Developing a Reading Culture

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary” – Jim Rohn.

Yes, if you want to become successful in your life, then you have to read. Reading opens the door to grow and develop with confidence.

I joined The Cathedral Vidya School in August 2019. They have a big, spacious duplex library with a robust collection of resources.  

The school has beautiful surroundings, filled with nature – mountains, trees, and pleasant weather. I feel blessed. 

Building a Reading Culture

With this healthy environment, I decided to promote a culture of Reading – there was no excuse. I started to build a reading culture within the students and slowly will start with teaching staff and parents as well.

We have library lessons regularly for year 5 to DP 2 students. I strive hard to make stories come alive, so students are enthused to read and learn.

Library lessons

 With each little experience, I slowly became successful in achieving my goals. I started with short stories to build children’s interest. Earlier, it would take a long time, now it’s more comfortable, and children look forward to Reading. Then, I started introducing different activities like a brief description of characters, giving children to create a cover page, while writing a paragraph about the author. 

Book summaries and more

Book summaries, storytelling are some of the activities which spread to other classes too. We now have a Fiction Club open to year 5 to DP students and are lead by a diploma student Arsh Kabra. The fiction club encourages creative writing and is supervised by me. Students learned how to write a story using different criteria. It was a learning experience, and I learned many things, too, from my interaction and creative ideas of the group.

Teenagers and Reading

Promoting Reading has a significant impact on children, teenagers, and adults in their futures. Reading helps children develop vocabulary skills; it helps them to understand the writer’s point of view. Reading builds children’s confidence and speaking skills. Reading helps to understand the environment of society. Children can discuss any topic without fear.

Teenagers are very self-oriented, attraction seekers. They pay more attention to their personality; Reading helps them develop their confidence; it helps them become decision-makers. Sometimes a book or author can change their life. Reading helps them think critically and out of the box. 

Developing a Reading Culture

There are many aspects of developing a reading culture like 

• Teaching staff member, who reads, can have a discussion on their favourite books with students. It helps to promote Reading. They can recommend books to read.
• Schools that give importance to Reading aloud daily will develop students reading interest, speaking, and reading fluency.
• Schools that promote independent Reading through a silent reading session every day in the classroom can support the habit of Reading.
• Even we can encourage reading differently. By displaying book boards, authors visit and children’s expressive works.
• Also, we can involve parents to engage in Reading. Parents can write blogs, discussions with teachers, and students. Even they can share essential tips via emails.

Reading enhances the knowledge of the readers. Join me to promote Reading and developing a reading culture at your school.

By Manjuushaa Maadiwaley