The Reason for this Project

Soon after I graduate from college, I intend to begin teaching English at the high school level. Throughout my prior experiences in the classroom as a student and a teacher candidate, I have noticed a resistance to reading that is common among students of all ages. While some reasons for these negative opinions of reading may be easy to infer or identify, I have always wondered what influences required reading in schools has on students’ perceptions of reading both inside and outside of school.

The project I propose will aim to discover what types of relationships students have with reading and how those relationships came to be. I am interested in looking at the attitudinal responses to reading, rather than the reading capacities of high school students. I seek to answer questions like: What are we doing as teachers that is turning our students against reading? What are teachers doing to motivate their students to read? How can we cultivate a love (or at least a tolerance of reading in our students?