Let's Get Reading!

If you've been a Gateway student of mine for any length of time, you know what I am about to say. If you want to be a better reader, then READ. If you want to be a better writer, then READ. IF you want to be a better speaker of English, then READ English material. If you want to understand better what you hear, then READ. If you want to be better in math, then READ. Reading is a muscle that will improve every area of your life as it gets stronger; you will recognize, read, and understand more words and ideas. As you understand more words and ideas, you increase the choices you have to express yourself and communicate your own ideas to others. In the real estate field, they like to say that the 3 most important things are location, location, location. Well, in Gateway, the 3 most important things you can do for yourself to help you reach your goals, are READ, READ, READ.

Whether you are in Gateway to prepare for secondary credits, post secondary education, apprenticeship training, employment opportunities, or to become more independent, almost everything we do as adults has a 3-fold purpose: READ, UNDERSTAND, and DO.

First, we are presented with something to READ. It could be a school assignment, but it might be the daily newspaper thrown to our front door, store flyers that advertise their weekly specials, a user manual for a new appliance or tool, or a new recipe that we want to make for dinner. The list of things that we read is endless. But the expectation is that we will be able to read the letters, numbers, symbols, charts, tables, and graphs that are in these items.

Next, we must be able to UNDERSTAND what we have just read. This may seem obvious. However, I could read a story that is written in French to my children when they were younger and attended a French Immersion school, but I did not understand well what I had read to them. I could pronounce the words (badly according to my daughters) but that is not the same thing as understanding what I had read. So, once we can read the material, we MUST be able to correctly UNDERSTAND (or comprehend) what we have read which leads us the the 3rd thing.

Once we have READ, and UNDERSTOOD what we have read, we need to DO somethings with that information. Now, sometimes we don't actually do anything, which makes the reading somewhat pointless. So, it may be useful to ask yourself, before you begin reading something "Why am I going to read this?" "What is my purpose for reading the daily newspaper?" Is it to learn important information about the events of your community, country or the world? Is it to have something to talk about with your family, friends, or colleagues at work? Is it to find out how your favourite sports team is doing? Or is it just for your own personal pleasure? If you know what you need or want to do with what you read, it will make your reading time more profitable and more pleasurable. If we read without a sense of purpose, we will not make the effort to understand more challenging material. If we read without knowing what we are going to need to do with the information or ideas, we will also not likely make much effort to remember what we have read.

Here is another example of what I mean. My daughter gave me a cookbook for Christmas. Now sometimes I like to cook, but I don't usually have the time to make very interesting meals (which might be why she gave me the cookbook). It's a beautiful cookbook with detailed full-colour photos of the recipes that literally make your mouth water just to look at them. I was flipping through the pages admiring the variety of gorgeous foods, sometimes pausing to actually read the ingredients needed to attempt the process. Most of the ingredients I recognized, but several I had never heard of, and when I read some of the recipe instructions, they told me to do things that I had no idea what they meant. I could READ all of the recipes; I could UNDERSTAND most of the steps, but not all of them; the only thing I actually DID with the cookbook was enjoy the appearance of the food and the skill that must be required to produce such delicious looking dishes. Now, if I had actually wanted to DO these recipes, I would have been frustrated and I would have had to back up, search for the special ingredients, and look up what the special cooking instructions meant, and then likely read and reread the recipe and hope for the best!

As adults, we often get to choose what we READ, decide how important it is to UNDERSTAND what we read, and then proceed to DO something with that information. What are some other things we might need to DO with what we read? We might need to:

• read a bus schedule to know what time to be at the bus stop
• read grocery flyers to know which store has the best price on bananas this week
• read a manual to know how to assemble a new piece of furniture
• read a course catalogue to select the course that we want to sign up for
• read a map to determine the best way to get to a friend's house
• read a receipt to make sure that we were charged the correct amount at a store
• read instructions on how to safely take a medication
• read a movie review to decide if you want to spend the money to see it in theatre
• read a news article to decide if you agree with the policies of a politician
• read a parenting textbook to decide which strategies to use with your toddler who refuses to eat or sleep when you want them to
• and countless other things for countless reasons (including novels and plays assigned in school by teachers)

If you are convinced that learning to READ, UNDERSTAND, and DO something with what we read is important, then I am literally thrilled! Reading is an act of power, and I want you to be powerful because with that kind of power, you can change the world! Seriously!