Reading Flash Mob and Speech

Today was an amazing day in the life of Guyan Valley Middle School.  Not only was it Dr. Seuss' birthday, it was also "Read Across America." Teachers and students kicked off a week long celebration of reading events with student videos, words from the student council president, and a flash mob.

GVMS' student council president delivered a wonderful speech about reading and was truly inspiring to not only her peers, but also to the faculty of GVMS:

Reading is more important now than ever in today’s society. If you cannot read, well then you will find it hard to have a successful career, earn people’s respect, or even operate in your daily life.

The importance of reading grows more and more every day. With all of the technology we have today, people think that they don’t need to read as much; when you probably need to be able to read better.

Reading is a fundamental to function in today’s world. You have to be able to read to go places, shop, or even play games. Everything requires you to be able to read.

Also, reading is a vital skill in finding a good career. Once you get older and need money, you will need a job. Most well paying jobs require reading as a part of the job’s performance. A person is limited in what they can accomplish without good reading skills.

Being able to read, helps you do everything in life; from your education, to your extracurricular activities. Everything requires you to be a good reader.

Here are a few statistics I found:

56% of young people say they read more than 10 books a year, with middle school reading the most. Some 70% of middle school students read more than 10 books a year, compared with only 49% of high school students. Guyan Valley, do you think we are there yet?

50% of American adults are unable to read an 8^th grade level book.

A child, who reads on level by the 3^rd grade, is 85% more likely to graduate from high school.

My final thought to you:

As a child I loved to read Dr. Seuss books. They were very entertaining and made reading fun! That is what you need to do. Find a piece of literature that isn’t too easy or too hard and read it! You will have fun and just might learn a thing or two.

This quote is by my favorite author, Dr. Seuss.

“The more that read the more things that you know. The more that you learn the more places you will go.”

Thank you.

L. Prichard, 8th Grade

(Working on embedding the video.  For now, please follow this link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2jhmBVrAA8&feature=colike