David Riley is a talented writer for https://readingwarrior.com/ and teacher in Auckland. He is passionate about using stories of sports athletes to engage students in reading. We were very lucky to have him come and visit our Kura for the day and share his knowledge with students and staff.
He compared reading to a sports game. You need to warm up your brains, know your purpose for why you are reading, make connections, ask questions about what you read, summarise and think about what you have learned. These are all good reading strategies.
He shared the story of Ben Carson who came from a poor family in America. His mother told him after watching too much TV and getting low grades, that he had to read a book and do a report on it before watching TV. This changed his life, because by reading books his grades went up and his desire to learn about all kinds of subjects increased. He became an expert on dinosaurs and eventually became a Neurosurgeon and is now working in the Whitehouse.
One quote that I loved that David shared was “Reading will help you find out the gift that God has given you”. -Whaea Eliza