----- Original Message ----- From: "Bonita" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>I think balance comes into play here. My feelings about reading for fun >versus deeper value in reading change depending upon the group I am >teaching and the method I am using to teach. ...... Eventually, I want my >students to read for many reasons, as Gallagher encourages, but when they >have not yet caught any sort of reading bug, I find the need to focus on >the fun,... Maybe the problem we are having is our definition of "FUN".....A book that is a cliffhanger or page-turner can be fun, but so can a technical manual. Whatever we consider fun is going to vary based on our backgrounds. Whether it stimulates my critical thought or my funny bone, it still can be thought of as "Fun." Reading the BIBLE isn't considered fun for most, but it can be calming, comforting, and brings pleasure to its readers; but reading the manual for my remote control can bring me happiness and pleasure of a different sort. If I worked for a job that required reading tedious reports or manuals, I still gain pleasure eventually because reading those will make my job more productive and, hopefully, more rewarding with pay raises and promotions. >From Wikipedia: The pleasure principle and the reality principle are two psychoanalytical terms coined by Sigmund Freud. Respectively, the desire for immediate gratification versus the deferral of that gratification. Quite simply, the pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. However, as one matures, one begins to learn the need sometimes to endure pain and to defer gratification because of the exigencies and obstacles of reality: "An ego thus educated has become reasonable; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also at bottom seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished" (Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures 16.357). That's what we want for our kids. Bill _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
