Readicide : How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It Kelly Gallagher LIS 664: READING, LITERACY, AND THE LIBRARY PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES EVALUATION MARY OLD, CONNIE PURCELL, EMILY VON PFAHL Photo courtesy of amazon.com

Read-i-cide: noun, the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools  8.7 million secondary students (1 in 4) are unable to read and comprehend the materials in text books  Only 13% of American adults are capable of performing complex literacy tasks  3,000 students with limited literacy skills drop out of school every day in this country  Only ½ of college students tested were ready for college-level reading (NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform, 2006)

Chapter 1: The Elephant in the Room Schools value the development of test-takers more than they value the development of readers.  The emphasis on high-stakes multiple-choice testing (mandated by NCLB) narrows curriculum and drives shallow teaching and learning.  WYTIWYG (pronounced witty-wig): What You Test Is What You Get  There are too many standards—3,500 in a typical K-12 school system.  Struggling readers continue to struggle; “apartheid schools” are maintained.  The national test-driven curriculum is modeled after a myth: the statistically flawed, unethically achieved “Texas Miracle.” Photo courtesy of peterb1953.wordpress.com

What can you do? Engage all stakeholders in “hard talk.” Include teachers, administrators, students, literacy coaches, superintendents, board members, legislators, and news reporters. Ask hard questions:  What do we mean when we say our school “values” reading?  Are we out of balance?  Are our students doing enough academic reading? If not, why not? What can we do to reverse this trend?  Are our students doing enough recreational reading? If not, why not? What can we do to reverse this trend?  Do we understand that the intensive focus on state tests actually decreases college readiness? Higher state test scores have not corresponded with higher scores on the SAT. Adopt a balanced blend of instructional approaches instead of relying on just one dominant approach.  Separated – direct instruction of isolated skills.  Simulated – application of concepts within a targeted unit of reading, writing, or oral language.  Integrated – knowledge and skills are applied within the embedded context of a large and purposeful activity.

Chapter 2: Endangered Minds Schools are limiting authentic reading experiences.  Students need large doses of authentic reading material (newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites) to gain cultural literacy skills needed to be productive citizens in a democratic society.  Many schools have removed novels and other challenging works to provide more test preparation time. Novels challenge students to think deeply and address the moral and social issues in society.  Sustained silent reading time (SSR) is also being removed from schools. SSR is necessary to allow students to build a vocabulary and knowledge base. Photo courtesy of diylol.com

Thought provoking question: Would a student be a productive member of society without having ever read a print or digital newspaper?

Neuroscience strongly suggests that if children’s development needs are not met when they are young, we may close down some of the developmental windows. Removing novels and authentic reading experiences, denies students the ability to develop regions of their brain that enable them to think deeply. (Jane Healy, Endangered Minds: Why Children Can’t Think-and What We Can Do About It, 1990)

What can you do?  Take a stand : Encourage your school district to re-allocate its resources and provide books for students in the classroom and at home.  Supplement books with authentic, real-world text : Include news stories, essays, editorials, blogs, speeches, magazines and websites in your literacy instruction.  Be the “discussion director” at your workplace : Constantly remind your faculty and staff about the importance of sustained silent reading time, a substantial book supply and why authentic reading is so important to developing productive citizens.  Create a “book flood zone:” Bring the library to the students; Create a large library in your classroom.  Recognize and combat “summer reading loss:” Assign high-interest books during the summer schedule students with English teachers on a two-year cycle. READ Photo courtesy of juliemarxhausen.wordpress.com

Chapter 3: Avoiding the Tsunami Teachers are over-teaching books.  Over-teaching books prevents students from experiencing “Reader’s Flow.”  Novels are chopped, dissected and flogged in the service of a tsunami of standards, instructional goals, and habits of thinking.  Over-analyzing books creates instruction that values the trivial over the meaningful.  Over-teaching academic texts inhibits students from becoming lifelong readers.  If we know our practices are damaging young readers, then why do we keep doing it? Photo courtesy of bricecohey.com

The “Reading Flow” You know you’ve been in the “reading flow” if you have ever read a book that was so good that you actually forgot for a moment where you were! Flow: “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” Mihaly Csiksneztmihalyhi (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Photo courtesy of quotev.com

Experience related question: Who has a story to share about experiencing the “reading flow?”

