One of the most rewarding experiences of my time in the UGA SLM program was the EDIT6900 research class.
Growing up I was never what language arts teachers would describe as a 'reader'. I had little interest in novels and spent most of my time on the computer or playing a musical instrument. My only reading outside of the classroom was guitar and computer magazines, the TV Guide (back when it was it's tiny size), and reading sheet music (I could, and still do, spend hours sitting reading sheet music books, absorbing the information so that when I sit down to play the music come out smoothly). It was not until my time working in the college library that I discovered the joy of reading for pleasure through a library employee who acted as a mentor. When I began teaching middle school I noticed that most of the boys shared my same younger lack of enthusiasm for reading, but they did read soccer and wrestling magazines. When it came time to do a research project in my course of studies for my masters degree, my class partner and I both knew immediately that Boys and Reading would be the topic. Through researching the literature we found that most boys had the same experiences I did with reading growing up, and we discovered ways to improve boy's reading experiences along with new ways of thinking that are required to tackle this problem. In doing this project I was constantly checking off a list in my mind of the reasons I had been a non-reader. As I read the research about why boys do not like to read - reading material selected by mostly female language arts teachers, boy's interest in non-fiction subject matter that has not routinely been considered suitable reading material by schools, and lack of positive, older male reading role models - many of the reasons for my early lack of interest in reading became clear. What follows is the multimedia presentation we prepared on this subject and our ideas for solving this problem. It was, without a doubt, the most rewarding experience of my time in the SLM program. |