Inspiring a Generation of Readers

Kimberly B. Matias-Reyes

When was the last time you read something? Traffic signs, long Facebook posts and Twitter threads are not counted.

With the amount of screen time we get from watching TV or being glued to our phones and computers, reading has become less and less popular among humans, in all generations.

When my grandfather used to be around, newspapers were in every corner of the house. My grandma owns full bookshelves of pocketbooks and a complete set of encyclopedias from A to Z. And as a kid I was so lucky to have the chance to leaf through their pages. In grade school, I felt proud to bring the thickest dictionary in school when we were asked to. In high school, I enjoyed reading young adult books with my peers. In college, I was almost always in the library.

And now as a teacher, what of readers.

The common misconception is that teenagers or the generation z dislike, if not abhor, reading.

But the truth is they do like reading. They read long messages in group chats. They engage into long conversations over topics on social media. They immerse themselves with different novels from Wattpad. Some of them even write.

Our students do love reading. Just not the materials we give in school. And as teachers we can all go yapping all day about how they are missing out on classics and how impatient and entitled this generation is. But we can only move forward by accepting the facts. Dealing with the problem and not just talking about it.

We already know that their comprehension needs work.

We already know that their vocabulary is limited.

We already know that they cannot, for the life of them, relate to classic if not ancient literature.

Now the question is what is the next step.

As teachers, we have a duty to provide learning opportunities that are contextualized to the identity of our learners, activities that are aligned to the given competencies, and lessons that could challenge our student's abilities. It sounds complicated. We also already know that.

But sometimes, the solutions are easy if not already in our faces.

Make them feel like they are connected to the text, just like how they are affected by the break up of LJ Reyes and Paolo Contis.

Introduce and engage them to socially relevant concepts present in the text, just like how they are so vocal online about the clownery in our gover nment .

Connect yourself to what they feel so deeply about, may it be K-drama, TikTok, or vlogging.

But most importantly, do not belittle them by emphasizing how inelegant, or unorthodox even, the materials they are reading for leisure, instead be thankful that at least, they actually do read.

And isn't that the point?

I aspire to accomplish is to inspire a generation

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The author is KIMBERLY B. MATIAS-REYES, Teacher I, English Department of Pampanga High School.