Readicide

As End-of-Grade testing scores were released, I was very pleased with my class’ performance in Math. However, I was a bit bummed in Reading. I decided to reflect on what I could have done better to prepare my students-and no, not test prep wise. Our school still utilizes a reading textbook organized by theme. Our district is pushing schools to use a guided reading model instead. Our intensive instruction Reading Lab uses guided reading, but the classroom teachers still use the textbook. My last school was huge on guided reading and I really got to see the benefits of teaching students to read in this manner. So the first solution was to find a way to make guided reading my instructional choice while still weaving in some of the reading textbook (yuck!). I then met with my amazing Literacy facilitator to brainstorm some more ideas. She handed me a wonderful book called, “Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher. She explained to me that test prep is killing student’s love of reading and I could not agree more!

This post is comprised of my “ah ha” moments as I read the 5 chapter mini book. It inspired me to really rethink my approach to forcing kids to read to meet a goal, forcing kids to read to answer questions, forcing kids to read what they’re not interested in, and most of all forcing kids to read. period. WHY?! When I was a student we had D.E.A.R. time where we “Dropped Everything And Read” as well as S.S.R. (“Silent Sustained Reading”).  Even the teacher joined us. It was a solid 20-30 minutes a day and I remember LOVING chapter books because the Babysitter Little Sister series came out and the font was larger, the words weren’t as hard, and the books weren’t as long. I developed a love of reading from that precious DEAR time. Why does our day have to be so jam-packed we can’t step back and enjoy something, especially if reading is a priority in today’s classrooms?

Sorry… I am a bit fired up! 🙂  I better get back to my notes. By the way, I had 10+ pages of notes, so I only included a few points per chapter. (You’re welcome!) Here goes:

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Chp 1: The Elephant in the Room

-Shallow approach- Teachers have to cover a lot of topics, but they do not have a lot of time to dedicate to each topic. As a result, they skim the top and move on to the next topic. This is a shallow approach. Now students are drowning because the shallow approach does not go deep enough to allow students to comprehend the breadth of the material. Thus, drowning in shallow water occurs.                                            

-Sprint through material- Time is of the essence and in order to finish introducing each topic, the teacher must race through the material…regardless if children understand or not.

-Fudge scores- If schools and school districts are held accountable for their test scores, upholding educational standards goes to the wayside. In fact, if an incentive is offered to a school principal or district superintendent, most often figuring out a way to make the data look good is to fudge the data. Some schools retain students so they do not move on to a testing grade. Some schools encourage students who are not academically proficient to drop out of school before the testing grade. It is so obvious something is amiss if a school has high test scores and then those students move on to the next level of schooling and their scores drop rapidly. Do students forget everything they know? Or was something inaccurate about the data?

Chp 2: Endangered Minds

-Al Qaeda is not a person- students did not know the fact, but passed the multiple choice reading exam. This is sad. Students need to know what is going on in the world RIGHT NOW. It’s called “Cultural Literacy.”

– Olympic swimmers have access to a pool to practice before the big race. Students do not have access to a variety of quality reading material to practice before the big test.

– Students need to make academic and recreational reading a habit so as to catch up and close the achievement gap as well as become life-long learners. Adults need to be role models, especially teachers. Show them you read. Read right along with them! Don’t contribute to the problem; rectify it!

Chp 3: Avoiding the Tsunami

-overanalaysis & overteaching  (the tsunami) creates chopped up books so it is hard to dive into a good book if its constantly going on pause. This kills reading flow and students cannot get lost in a book. Would you go to a movie if it stopped often? Would you go skiing if you had to stop many times on your way down the hill? No, so don’t ask your kids to do it. Or, if you do…don’t expect them to love the book or love reading. Provide uninterrupted reading time.

– Accelerated Reader (AR)- The positive is that students read lots of books. The negative is that students miss out on reading great books if they are not listed as A.R., students choose books based on point values and not interest level, students are reading for the wrong reason (points) so their motivation is altered, and the program only has a short-term success rate.

-“Topic Floods”- use Google to find lots of text including stories, editorials, letters, magazines, comic books, novels, blogs, etc. on one hot topic. Allow students to glean knowledge and compare the framework of each type of text. This builds background knowledge.

Chp 4: Finding the “Sweet Spot” of Instruction

-Don’t hand a child a difficult book and expect them to know what to do with it. That is called underteaching. Don’t simply assign reading. Teach reading.

-Instructional approaches:  – <sweet spot>-<overteach or chop up (readicide)>

– First draft (survival, literal meaning, big chunks), Second draft and Third draft (small chunks, purposeful, close reading) reading helps deepen comprehension.

Chp 5: Ending Readicide

-Students who…. read less = read less well = do less well in school= do less well in the workplace = participate less in civic life

– Are we fixing the wrong things?

-Teachers act like a car factory. In Finland, teachers are entrepreneurs. But, they are supported as such by their government and school district.

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Why do we always have to be so P.C. about everything? In turn, we can’t celebrate anything anymore, we can’t call a spade a spade, and even worse, we can’t progress because we keep trying to keep everyone on an even playing field. So, instead of providing books to students, we do nothing because we can’t do it for everyone. I understand the point of being fair, and that all students deserve a great education and that includes materials, but…. shall we sit on our bottoms until the day comes that every child born to this great, green Earth can have the same of everything??!! It will never happen. If there is a fire, do you just sit there? No. You act. There is a fire in our schools… its called illiterate children. It’s not their fault. So get in there and DO SOMETHING. Starting is half the battle. Worry about reaching ALL children after you start. Otherwise, you’ll never pull the trigger and everyone suffers. Even you. They are our future. ACT NOW!
Thank you to Kelly Gallagher for this insightful read. I enjoyed each moment as I ranted and raved around my house! So right on with each issue. Our country is doing a major disservice that affects us all.

Have you read this book? Share your thoughts!
 (If you haven’t, please reach out and grab a copy. It’ll change your approach to teaching and life. )