Readicide

While reading Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide, the only thought running through my mind was this: how did we get here? Why are there so many people pretending like our current education system is working? Why are we stooping to their level? It seems that it all boils down to one thing -- money. How sad that we've prioritized money before the wellbeing of our students. I became a teacher so that I could help students experience the same joy that I found in reading. How did we lose sight of that? I am pleased to know that the answer is simple. Our students need to read more. They don't need to be reading more academic texts, informative texts, novels, or anything in particular -- simply, more. We need to encourage them to find a place where reading is enjoyable again. In my classroom, it's very important to me that my students see how much I enjoy reading. We need to be reading alongside them, being the model of a good reader. More importantly, we need to provide them with opportunities to read not just academic texts, but recreational ones, too. I didn't realize the impact that SSR can have on students engagement and success. The school where I am placed requires that all English teachers require ten minutes of silent, sustained reading at the beginning of class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, I don't think it's being effectively implemented. Students who have forgotten to bring an SSR book are allowed to work on homework quietly. This has greatly increased the number of students who do not participate in the reading every day. There are a handful -- probably two handfuls -- of students who conveniently forget their SSR books every single class period. While the teacher will occasionally require those students to go retrieve their book from their locker, the students will simply spend enough time in the process of getting the book to once again miss the ten minutes. SSR needs to be taken much more seriously, and it certainly will be in my classroom. I really want to start my library of books that will fill my classroom so that students may just grab a book when they have conveniently forgotten theirs. Many of the books in Gallagher's selections were ones that I grew up reading and loving. I just want my students to experience that feeling, too. I am looking forward to implementing Gallagher's 50/50 approach with my students. They seem to have forgotten that they can read books without a 50 page study guide and a packet full of response questions. We need to remind them once again why we read. It is certainly not only about their scores on a multiple choice test.