tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51068492166300237.post5598349743870156708..comments2023-11-25T02:04:12.585-08:00Comments on Dr. Preston's English Literature & Composition 2014-2015: montaigne #3: on readingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51068492166300237.post-66183575169848217142014-08-07T16:14:46.278-07:002014-08-07T16:14:46.278-07:00Your mother is my hero. She gave you a gift that ...Your mother is my hero. She gave you a gift that keeps on giving! I may ask you to help teach and I would love to see this blossom (to borrow Breanna's word above :) into a Big Question. Here's another possibility: What if most teens actually don't find reading naturally repulsive, but struggle for the same reasons Breanna mentioned-- what if people actually love reading but marketers, social pressures, and/or school policies push us to the point where we can't clear our minds long enough to sit and lose ourselves in a good book?Dr. Prestonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08870733544828744669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51068492166300237.post-70217178862442217392014-08-07T15:54:49.322-07:002014-08-07T15:54:49.322-07:00Going as far back into my earliest memories, I can...Going as far back into my earliest memories, I can remember being read to. My mother always made the extra effort, whether she had just worked a 12 hour shift or not, to read to me and my brothers. My love for books and reading sprouted here. And with time it continued to grow, especially after being introduced to the magical world of Harry Potter. I honestly ate those books up, as a fifth grader I was intently determined to finish them in one sitting. I still remember that anticipating feeling in finally finding the next book in a series, after looking for it everywhere, the school library, the public library, and finally getting my hands around it! <br />It simply amazes me how the mind can create intricate images based of a few words, sentences, chapters.. Currently I am reading a series, fiction, and every time I stop to work on something else I find myself thinking, "I need to get back to that show and finish it, I need to finish that movie," but in reality I am just speaking about the images within my mind.<br />Like Montaigne I believe stories need to have "things," they need to de descriptive, include imagery, have (real and natural) dialogue and conversation and ultimately be a motely (of different 'things') to be amazing.<br />Books have influenced me educationally as well. As a child, I didn't have an expansive vocabulary. So when I came across a new word, phrase, etc. I HAD to look it up. It was vital to my understanding of the story so I HAD to know every word. This eventually became a habit, big enough that I would carry my beloved book AND a dictionary. And I must admit that I still do that today!<br />Books have taught me to be open-minded. If you step into the world of reading, as with anything else, with a closed mind you will soon find yourself to be bored, irritated, or about ready to quit and fail. <br />Reading was a big part of my childhood, and it still is a big part of my life, I take every free moment to crack open a new book, one that isn't assigned, and I truly still enjoy engulfing myself into an entirely different world. I cannot comprehend why kids and teens find reading, whether for entertainment or studies, such a repulsive thing.. This could be a potentially good start for my "big question." (:Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01300134877249369409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51068492166300237.post-50892886318798311462014-07-29T17:42:41.555-07:002014-07-29T17:42:41.555-07:00When I was in sixth grade we dedicated an hour eve...When I was in sixth grade we dedicated an hour everyday after lunch to reading, I remember feeling the breeze from the fan and the quietness/stillness of the room as I slipped into a whole new world while staying planted in my seat. That was where my love of reading blossomed. I remember reading my favorite book, The Book Thief in a matter of a week or so. Now, I don't think I could even read a 500 or so page book in a month! I hardly ever read not because I don't love to but because I feel like I don't have time to read with all the chaos in my life. But as I reminisce on the vocabulary that I spoke and the messages the stories told me, I realize the importance reading has on learning and thinking in a new way. Based on the excerpt, I believe Montaigne loved books that didn't follow the traditional formula he enjoyed reading words that flowed like thoughts flowed in his head instead of reading a monotonous jumble of words that sounded too scripted. Just like spanish classes in school teach you the "proper" way to speak the language, yet no spanish speaker really talks so formally. Personally, I would feel like I was speaking to a robot and not having a real conversation. Montaigne enjoyed reading stories that felt like he was reading an actual conversation and not just some scripted robot narrating because he felt a personal connection to the story itself, making it easier to get lost in the book. Although he loved the "fairy tale" stories, they felt real to him by the way the author described the places, characters and events.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17614203210347833732noreply@blogger.com