Introduction
This book is based on
my New Zealand experience as a teacher, consultant, editor, and educator.
That experience has been questioned, confirmed, and extended through
several periods of working in other South Pacific countries and in the
United States. However, my New Zealand experience is not unique. It
reflects the events of many classrooms at all grade levels throughout the
world.
In New Zealand a
reading program is not limited to any package, or series of materials, or
set teaching steps. “Program” means everything that is planned for and
happens in a school or classroom: the philosophy; the way it is
implemented; the resources; and the management of time, people, resources,
and space. New Zealand teachers do not restrict their reading programs to
one set of materials, but all material used reflects one set of
principles. Although the examples in this book are from the Ready to Read
series, developed and distributed to all New Zealand schools by the
Department of Education for use as a core series in the first three years
at school, the principles are relevant to any material which reflects
children’s ideas and experiences at any level of a school system.
This book is intended
to help teachers make informed decisions about the learning opportunities
they offer the children, and to ensure that children find reading an
enjoyable and successful experience.
WHAT IS READING?
There are as many
definitions of reading as there are readers, and that is as it should be.
Reading is a personal experience. Each person’s expectations,
satisfactions, and responses not only differ from those of others but vary
from experience to experience. Reading is a reflection and a refinement of
one’s understandings about life, both as it is perceived and lived. Any
book on reading reflects the author’s view, but that view will be modified
according to each reader’s experience and understandings.
Reading is the sharing
of meaning. It is interaction between the giver and the receiver.
Reading is the creation and recreation of meaning; and it takes place
through the nonverbal as well as verbal modes of language—through listening and speaking, reading and writing, moving and watching,
shaping and viewing. Reading is not merely a curriculum subject able to
be confined to any one period, for reading is part of any exchange of
meaning through text. However, most teachers do find they need to focus
specifically on reading and related experiences for some part of each
school day. This book is based on the premise that what happens during
reading time is affected by and affects everything that happens during the
entire school day. It also affects children’s views of themselves and
their world.
All power to those
who have the privilege of helping children develop their view of reading!