Ideal Reading and Writing Experiences
For me, the best reading experience is one where I am reading a book that I get lost in. I enjoy taking my time when reading a book (if it's a book that is enjoyable) and I really like it when I can relate to the characters in the story. I have many different genres of books that I like to read. I enjoy some mystery/thrillers, occasionally I will read some Young Adult literature, romance novels, biographies/autobiographies, etc. Whatever I am reading, I need to be in the right mood for it. When I was growing up, I would constantly be reading for pleasure. Unfortunately, as I got older and gained more responsibilities, I have had less and less time to read leisurely. When I read, I need to be able to concentrate on what I am reading. I also prefer reading aloud to silent reading. I am able to silent read a book and understand it, but I am a very auditory person and so I feel that I am able to absorb the material of which I am reading more, if I can hear what I am reading as well as see the words.
As I was growing up, I gained new confidence in reading as well as writing. I was constantly writing short stories and even attempted to write a chapter book a couple of times. My favorite core subject was English Language Arts and I was always excited to get writing assignments. This was the case even in my undergrad classes and is still the case today. Whether I am writing in a notebook, calendar, sticky-note, or even typing something in a Word document I need to be able to concentrate. Occasionally, depending on whether or not I have a complete understanding of what it is I need to be writing, I can allow for some background noise. But, it really depends on the depth of which I am writing.
When I think about the setup of how my perfect reading and writing space would look like, a lot goes into play. I like the lighting to be dimmed just a little bit. I don't want it super bright but I also don't want it to be so dark that my eyes have to completely adjust to the darkness before I begin reading or writing. Sometimes I can have music playing or the tv on a low volume in the background when I am writing, but when I am reading, I prefer for it to be completely silent. I can read or write in a chair, on my bed, on the floor, or even laying down. If I am sitting in a chair, it needs to be a comfortable one that won't make my body parts hurt if I am going to be sitting in it for a long period of time. Otherwise, I will usually be reading or writing/typing while sitting on my bed. When I am reading or writing, I prefer not to have food around just because I feel that it's a form of distraction and it's harder for me to read and eat at the same time. Typically, I will have some water beside me, though. It's just inevitable that I will have to move around a little bit at some point, if I am sitting for a long period of time. Just like children, even adults need to get up and stretch their legs a little bit. I can also be moving around when I am trying to get comfortable and my comfortability usually changes the longer I stay in one position. Since I prefer a quiet space to read and write, I will typically be in a space that is away from other people. That way I don't wonder if what I am doing is distracting to them and they don't bother me when I am in the zone of reading and writing.
If I am reading or writing about something that interests me, it will not take me much time to really get into the book that I am reading or the paper that I'm writing. For example, last semester, I took a class called Research Techniques and Procedures. During this class, we worked on a huge research topic (probably the biggest paper that I have ever written) and we got to choose the topic that we wanted to research. I chose a topic that had interested me ever since I was in undergrad and saw it happening in schools near me. The topic was Social Promotion versus Retention. I was very passionate about this topic and so I immediately enjoyed it and I was very eager to go through the process of researching and writing about it. When I am reading a book for fun or sometimes when I am reading a book for class, I can also get into the book very quickly if it catches my interest. For example, when I was reading The Hunger Games for an educational reading class during my undergrad classes, that was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed reading A Tale Dark and Grimm for my graduate class Literacy in the Secondary Schools. In fact, I enjoyed reading the first book so much, that as soon as I finished it, I went ahead and bought the second book in the trilogy. On the other hand, I am reading a textbook for a history or a math class, I am less likely to show instant enthusiasm as these are not texts that I frequently enjoy reading. In both of my graduate school examples, choice was an important factor to note here. Being able to choose what I researched and wrote bout in my research class and choosing which Adam Gidwitz book to read for our book club in one of my classes this semester really made a difference in whether I was truly going to enjoy the experience of reading the book and choosing which topic I was going to research made a difference in whether I was going to enjoy writing the paper. It I wasn't given the choice, but instead was told what I had to write about or which of the books by that author I had to read, then I would have been less likely to enjoy the experiences right away or even at all.
