High Schools: Where a Love of Reading Goes to Die. LIBE 477B Reflection on Fostering Reading Cultures in Schools

As a secondary English teacher and future teacher-librarian, my heart sinks when I hear any of the following: “I’ve never actually read a book to the end" or “I don’t need to read the book; I’ll just watch the movie” or my personal favourite, “I’ll just look it up on Sparknotes."

Girl Moved to Tear by 'Of Mice and  Men' Cliffnotes - The Onion

I've noticed that the number of students in my classes who like to read has dwindled.  Students who read for pleasure feel like a rarity, and the only reading many students seem to engage in is mandated by their teachers.  How did this happen? Why have our students stopped reading recreationally?  Is it possible that the fault lies in how we teach reading?

In Kelly Gallgher’s book Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It, he suggests the teaching methods used in high school English classes have “killed” a love of reading for many students.  In an interview with the blog A Year of Reading, Gallagher notes that much of the problem has been "The elimination of novels. Drowning students in worksheets. Scripted programs. Think about it. If you had to do what our students have to do, would you like reading."

Like many other English teachers before me, I, too, have been guilty of the many ineffective and damaging instructional strategies that Gallagher identifies as having turned students off of reading.   As a rookie teacher, overwhelmed with preparation for multiple classes and where to begin, I turned to some canned curriculum complete with, you guessed it, worksheets.  In addition, I taught “classic” texts that may have little relevance to students’ inner lives or, rather, I failed to connect them to the lives of students in a meaningful way.  And at the end of it all, I gave my students tests that reduced the magic of reading to right and wrong answers.

Thankfully, I discovered Kelly Gallagher’s books on teaching reading and writing to adolescents early in my career, and it has changed my teaching for the better.  Readicide, in particular, helped me to change my approach to novel studies.  One of his most powerful suggestions was to allow students choice in what they read.  While I had previously opted for whole-class novels, I was offered the opportunity to allow students to choose from a range of books.  My school’s English department worked with the teacher-librarian to create a "book tub" which were made up of groups of high-interest novels at different reading levels.    With this wonderful resource, I was able to allow students to choose from a selection of 6-8 book titles that they were sure to love.  To do this meant giving up "control" and allowing students to read a book that resonated with them at a pace they could manage.  When it came to assessment, I was determined to avoid the "shallow assessment that drives shallow thinking" identified by Gallagher as being so detrimental to reading enjoyment.  I searched around for some kind of assessment that would allow students to approach their understanding of the novel in a creative and hopefully fun way.  I found the perfect assessment in Catlin Tucker's blogpost on "Fun Assessment for Silent Sustained Reading": The Book-Club Style Chat which involves talking about books and snacking- exactly the way adults chat in book clubs, minus the wine!  Students loved this low-stress book discussion and enjoyed the challenge of finding a food or drink item that connected with the book in some way.  

Image from catlintucker.com

The idea of the "book tubs" for independent reading units is one that has really changed how I teach novel studies. Now that I've moved school districts, I hope to introduce this idea to my new school because I've had such success with it. Offering students choice in reading materials and finding creative and engaging ways to discuss their understanding of books is win-win.  The kids love it, and this English teacher/teacher-librarian loves seeing them devour books at silent reading time and animatedly discussing a book during group time. We can't ignore the importance of encouraging recreational reading, so please let me know in the comments if you have more ideas that will foster a love of reading in my students!

References

Frank and Mary Lee.(2009, January 20).  Blog Tour: Kelly Gallagher Joins Us Discussing His New Book READICIDE. [Blogpost].  Retrieved from http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-tour-kelly-gallagher-joins-us.html 

Gallagher, K. (2012). Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Portand, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Tucker, C. (2015, April 8). Fun Assessment for Silent Sustained Reading. [Blogpost]. Retrieved from https://catlintucker.com/2015/04/fun-assessment-for-silent-sustained-reading/