Readicide

Kids are not reading. Grownups are not reading. And yet, more than ever, we need people who can read and think critically.

What are we as educators doing wrong?

Gallagher tells us that students are not reading enough at home and school and that we are overteaching reading. He quotes author Jon Scieszka about the reader's death spiral: “It's where kids aren't reading and then are worse at reading because they aren't reading, and then they read less because it is hard and they get worse, and then they see themselves as non-readers.”

Gallagher proposes ideas for teachers to put into practice to encourage reading, including providing interesting books, providing time to read in school, and providing a place to read in school.

I hope teachers and administrators are listening.

In Readicide, Kelly Gallagher outlines the ways schools are killing reading today as well as offering some ways teachers can prevent the spread of readicide. The book is very readable though none of it is groundbreaking. It was all a reiteration of things I learned in grad school and even undergrad. One thing I did like that I had never received validation for in school was my thought that teachers routinely overteach books. There seems to be some kind of prohibition on reading books aloud to kids without stopping to discuss something. I have thought for a long time that we stop too much when we read to kids. Sometimes it's ok to just read the book for enjoyment's sake. This is one of Gallagher's main points in the book, although he applies it to older kids.

This text is one that I picked up at the recommendation of one of my past teachers. She had said that is should be required reading for all English teachers, and that was a good enough recommendation for me. One thing that I noticed, upon further study, was that this was a book that was published back in 2009, almost a decade ago. This could not help but make me wonder if the times had passed this book by, making much of it a moot point. Was I right? Sort of, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You see, the main kurx of this book is that school are killing reading by not allowing students to pick what they want to read. Schools instead force books down their throats that students have no interest in reading. This results in them hating the book, and even hating reading altogether. This turns them into people who rarely read, causing them to do poorly on standardized tests, and eventually struggle with reading to their children, causing them to start, or continue a cycle of non readers.

This is a problem that this book hits hard on, and it also offers a solution: fill schools with text rich classrooms including books students want to read. This will make them choose a book that they like, and discover a joy of lifelong reading, increasing their reading and writing skills in the process. .

Thankfully, this is something that my parents understood a long time ago. They immediately began reading to me from almost the moment I was born. I can still remember reading with my mother every night, and this caused me to have a love of reading myself. One of my favorite times was coming home from school was on Friday nights and being able to read all to myself late into the night without a care in the world. There were also the episodes where I would miss my bus stop because I was too wrapped up in Harry Potter (Hey, it was during a quidditch match!). My parents bought me almost any book I wanted, and I read almost anything, although my love for nonfiction history books would come much later. Needless to say, I am very glad that my parents understood that reading could change my life, and I know that I will pass this on to my own kids some day.

Unfortunately, not everyone manages to grow up in such a supportive environment. Many kids today do not have parents who offer them books, and even some who struggle to read themselves. Therefore, in order to get them to do better, Gallagher suggests that we find money to get books for the classroom so that our students can read on their own, and find that love of reading that may be absent at home. I love this message, and I think it was needed to be said in 2009, when standardized tests were still all the rage, despite the government not knowing what to do with the elephant in the room that was No Child Left Behind.

And the idea that Gallagher advocates for is finally showing results. Many school are asking teachers to get their own books for students to read. I student taught at one school, and it worked to show students, and reluctant readers what awesome books there could be. I also subb at a few schools that have changed their curriculum to fit this model. These schools would change it up per semester, going from individual models, to small to class sized reading groups that would focus on a single text. This gets a balance of both approaches, and seems like the best way to do it from my limited perspective.

Yet, this also presents a problem with this text. Is it still worth reading, if the ideas are taking hold? Yes. This is because not all schools are switching to this model. Many may feel like there just isn't enough money, or it is something that will not work in the long run. Here is where Gallagher's chapters of the problems with current reading models can be shown to parents and schools, calling for the need for change.

Still, this book does have some negative elements. As for the actual teaching advice, I think it is a great advocacy tool, but I never found a page that wowed me in any sense. Perhaps this is because of my education in English teaching, but I did not find any strategies that I had not heard of. Also, there are some ideas that just sounded off to me. At one point Gallagher exclaims that we should go to our department heads looking for money for books. If we don't get it there, then go to the Principal. If not there, then the Superintendent, then the school board, then the parents. If all those does not work, and they all say that there is no money for books, Gallagher says we should just quit and go to another school. No worries about finding another job, or a house or, you know living, just up and leave if you do not get what you want. Call me a foolish optimist but this seemed a little extreme to me, as though if you try it once, things will never change and you should just give up.

Still, if you need a book on proof that this style of reading for students still works, then I would pick this one up. This appendix list of teenage books that got kids reading is a nice touch too. I give this book a four out of five. It is good for English teachers, especially if your school struggles with turning kids into lifelong readers. Now get out there and turn kids on to reading!