"You need to broaden your wide reading."
Two months ago, a colleague at school made this remark to me. I was asked if I had read certain novels. I had not heard about many of them. However, some were classic novels that I may look at reading in the future and was "instructed" to re-read certain titles because of student interest or because of their place in the curriculum.
To me "wide reading" has been about spending a period of time e.g. thirty minutes or one hour reading, focusing on literature of interest but also challenging myself to read a variety of literature.
On a typical day, I will spend on average between one hour and one and a half hours a day reading books. I also read the newspaper for about an hour a day on top of my book reading.
My reading preferences are geared towards non-fiction, since I enjoy reading about the world that we live in and boosting my general knowledge including:
- Geopolitics (It has helped me understand some of the challenges facing the world right now e.g. Ukraine and China)
- History
- Poiltics
- Economics
- Business
- Social Trends/Current Affairs
- Biographies
When I choose to read fiction I prefer:
- Young Adult Literature (helps me with book recommendations)
- Storylines reflecting issues facing society (including diversity)
- Science Fiction
- Historical Fiction
- "Political Fiction" - Storylines focusing on politics
At times I have challenged myself to read items that may come from other genres such as Fantasy or Classics to help me recommend suitable literature to read to my students.
I feel thats wide enough for my reading
But some definitions of "wide reading" focus on reading a wide range of literature relating to a specific topic e.g. Australian History or genre and being able to understand and comprehend its content. Did my colleague see it this way?
What does "wide reading" mean to you?
