Another new Readicide strand: Creating a reading culture in our schools

[Kelly Gallagher]

Many of the early responses have centered around the idea that our schools have drifted away from providing students with high-interest reading materials. I am hearing that many teachers themselves do not read. I am hearing that funding is being earmarked for academic texts only.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Solutions?

[RHE]

n Readicide, I argue that the current emphasis on standardized testing is playing a major role in the killing of the love of reading. Do you agree? Disagree?

Yes, I agree. From the castigated state of Texas, we are killing reading among the less successful readers. I am jointly reading and re-reading Readicide along with The Book Whisperer. My students (80) this year all passed the Writing test (first time in five years!!) and 94% passed Reading. I am convinced my low readers barely sequeaked by or failed because they do not read. Our district has a set SSR time, but as a 7th grade teacher trying to revive writing after 3 years of neglect, I cheat. My observation is my some of my pre-AP kids read, but most kids are afraid to read. If you can't sit still to read, then I get the behavior issues. I am really pressing my Assistant Principal to give us a remediation for the students who can't get with the program of SSR.

I currently require 2 book reports a nine week term, and a weekly reading log. In reading The Book Whisperer, my program is prejudiced towards fiction. I also see the value in letting a struggling reader start with Garfield or graphic novels. (Neither are consider acceptable by our district, though they are in the library, and attract kids like moths to light.) So I am really trying to process how to take both of these books and make my Reading more effective. I also have to balance in my grading so I don't kill myself with the assessment of reading. I guess it boils down to how do you get a 7th grader to read for fun without holding them accountable to produce something. I do like the One Pagers!

• Can anyone share specific examples/anecdotes that illustrate this harmful connection?

My specific example is we waste time plotting our students weak skills (Reading and Writing) into Excel spreadsheets, which then should drive the selection of practice passages that "assess" or "test" those skills. But with 80 students and 20 something skills, you get a sparse array (go ask the your Math Buddies!!), and can't figure out how to make the appropriate passage the work of the day. SOOO you give everyone the passage, that most of them missed, and hope for the best.

• Is academic reading drowning recreational reading? Does your school system put enough emphasis on providing high-interest, high-quality recreational reading materials for your students? Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?

Yes, academic reading is drowning out recreational reading. I don't think we actually have enough reading material for a campus of 1500 students. But Texas is a library-poor state. My wife is a library director for a city in our metro area, and while she is one of the top libraries of her size, her budget pales when compare to similar communities in other states.

• What we can we do to counter the Readicide approach? What has worked for you? I am pressing my administrators to read Readicide and The Book Whisperer.

Thanks for this book club.

[Denee Tyler]

One of the main frustrations I have is that my students themselves think that they should only be reading academic texts and that recreational reading is a guilty pleasure that they have to give up to succeed.

I have students who still love to read but say that they don't have time to read because they are too busy with schoolwork. They don't consider recreational reading to be educational. It doesn't help that they are attending an early college high school that focuses on math and science. There is general feeling throughout the school that math and science are where their focus needs to be, and English is just a subject that they need to get through so they can graduate from high school.

[glenda funk]

"Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War At West Point" by Elizabeth Samet speaks to your comment: "There is a general feeling throughout the school that math and science are where their focus needs to be, and English is just a subject they need to get through..." After all, who needs a book to fight a war? According to Samet, soldiers do.

[Kelly Gallagher]

So do California Highway Patrol Officers (I recently shared the entrance exam with my students). So do insurance adjusters, computer programmers. nurses, etc...

[Jeff Coleman]

and sales managers. I recently had dinner with a friend of mine after a three day William Stafford Symposium. I shared two Stafford poems with my friend and he was hooked. He wants to read more of Stafford's poetry on the side. We need to remember that great writers write for the general public.

[glenda funk]

Reminds me that Wallace Stevens was an insurance salesman.

[Mary Sparkes]

I agree that many teachers do not take the time to read for pleasure themselves. I would like to start a book club at my school (perhaps using YA lit.). I believe if the students see their teachers reading for pleasure they just might follow our lead. Many of my colleagues are shocked when they find out I have read the Bone books, Twilight, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid among others. I am constantly searching for books that will grab my struggling middle school students. I have enjoyed reading those books although they are well below my reading level. Which leads me to wonder why can't we allow our students the joy of a simple quick read from time to time. Our requirements to read so many 200 page novels is also contributing to readicide.

[Kelly Gallagher]

It is sad that many of my students see recreational reading as a waste of time. This will not change unless teachers become knowledgeable about books that adolescents find interesting.

[Andy Carreiro]

Bridging the gap between low-tech and hi-tech will be the key to reading in the future. With more of our daily reading coming to us in digital format we need to shift the way we deliver material. Some states and provinces are ahead of others in this field, and it would be interesting to see more statistics in this area; especially Canadian ones.

[Margaret Hale]

Very true. That is one of the reasons I initiated the survey I mentioned in my earlier post to find out what middle school language arts teachers in my district were reading. As if I wasn't disappointed enough about their reading habits in general, when I looked at the responses about reading professional journals, 95% of the teachers reported that they read no professional journals at all. It is a weakness the other middle school literacy coaches and I have been discussing in terms of how to change it.

[Carol Jago]

A couple of years ago I became addicted -- along with a dozen or more of my students -- with the Gossip Girl series. We traded the books back and forth, gobbling them up one a night and begging one another to read faster so we could have the next one. Waste of time? No more so than watching American Idol or Hell's Kitchen and I think the girls loved seeing their teacher as caught up with the ongoing story as they were.

[Teresa]

HI Mary,
How do you make yourself sit there and read those titles? I too would love to be able to suggest more titles to kids, but I can't seem to make myself read those books. I just get bored to tears because they're so predictable, and there's nothing to keep my brain engaged. For me, recreational reading is something that will challenge me, either through content, writer's style or both.