Words on words

I've been thinking a lot about reading in general lately, what with
getting emails about the book blog, Isaiah starting kindergarten, etc..
I give a high priority in my own life to the written word. I'd rather
read a book than listen to it on CD, I'd rather read a book than watch a
movie most of the time, I love to sleep, but usually end up reading
instead of sleeping when I'm in the middle of a good book, I read while
nursing and while cooking, and I've been known to read at red lights.
I've always been this way: when I did the Book-It program in elementary
school (a free personal pizza from Pizza Hut every month that you reach
your reading goal), I always met my goal and I didn't (still don't) even
like pizza- I always gave it to my sister!
Many of my friends who like to read do not understand this all-consuming
desire. But then, I know others who do not like to read at all, which I
do not understand. Why is this? Talking and thinking it over, I'm
wondering if how one reads makes a big difference. When Nathan took a
speed-reading course at BYU he was taught to un-learn how he read. The
biggest challenge was to stop subvocalizing. It was at that point that I
realized why I read so fast: I have never subvocalized. It was a
revelation to me that other people actually said each word in their mind
as they read silently! No wonder it takes so long! No wonder it's
frustrating!
My mother has always read aloud to us, from the time we were babies
through college. She didn't read only books at our level either. She
read the entire "Little House" series to me, starting when I was a baby.
She read "Bambi"- not the Disney version. She read "Added Upon." She
read the Book of Mormon. When I would come home from college, she would
still read to all four of us. I learned to read before I went to
kindergarten. I learned phonics there (flat tire, flat tire, sssss,
ssssss, sssssss) but I believe I read the way I do because of her
reading to me. The 'whole language' approach to reading is currently out
of style, and I do not think that you can effectively teach reading
without some phonics; but I think maybe recognizing words as a whole,
not breaking them down into syllables and sounding them out, has a place
in reading. I believe this is how I learned to read and why I do not
subvocalize. I recognize word shapes (for example, the word good is
shaped like this: ┌─┘- this may not show up right, we'll see). I have
read that it is harder to read when THINGS ARE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS.
There are fewer curves and less variability of letter height. Word
shapes are harder to recognize.
There are a few problems with the way I read. I do not recognize many
proper nouns as familiar word shapes, so I gloss over them, remembering
perhaps the first letter. Thus, I can get lost when characters are
talking about other characters, since I have not attached a particular
name to plot events. I have to go back and look where a character was
introduced to remember what I need to know about them. Even worse is
that I dislike reading aloud. It seems so slow and tedious to me, yet I
know my children need it. I would love to provide them with the same
love of books I have. I certainly model reading to them, as 'they' say I
am supposed to, but I know I should read more to them as well. I do read
aloud to them consistently in one area: the scriptures.
We always read the Book of Mormon together as a family growing up. The
first time I read it myself was when I was challenged in Primary at 7
years old to be an ACAD kid: A Chapter A Day. I decided I would go one
better: I would read 5 chapters a day. I did- I read the entire Book of
Mormon in about 7 weeks that way- all except for one night when I was
too tired. I cried myself to sleep that night, knowing I wouldn't get
the ACAD award. My mom knew how much effort I had put into it and
promised a sleep-over when I was done, which I got before my 8th
birthday. A couple of years ago when President Hinckley challenged the
church to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, we took
him up on the challenge. Remembering that I had started reading the
scriptures at a young age and believing Isaiah ready to start, we
stopped listening to the Book of Mormon Stories tapes and started the
REAL thing. He was a few months over 3 years old. We read a few verses
every night. Around the end of last year or the beginning of this one,
Isaiah asked to take his turn reading verses aloud. We let him. He can
often read his verses entirely on his own now. We have just finished the
Book of Mormon and are starting over. Isaiah's teacher told me at a
meeting this week that she wants the school reading specialist to test
him and hopes to have him go to a first grade class at reading time. He
is ahead of every other kid in his class. I believe it's because of
reading the scriptures aloud.
Back to the beginning. Many of us who are avid, even voracious, readers
read because we have strong positive associations with reading. But I
believe it is also because we are good and fast at it. Perhaps you are
like me in that when I read, I shut out the world. Nathan knows that
when I'm reading and he wants to talk he has to get my attention and
make me put the book down first. My family knows I'm no good if I've got
my nose in a book. A favorite story of my dad's is me reading on the way
home from church, closing the book in the driveway, and asking the very
same question that had sparked a discussion that lasted the whole way
home- which I had completely missed, thus one of my nicknames:
"Oblivious". Were I a betting person, I'd wager that most of us in this
book blog read the way I do- not subvocalizing, dragging our eyes down
the pages and letting our minds catch up. Am I right?

Well that was an extremely long first post, and Isaiah is getting fed up
with mom typing and not playing. Love you all, Lynness