Reading Material

And so begins the first day of using the writing prompt book, and the topic for today is ‘Reading material: how do you pick what to read?’ This is one of those instances where I found myself marvelling at the fact that I’d never really considered this before. I didn’t know I have some set of criteria I apply when I’m looking for new things to read, but of course this has to be the case. We need some set of filtration device otherwise we just read everything. In the past this might have been possible, but with the wealth of information out there now, there’s no way any person could read all of it.

So what do I do when I decide what to read?

I must be honest and say that when it comes to fiction, I’m a sucker for a catchy cover. If it looks appealing and draws me to select it from the shelf before something else, then it’s already going the right direction towards getting read. This has changed somewhat with the introduction of eBooks which cannot lure me in with beautifully embossed covers or specially-cut pages, but the graphics and the general aesthetic still play a huge part. That being said, some of the most amazing books I’ve ever read have had completely nondescript covers. ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley springs to mind immediately. Even ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern has a fairly bland cover, but its contents are anything but bland. I suppose I’m proving the point of the old cliché, but regardless of this fact, a beautiful cover still draws me in. ‘The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet’ by Reif Larson and ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell both have gorgeous covers with content to match and I was enthralled immediately.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule and there are a number of novels with amazing designs that just don’t do anything for me at all, because the writing is, as far as I’m concerned, dull and lifeless. And I suppose that’s the real truth of it all: while appearance might lure one in, it’s the actual content that matters most. The design definitely works to get me interested, but to sustain that interest, there needs to be more than glossy and pretty pictures.

It’s much the same when it comes to digital content, I suppose.

When I come across a site or a blog that has been poorly laid out, where I have to dig to find what I’m really looking for or that doesn’t do what it claims to do, then I’m out of there. However, if the designer has taken time to think about how the elements on the page work together, has put more interesting things for me to follow if I’m interested, has avoided the urge of having endless things pop up at me, then I’m more likely to stay for a while and keep looking. Sites like www.edudemic.com and www.fashionbeans.com will have me going back again and again, because they have what I want and they give it to me in a way that makes accessing it a pleasure. Time is precious on the internet and if I have to spend time learning how to navigate a site, it had better not be too long. If I can’t find what I want in a minute or so, cheers. I know I’ll find something better without too much digging around.

I think this same principle applies to assignments and tasks I create for my students. If they are not visually appealing, it makes engaging with them different. Likewise if it takes my students too long to get to the bottom of what needs to happen, they’ve also failed.

It’s important to remember that our students are consumers who are growing up in a culture of mass consumerism. If teachers don’t buy into that mentality by making an effort to make their work stand out and be noticed, then it’s unlikely students are going to be all that interested in engaging with it. However, it’s also important to remember why we’re setting the work in the first place, and if your assignment is just a bunch of pretty pictures, you’re unlikely to keep them engaged and interested for very long.

A final point to note is that if there’s too much, people also tend not to want to read, and I suppose on that note, I had best end today’s thought.

More tomorrow, if you’ve been drawn into reading this, that is!