readicide

I can't believe that I could agree with a book more.  This book was great!  I fully believe that the schools are the reason kids don't like to read and they should be the reason why they DO like to read. 

There is no longer a time and place for students to free read.  There is so much focus on passing a test that there isn't time anymore to allow kids to pick what they like to read and just enjoy the peace of reading. 

The book spends time explaining the ways that schools are hurting the level of student reading.  The focus on test is brought up again.  Gallagher explains that teaching to the test isn't a problem unless it isn't a good test.  The standardized test are being developed to help all students pass, so they are full of multiple choice questions and low level readers will continue to be low level.

There is also a bulleted part of chapter one that goes through the ways to prevent readicide, really it is questions to ask yourself and school to see if you are harming students reading.  There are three main reasons listed in chapter two that I couldn't agree with more!!!
        *there is a dearth of interesting reading materials in our schools
       * Many schools have removed novels and other longer challenging works to provide teachers and students with more testing preparation time.
        * students are not doing enough reading in school!

I couldn't agree more.  I see so many classrooms of English and reading that have no reading in class.  Students need to have some time in class to be able to read.  Why is reading the part of schooling that is sent home for students to "figure it out" when it really is something they need to do well to succeed.  Students can spend an hour in a history class hearing a lecture on Yugoslavia that they actually will never need to know but reading isn't something important enough to do in class.

Another thing I found interesting was that teachers are over teaching books.  Gallagher talks about there being too many reading  hoops for students to get through that they don't just take time to read a book and love it and forget where they are. they aren't getting a chance to experience reading as they would as adults that love to read.

One of my favorite topics was "the overteaching of academic texts is spilling over and damaging out students' chances of becoming lifelong readers.   This was so true for me.  I didn't know I liked reading until I got out of high school.  Reading was always about answering questions after each chapter.  or it was about a book that wasn't relevant to me.