because it gives readers the power to escape, to maximize their potential, and to strengthen their mind.

When I was little, I would enjoy reading books such as, Henry and Mudge, and also Captain Underpants. These were some books that I was able to understand because of them being less rigorous. As a grade school student, I was never the strongest reader. It was hard for me to understand and comprehend the material I was learning. In class, we would read short chapter books together as a class and take brief quizzes on the chapter then after. I believe the turning point to becoming a substantial reader happened when my family and I moved. I attended a different school in a different school district going entering fourth grade. Switching schools I think has benefitted me, and I think it was good I was still little because I felt as if the new school district I was in, District 303 in Illinois, give students more assistance and one-on-one to help us become stronger readers. When my class would start reading in class, I would step out of class and meet a

When there is a large incorporation of activities that are interactive with children at an early age with reading it allows them to make a connection that there is more than just words on a page. Therefore, creating enjoyment when it comes to having to read or be read to which is very crucial especially in the early years of a child so they would want to continue having a desire to read as they progress through their educational career. It is important for a child to not feel forced when it comes to learning to read because then there is pressure on them and a strong sense of boredom often found with the child feeling like it is nothing but a drawn out process of having to stare at a page of words, which can later deteriorate a joy of reading and discourage

Reading and writing isn 't and was never my thing in early education. Reading always intimidated me, it wasn 't "relaxing" like a lot of people had told me. I could never find a good book that caught my interest and that I wanted to finish. I despised reading out loud in from of my classmates. My problem wasn 't that I just disliked it, it was that I thought I was bad at it. I stumbled on words that seemed like everyone else knew. I was unconfident, unappreciative, and unmotivated when it came to reading and writing.

From time to time people have wondered why reading is essential. Why do we read? Do we do it for entertainment, pleasure, information, or knowledge? The thing is, we have done all of them at one point.

The correlation between reading and knowledge defines the supposed purpose and effect of reading. The opportunity to read has always accompanied people of different ages and provided a reliable source of knowledge. With reading, one will be able to grasp and originate new concepts, comprehend ideas, and pass our own thinking limits. Reading opens a new world of thoughts and imagination. Books never leave one’s side, and with the proper reading skills, he or she will be able to unlock a set of newly found emotions carefully woven into the words. Reading can sometimes be time consuming, but also become as relaxing as a walk along the shore. It has the purpose to nurture minds to expand pas the limitations to imagination