Rethinking Reading

Reading is something I have enjoyed quite a bit over the past few years, but I really have not done much of it. Is that an oxymoron? I suppose it is. When faced with a book or asked why I do not read much I usually come up with great excuses for why I don’t/can’t read. Excuses such as...I am too busy with school, homework, life in general, or just too tired at night to pay attention to my reading. Things are beginning to change for me though after reading a book during Christmas break when I “finally” had the free time to sit down and just read, and I absolutely loved it. I read The Digital Invasion, which brought to light many of the effects technology is having on people, their minds, and relationships with others and God. The focus is bent slightly towards the youth and how they are living in such a different age than their parents are. One part of the book that really stuck out to me was about how people, and students specifically, are not able to think as critically as before because all their information is at their fingertips and they do not have to reason or think as hard as they used to in order to find answers. And when new information is learned, immediately another task is begun. We try to multitask and do not fully get engaged in the task at hand. This does not allow us to take time to stop and think about the information we just learned. If time is not spent thinking about the information or the brain is not allowed down time, the information is not as likely to stay with the person.

As a teacher, this kind of scared me. We have 1:1 iPads with the middle school students where I teach. Students are on their iPads often and more than often, they are on them at unnecessary times. (Hard to believe for middle school students huh? J) I need to evaluate the way I have them use their iPad so they are not just skipping from one app to another, but also actually learning one thing after another. 

After having those thoughts about my students as I was reading the book, I sat there and stared in front of me and had my own realization. I had by book in front of me with my laptop on my lap, iPad on one arm of my recliner and phone on the other arm. There I was, surrounded by technology and setting myself up for distraction that came my way. I realized that I often have all of these right next to me when I don’t really need to have them next to me. Granted I do not have a smartphone, but a text or call could still come in at anytime and take me away from whatever task I am currently doing. When planning lessons for school or writing a paper for class, the scene usually looks like was described above. I have all these devices next to me and am always moving from one to another. I get my work done, but is it the quality of work that it would normally be? Most likely not. Actually, definitely not. I made the decision to make some technology changes in my life and I hope they will allow me to have some more free time to be more thorough with school and have more time to read and reflect.

I received a book for Christmas, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, that I am now currently reading. After reading the first chapter, I decided to start writing about each of the chapters I read. I am going to take to heart what I read in the other book in making sure I take time to stop and reflect on what I am reading. Initially I was going to just write these on a document on my laptop, but a friend of mine and fellow educator recently urged teachers to start a blog. So here it is. It is crazy to see all the little things God put in a row over the last month to lead me to writing a blog. I know God leading someone to write a blog seems like not that big of a deal, but it is still pretty awesome. If you are not impressed by that story, keep following along and hopefully better stories and ideas will come around. I know for sure that the following post about the first chapter of the book will show some awesome things about God. God is a pretty amazing God if you stop to take the time to reflect upon it!

The following posts will be my responses to what I read in books as well as topics in the field of education that are on my mind as well. Hopefully this keeps up at a decent pace and I do not make more excuses that I do not have “free time.”