I wouldn’t recommend chopping like this! The “Chop-Chop Curriculum” Voluminous curriculum guides recommend endless ways to slice and dice a novel.  Dense, overwrought guides are nearly incomprehensible to those educators entrusted to teach. What effect then on students?  Readers’ flow is fraught with constant teacher interruptions.  Readers in the “flow” come up for air … readers in a chop-chop classroom come up for life preservers.  Meaning is sacrificed as instruction is examined under a microscope.  Studying classic books feels like “flogging novels.”  Students drown in the shallow water of narrow instruction and sticky notes.  Readers disengage; reading seems “worthless” and “uninteresting,” preventing students from becoming lifelong readers.

What can you do? Teach young readers the value and pleasure of reading.  Structure the reading experience so that students find the reading flow.  Eliminate incentives. Teach readers: Reading is its own reward. Teach students to recognize the value that comes from reading academic texts. Help them create universal themes from their reading and explore the “imaginative rehearsals” that help them make text to world connections.  Augment books instead of flogging them. Create a topic flood of related reading materials.  Ensure readers have access to a large supply of reading materials in a variety of formats.  Bring back Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) or Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) blocks that are regularly scheduled.  Provide adequate scaffolding: begin with the “guided tour;” end with the “budget tour.”

Finding the “Sweet Spot” Chapter 4: Finding the “Sweet Spot” of Instruction Teachers are under-teaching books.  Under-teaching is ‘assigning’ reading, abandoning readers without support.  Readers bog down, get confused, give up.  Under-teaching can be as damaging as over-teaching.  Good teaching matters! Highly skilled and engaging teachers can help close the achievement gap.  What matters most? Mentoring young readers. Photo courtesy of lookingforthesweetspot.com

What can you do?  Recognize the importance of framing. This includes the historical context, vocabulary, background on the author, discussing why you are reading this book.  Remember the value of second and third draft reading. Multiple readings reveal layers of meaning. Balance Read both wide and deep for broad meaning and important details.  Adopt the “Big Chunk/Little Chunk” Balance Read both wide and deep for broad meaning and important details.  Teach both the reading and the reader. Facilitate the reading experience, ‘flow,’ while actively teaching and supporting the reader.  Advocate a 50/50 approach: 50% academic reading, 50% recreational reading

Chapter 5: Ending Readicide Photo courtesy of indeliblewriters.blogspot.com How is America a superpower if we are raising a nation of non-readers who consistently score lower in math and science than other countries?  We are given false hope that test scores are rising. The truth is that states are lowering standards to meet the No Child Left Behind Act.  We are depending on our “secret weapon:” Creativity  Emphasis on testing could kill creativity, the United States’ true competitive edge.  The ratio of skill instruction to creative thinking in United States’ schools is 10:1.  Other nations, like China, are recognizing how testing destroys creative thinking. They are beginning to cut back on testing.

Thought provoking question: How do you think reading could improve creativity?

What can you do? What if we copied the model set forth by Finland, first place finisher in a 2008 international reading study of fifty-seven countries?  There is very little standardized testing.  Parents of newborns receive government paid child-development materials that include books.  Children do not start school till age seven.  Students rarely have more than a half-hour of homework a night.  There are no gifted classes. Focus is on students who are behind grade level in reading.  Teachers have freedom to design lesson plans that fit the needs of their students.  Students demonstrate their knowledge with written and oral responses.

Photo Courtesy of stateimpact.npr.org Conclusion: The 50/50 Approach In developing recreational readers…  Recognize that test preparation is not a justification for killing readers.  Maintain a balance between the types of reading your students do.  Encourage students to find the reading flow.  Stop chopping up recreational books with worksheets.  Understand that recreational reading actually prepares students for test taking. In developing academic readers…  Teach less material, and teach it deeply.  Replace multiple choice tests with essays or other authentic evaluations.  Understand that cognitive development comes when students tackle difficult books.  Surround academic text with authentic, current reading material.

Our group’s suggestions for librarians or X if you think these strategies are feasible… 1. Display posters of national or special reading events like Dr. Suess’s anniversary, Children’s book week and Poetry Month. 2. Invite public librarians to visit your school and promote summer reading programs. 3. Send flyers home informing parents about literary resources, how to read to children and how to model reading. 4. Design and implement a seminar on the importance of FVR, SSR and building library collections. 5. Create and disperse reader’s guides for students on current and high interest reading material. 6. Create a lib guide with top 10 book reads, suggestions for summer reads and classic novels. 7. Create a professional development course for your teachers on “one pagers” (20 minute one- page reflections), an alternative to the “chop-chop curriculum.” 8. Sponsor a newscast on the intercom where daily news is presented and related authentic reading material is promoted.