"A 'readerly identity' develops the enjoyment of a text and leads people and students beginning to see themselves as individuals who are interested in reading and thus encourages them to read more often and to put more energy into their reading lives."
- Teaching Children's Literature, It's Critical! pg 21.
- Teaching Children's Literature, It's Critical! pg 21.
I stumbled on this sentence in my textbook for one of my classes during the 404 Methodology semester. I gave the sentence a lot of thought and I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I do not have a strong readerly identity. In fact, I concluded that I am a reluctant reader. Don't get me wrong, I like to read. The problem is, I have a tendency of not finishing the books I've started. Unfortunately, the list of books I haven't finished has grown larger than the list of books I have finished. I've given myself this "literary diagnosis" because on the rare occasion I finish a books, I fail to comprehend what I've just read, which procures unfortunate results. For example, I read the 5th Harry Potter book in such a hurry to join the conversation that I completely missed a key character's death. The same thing happened during my undergraduate years. I would do the assigned readings, only to discover I did not understand what I read. As a result, I never participated in class discussions, which made my marks suffer.
Fortunately, this is changing as we speak. I am becoming more cognizant and more critical of what I am reading and I am participating and contributing towards class discussions and activities. I am nowhere near those people who an read a novel a week. (I have a colleague who has already finished 71 novels by the start of July!) Reading a novel a week is the kind of readerly identity I eventually want to have. But the only way I can get there is by picking up more books, getting started, and more importantly: finishing them and understanding what I've read.
Fortunately, this is changing as we speak. I am becoming more cognizant and more critical of what I am reading and I am participating and contributing towards class discussions and activities. I am nowhere near those people who an read a novel a week. (I have a colleague who has already finished 71 novels by the start of July!) Reading a novel a week is the kind of readerly identity I eventually want to have. But the only way I can get there is by picking up more books, getting started, and more importantly: finishing them and understanding what I've read.
Novels I'm Currently Reading: |
Alas, nothing at the moment!
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