The best place for me to get lost in reading is a quiet place in which I have little to no distractions. Zero distractions would be my dream place to get lost in reading, but in a way, that isn't very realistic. A place where I can really concentrate and just dive into the book that I'm reading. I would need a place with somewhat dim lighting. A place that is not too bright, but not too dark. A place that is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. I am not sure if a place like this even exists. I feel like, even libraries today aren't as quiet as they could be because there are so many people who are typing on computers, whispering to their friends in between the aisles, dropping books, flipping through pages, tapping pencils, etc. For me, there are also usually too many people in a library and that can get a bit distracting. I need a place where it's just me and the book. A place where I can escape into the book with every turn of the page.
As I was growing up, I gained new confidence in reading as well as writing. I was constantly writing short stories and even attempted to write a chapter book a couple of times. My favorite core subject was English Language Arts and I was always excited to get writing assignments. This was the case even in my undergrad classes and is still the case today. Whether I am writing in a notebook, calendar, sticky-note, or even typing something in a Word document I need to be able to concentrate. Occasionally, depending on whether or not I have a complete understanding of what it is I need to be writing, I can allow for some background noise. But, it really depends on the depth of which I am writing.
When I think about the setup of how my perfect reading and writing space would look like, a lot goes into play. I like the lighting to be dimmed just a little bit. I don't want it super bright but I also don't want it to be so dark that my eyes have to completely adjust to the darkness before I begin reading or writing. Sometimes I can have music playing or the tv on a low volume in the background when I am writing, but when I am reading, I prefer for it to be completely silent. I can read or write in a chair, on my bed, on the floor, or even laying down. If I am sitting in a chair, it needs to be a comfortable one that won't make my body parts hurt if I am going to be sitting in it for a long period of time. Otherwise, I will usually be reading or writing/typing while sitting on my bed. When I am reading or writing, I prefer not to have food around just because I feel that it's a form of distraction and it's harder for me to read and eat at the same time. Typically, I will have some water beside me, though. It's just inevitable that I will have to move around a little bit at some point, if I am sitting for a long period of time. Just like children, even adults need to get up and stretch their legs a little bit. I can also be moving around when I am trying to get comfortable and my comfortability usually changes the longer I stay in one position. Since I prefer a quiet space to read and write, I will typically be in a space that is away from other people. That way I don't wonder if what I am doing is distracting to them and they don't bother me when I am in the zone of reading and writing.
If I am reading or writing about something that interests me, it will not take me much time to really get into the book that I am reading or the paper that I'm writing. For example, last semester, I took a class called Research Techniques and Procedures. During this class, we worked on a huge research topic (probably the biggest paper that I have ever written) and we got to choose the topic that we wanted to research. I chose a topic that had interested me ever since I was in undergrad and saw it happening in schools near me. The topic was Social Promotion versus Retention. I was very passionate about this topic and so I immediately enjoyed it and I was very eager to go through the process of researching and writing about it. When I am reading a book for fun or sometimes when I am reading a book for class, I can also get into the book very quickly if it catches my interest. For example, when I was reading The Hunger Games for an educational reading class during my undergrad classes, that was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed reading A Tale Dark and Grimm for my graduate class Literacy in the Secondary Schools. In fact, I enjoyed reading the first book so much, that as soon as I finished it, I went ahead and bought the second book in the trilogy. On the other hand, I am reading a textbook for a history or a math class, I am less likely to show instant enthusiasm as these are not texts that I frequently enjoy reading. In both of my graduate school examples, choice was an important factor to note here. Being able to choose what I researched and wrote bout in my research class and choosing which Adam Gidwitz book to read for our book club in one of my classes this semester really made a difference in whether I was truly going to enjoy the experience of reading the book and choosing which topic I was going to research made a difference in whether I was going to enjoy writing the paper. It I wasn't given the choice, but instead was told what I had to write about or which of the books by that author I had to read, then I would have been less likely to enjoy the experiences right away or even at all.
The best place for me to get lost in reading is a quiet place in which I have little to no distractions. Zero distractions would be my dream place to get lost in reading, but in a way, that isn't very realistic. A place where I can really concentrate and just dive into the book that I'm reading. I would need a place with somewhat dim lighting. A place that is not too bright, but not too dark. A place that is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. I am not sure if a place like this even exists. I feel like, even libraries today aren't as quiet as they could be because there are so many people who are typing on computers, whispering to their friends in between the aisles, dropping books, flipping through pages, tapping pencils, etc. For me, there are also usually too many people in a library and that can get a bit distracting. I need a place where it's just me and the book. A place where I can escape into the book with every turn of the page.
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