SI 638 Book Review

How to Recognize Its Causes

and Turn Things Around

Signs of Readicide:

Fewer students are becoming lifelong readers

Many students are reading significantly below expected levels.

1 in 4 secondary students can't read or comprehend the material in their textbooks.

3,000 students with limited literacy skills drop out of school every day.

Only 13% of American adults can perform complex literacy tasks.

(American Institutes for Research)

Only 16% of adults are "frequent" or "avid" readers.

(Nat'l Endowment for the Arts' "Reading at Risk")

In 2007, 27% of adults did not read a single book. (USA Today)

Attitudes toward reading are shifting from enthusiasm to indifference to hostility.

Why Is

This?

Our schools are focused on the wrong things.

The heavy emphasis on test scores is pushing out reading.

Educators should be working on developing lifelong readers

...but they're too busy focusing on raising test scores.

Most test prep practice

=

Less time for reading

We want students to succeed, but we're not helping them develop the skills they need to do so.

Our intentions aren't the problem.

Our practices are.

What causes

readicide?

1. Schools are developing test-takers rather than readers

2. Schools are cutting down on authentic reading experiences

3. Overteaching books

4. Underteaching books

Causes of Readicide

1. Schools are developing test-takers rather than readers

There's too much emphasis on test-taking and scores, and it's killing off readers.

Students need to know how to take tests and do well on them

...but not at the expense of independent reading.

How does a heavy focus on test preparation harm young readers?

1. Having to teach such a wide range of material results in shallow teaching AND learning.

2. It ensures that struggling readers will continue to do so

...which also maintains the achievement gap for lower-income and/or minority students.

Teaching standards can be helpful for planning and directing curricula

...but there are too many of them!

Covering too wide of a range of material is bad

Shallow coverage of material doesn't facilitate understanding it

It's overwhelming, and students are drowning in what they're expected to learn and know.

Students become memorizers instead of thinkers

...and they don't develop the skills that they'll need later in life.

2. Schools are cutting down on authentic reading experiences

Authentic reading provides students with background knowledge that will help them in school and in life.

Students need large doses of reading (from a variety of media) to build up this knowledge.

However, schools aren't facilitating this because:

They lack enough interesting reading materials

Many have cut out more difficult reading to make more room for test prep

Students don't do enough reading in school

Cutting down on reading cuts down on a student's ability to think deeply about what they read.

Nearly half of Americans ages 15-24 don't read for pleasure.

Too many schools are cutting down on Silent Sustained Reading or Free Voluntary Reading.

3. Overteaching Books

Overanalysis of books can result in readicide

Too many use one novel to teach several standards

Chopping up a book too much is bad

it disrupts students' reading flow

Too much focus on minutiae

This results in valuing the trivial over the meaningful

...and students miss out on something worthwhile

4. Underteaching

of Books

Students need some support when they're expected to read complex texts.

Some teachers mishandle classic books and don't give students enough background info to understand what they're reading.

Students need to read books that are a little too hard for them

...but they shouldn't be expected to tackle them on their own

This happens a lot with books for Summer Reading.

Difficult books need to be "framed" for students, and this often occurs too late to be useful.

Students must be given manageable chunks of text to read at a time

Give them too much and they'll be swamped

Chop it up too much, and they'll be bored.

How Librarians Can Help Turn Things Around

Provide access to a wide range of interesting reading materials at school

Students need to be immersed in a "reading flood"

Many don't have access to reading materials at home

This helps build up their core background knowledge

Students need to read about a wide range of topics in a wide range of formats

This means both short and long texts

And also complex texts

But they also need to do reading for fun, not just for school

Find out what books students are interested in reading, and get them

Don't keep all of the books in the library

Bring books to students

Help build up classroom libraries

More places to find more books = more reading

Provide students with time and a space where they can read in school

This may be students' only opportunity to develop a recreational reading habit

Academic reading isn't enough

Let students read fun books, too!

Students need varied, interesting reading to become lifelong readers

Set aside space in the library where students can do recreational reading

Create reading-related activities

Start book clubs

Have contests

Get students involved and interested any way you can!

Encourage students to read over the summer

Summer reading loss can be prevented by reading at least 4-5 books

Those who don't read over summer will continue to fall behind

Use this time to develop recreational reading

Get students to read high-interest and high-quality books

Develop lists of recommendations for interesting books to read

Include summaries to pique interest

Organize them by genre and type

Have printed copies of these lists

And post them on the school (and/or school library's) website

Encourage students to recommend books that they've liked

Definition of Readicide:

The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools.

Readicide

A review by Caroline Moran