ONE of the readings I finished this past weekend was Ralph Waldo Emerson. I really like this quote from him: “Reading must not be passive.” An active reader is one who engages fully with the text. “As we say translations are rare because to be a good reader needs the high qualities of a good writer.”
Isn’t this what we are trying to get our students to do? Be active readers?
Years ago I learned from a very good teacher, that to be a good reader you need to be a good writer!
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I totally agree. Our goals is to get our students to be "active" readers!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how much our presidents, politicians, and literary authors valued reading and learning. They were continuously reading or writing. Similar to Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote, John Adams said, "Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write."
ReplyDeleteEmerson is one of the writers my kids most enjoy learning about because his ideas ring true. Yes, writing and reading shape us all. We need them to express ideas, to form ideas, to understand the reflections of others, and to understand the world around us. I encourage my kids to read and write daily in the hope that they will learn to love it. Emerson's ideas about reading remind me of a line from "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Scout is describing her fondness for reading. She said, "I did not love to read. One does not love breathing." If we adopted and then taught our students to adopt the concept of reading and writing being vital to our existence, what a change we would make in this world.
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