Reading under the desk

After I graduated from college as an English major, I didn't read a single book for almost a year. None.

     Looking back, I find that hard to believe. Reading is one of my favorite things in the world, and I generally have several books going at once. What happened?

     School took the joy out of reading for me. I was sick to death of analyzing and explicating and picking literature apart. I'd forgotten how to read for sheer pleasure.

     Perhaps that's why I never liked teaching literature very much. I never felt that I did it "right." Worse, I didn't really want to do it right. I didn't want to help kids figure out symbolism or note foreshadowing or whatever else the curriculum told me to do. I just wanted the students to read books and appreciate them in some way. I wanted them to feel something and maybe learn a bit about human nature and people and life.

     I also worried that following the curriculum might even do real damage. What if the kids could define "chifforobe" at the end of one of the chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, as they were supposed to, but never gained a glimmer of appreciation or admiration for the courage of Atticus Finch? What if I they somehow managed to feel nothing? To me, the dangers were huge.

     Perhaps that's why I'm not overjoyed this week to read that Colorado C-SAP reading scores increased by 1%. In fact, I'm worried. How much drill went into that tiny improvement? How many kids learned to associate reading with testing?

     Rafe Esquith, in his book Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, describes what I think is a much more valid test. It is a test his fifth grade students came up with to see if a person is a true reader. The questions:

1. Have you ever secretly read under your desk in school because the teacher was boring and you were dying to finish the book you were reading?
2. Have you ever been scolded for reading at the dinner table?
3. Have you ever read secretly under the covers after being told to go to sleep?

     Answering "yes to all three questions means you are destined to be a reader for life.

     Now that is a a measure of something valid. That is what I really wanted for all my students, and it is what I wish for all students today.

Comments

[Leanne]

I read fervently thoughout my childhood and high school. In college, I hardly had time to read everything I was assigned, especially considering that most of it was so boring that it put me to sleep almost immediately! To this day, I can't even read a light novel I'm truly interested in without nodding off. It's frustrating! I wonder if I'll ever be able to overcome the boredom that part of my brain still associates with reading of any sort (well, except on-line reading, apparently! :) ).

[Nancy]

I love to read and answered yes to two to the questions above. I teach middle school and require my students to read at least 50 pages a week. This is a real challenge to some of my slower readers so we make time in the day for them to read. We all maodel by reading ourselves. This was a hard sell on my part but guess what? It is working! I am an avid reader and the kids know this so some of them become avid readers too. After all my years of teaching I love when I run into my former students that tell me they are now readers and make sure to take time daily to read something.

[Cheryl Miller Thurston]

Kids really need to see adults reading, and they need time to read themselves. What happened to USSR in the schools? (Silent, sustained reading) I haven't heard about it in a long time, probably because it takes time away from test preparation. I used to love USSR when I taught. Because I took it seriously (It was MY time to read, too), my kids did, too. They saw me engrossed in things, or laughing at what I read, and heard me tell stories about what I was reading. So many kids picked up copies of books I was reading, just because of what I shared.

Anyway, I digress.....Good for you, for letting kids actually READ!