Reading is a life event. A true reader will derive two life benefits from reading: one is to develop a stronger learning ability, both to achieve better academic achievements, but also to learn and grow for life; the other is to develop the ability to independently construct their own life and life, to obtain a richer spiritual world and a higher quality of life.
Cultivating the ability to read for a specific, utilitarian goal is not only difficult to succeed, but even if there is progress, it is only to reduce the beautiful life event of reading to a tool that can be discarded. Reading not only determines the child's text comprehension and lays the underlying logic of the grades of each subject, but also reflects the child's concentration and continuous learning ability, which plays a vital role in the process of children's life construction.
1. What is reading?
Chinese dictionaries use "read (books, newspapers, etc.) and understand their contents" to explain the literal meaning of "reading"; cognitive psychologists use professional vocabulary such as neurons, coding, extraction, and meaning to explain the psychological mechanisms in reading behavior, interpreting reading as the process of visually accepting symbols in the form of words, charts, formulas, etc., and absorbing and processing them through the brain to understand the meaning represented by symbols.
Between the two, when we use the word "reading" in daily life to discuss human reading behavior, we rarely define what characteristics we mean by "reading", and everyone seems to assume that they use exactly the same meaning to each other, but in fact, they are very different from each other.
For example, if "reading aloud" is regarded as an important reading behavior, it implies that "reading out the sound" is a regular, universal form of reading. But as one of the important ways for human beings to obtain information, the conventional form of reading, the meaning of the universal form of reading. But as one of the most important ways for humans to obtain information, the conventional form of reading is silent reading without making a sound or "lip reading".
If it is believed that "finger reading" is a necessary auxiliary means for children to read, it implies that in order to learn to read, it is necessary to start with finger reading. But the fact that a person needs to move their fingers word by word across the page while reading is one of the manifestations of "dyslexia".
The idea that a child's participation in "parent-child co-reading" is that he is reading is even more a departure from the natural state of reading, because if a person is reading, it usually means that "he himself" is reading.
Therefore, when discussing how to cultivate children's reading ability, it is extremely necessary to first clarify the exact meaning of what we call "reading".
True parents believe that reading is the process of obtaining information through reading materials, but not the process of obtaining information by reading materials in any way is real reading. When we talk about a child or adult who has the habit of reading and loves to read, it actually refers to:
(1) He himself independently and freely obtains information from reading materials, without the help of others' accompaniment, explanation, or paraphrasing, which is "I read".
(2) He has a strong willingness to read, is very willing to read, does not need to be driven or supervised by others, that is, "I want to read".
(3) He can choose the reading materials, control the reading process, and obtain information from many types of reading materials, not limited to a fixed type of reading, that is, "I can read".
(4) He can carry out reading activities for a relatively long time and benefit from it for a long time, that is, "I keep reading".
When people talk about reading, the value of reading, and the beauty of reading outside the scope of children's reading, they refer to this state of reading, which is also the natural state of mature readers when they read, which is what we call "true reading".
Children's reading should naturally not be separated from this state. Reading punch cards, parent-child reading, picture book reading, reading aloud, and finger reading all deviate from the original meaning of reading to a large extent. If a child's reading activities are not active, free, accompanied, supervised, indoctrinated, and trained, they cannot smoothly develop into true reading.
When discussing the cultivation of children's reading ability, in order to distinguish it from most of the current situation of children's reading, true parents call this state "independent reading" - an active reading activity that is independently and controlled by a person, including four elements: I read, I want to read, I can read, and I continue to read.
2. Personalized free reading
For a true reader, reading is a free private activity carried out purely according to his own will - by himself, he reads what he wants, reads whenever he wants, reads as much as he wants, reads as much as he wants, does not need to be accompanied by others, does not need to be reported to others, does not need to be explained and relayed by others, he independently gains from reading, and his harvest does not need to be judged by others whether it is enough and good enough.
A mature reader will also develop his own reading skills in the long-term practice of reading, he knows how he wants to read, and he knows how he can read.
Some people like to make a lot of cards, some people never make cards; some people make reading notes every time they read a book, some people never take notes; some people like to write book reviews that they have read, some people love to read books but never write book reviews; some people like to enjoy good books silently, some people like to discuss and share the reading results with others; some people like to chew words when they read, some people like to look at ten lines when they read... These are the readers' own reading techniques, as well as their own reading freedom. When there is a need, a mature reader will also actively learn new reading techniques, but no one can force them to learn some "essential" method.
It is not difficult for an adult to obtain such rights, because he instinctively defends his rights and has the ability to resist interference from others, and most adults understand that it is rude and offensive to interfere with or even criticize the reading of others.
But it will be much more difficult for our children to gain the rights of a reader, to protect their reading life, and to make reading a personal activity based entirely on their own will. When the child is still young, many parents believe that the child cannot read the book if he is illiterate, and he must be read or explained by the parents to read or explain. As a result, children lose their right to read. When the child can read on his own, many parents think that the child himself will "not read well" and always try to intervene in the various processes of the child's reading.
Choose a book for your child: this book, you should read this book; which is not good, you do not read.
Make a plan for your child: We read this book today, and we read that book tomorrow.
Set goals for our children: We're going to finish these books this semester.
Stipulate the "standard actions" of reading for children: you have to take notes, excerpt good words and sentences, and write after reading feelings; you must concentrate on reading a book, not half-hearted; you must read faster, so as to improve efficiency; when reading, you must focus on the content of the book, and you can't think about the east and west... Control your child's reading gains: This book is about this, you understand it so well, I'll tell you...
The child thus loses the right to decide "what to read" and "how to read." Parents hope to use these guidance, supervision, examination, and criticism to create the ideal reading life of parents for their children, but the direct result is often that children regard reading as the "homework" assigned by their parents.
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