Readicide

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide is impactful, because he provides a compelling argument about the damage inflicted upon students by focusing on “teaching to the test.”  Gallagher takes an in-depth look at the practices instituted in our school system to help struggling students, and his findings demonstrate that what these practices are not helping at all.  Gallagher defines readicide as “the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind- numbing practices found in schools” (vii).  I completely agree with Gallagher that we are inundating our students with too many standards and not enough time to allow for deep learning.  I want my students to love reading and I want them to derive pleasure from reading a book.  After reading chapter three, I am totally re-thinking my unit plan project.  Gallagher advises the necessity for my students to experience the “flow” when they read (61).  I think my unit plan is too “chop-chop” and I need to re-evaluate and find some balance.  I know it is important for my students to learn reading strategies, but I also need to provide them with opportunities to get lost in the book we are reading.  Since I intend to be a Social Studies teacher, I know that I will utilize academic texts in my classroom, which means I have to help my students appreciate the value of these texts.  I really liked Carol Jago’s method for doing just that, by providing my students with a “guided tour” at first and eventually transitioning them to the “budget tour” of reading on their own (79).  This means I must model reading for my students.   The process for doing this is first, frame the text before we begin reading it, provide the students with a purpose for reading each chapter of the text and craft lessons that allow students time to discuss what they like, don’t like, understand or don’t understand about the text in small and large groups (79).  After reading this book, I am re-evaluating my unit lesson plan and so I believe I must head back to the drawing board as I consider the best way to help my students love reading!