Affective Dimensions of Reading

Reading has never been my strongest attribute.  I would never classify myself as a "good reader." Not because of my ability as a reader, but because of my reading habits.  I would describe myself as an analytic reader.  If I am reading, I read exclusively.  I never developed a skill for skimming.  It is not in my nature nor do I understand how people "skim" a reading.  I have no idea how one can do this.  I attribute this characteristic of myself to the lack of interest I have in reading.  I am not typically in the middle of a good novel, nor am I waiting the arrival of the next book in a series, but you will find me piecing apart an article about round-up ready alfalfa, or the research found on weight gains in cattle.  As you see, I am a reader for information that I want to know about.  If there is something that makes me curious or that I find interesting I could read for hours.  To many reading this post you may find me to be extremely weird, but I my say the same about you.  However, I understand and appreciate all types of readers.  The majority of my family reads for entertainment and nothing more.  I see the benefits of this and sometimes wish that I would be more interested in reading a novel, but then I just have to realize that it is not me.  All students are different.  Had I received the opportunity to read research articles rather than novels in high school, I may have read more. The time that it took me to realize this characteristic about me would have been less strenuous.  This is something that I need to realize in my own classroom.  We all have a different style and preference for reading.  As a teacher we should not play to students' weakness and force them to conform to the style that we perceive to be better, we must give them a chance to excel in the path that they deem as their own.  Students should own their literacy and learning, we can not force it we can only facilitate it.