Readicide- Part B- Post 2

Summer break. An easy read. Laying in the sun. My favorite time to experience the "Reading Flow." Well, I experienced the "Reading Flow" during the second half of this book. Unfortunately, I was not on the beach this week. I take my nephew to his Jujitsu practice after school. Ten kids, in a large gym, practicing a form of organized fighting. I decided I needed to increase my time management, so I pulled out the Gallagher text for the hour. I am cruising along, once again very interested in Gallagher's writing, and I am interrupted by a constant smacking sound on the mat. It had been going on long enough, that I figured I needed to look up. It was my nephew, trying to get my attention because obviously I need to watch him the entire hour. Sorry little man, I was in the flow!

Okay, so you all know I am a Gallagher groupie. However, he really made me reflect this week on how much I can improve upon my English lessons. I do not let my students experience the flow for themselves! Why not?! We read an average of ten pages together, and then they have a curriculum guide activity. What a boring way to read! I guess I have always done this because I feel that they need me to help them understand what is going on in the book. Gallagher allowed me to realize that they have no idea what is going on because we stop and pick it a part every time it is getting interesting! My students are taking several weeks to read a novel. I have created readicide in my classroom.

I struggle on a daily basis to get my teenagers to do something. Anything really. Just take an interest kids! They do not like reading, they will not SSR, and reading on their spare time is definitely not in the cards. Even in my English class, students put forth the minimal effort and do not seem  to have interest in making themselves better. However, I do agree when Gallagher expresses, "teenagers, like all people, are willing to work hard when they recognize that their efforts will bring them something valuable" (76). I can relate to this both personally and professionally. I will put in the work, if the outcome is of interest to me. Why don't my students want to work hard on their English lesson? Well, because answering comprehension questions every ten pages is not a desirable outcome. If I was to frame a book well, that interests students, and then allow them to relate the book to their own lives through discussion and reflection, I'll get more buy in.

So, I will try SSR again. Only because Gallagher has not steered me wrong yet! However, I plan to implement the one-pages. If my students do not have a final expectation for the book, they will not read. I hope that once SSR is in place for awhile, students will begin to read for the enjoyment of it, but only time will tell!

Readicide Post 1

I think it is safe to say that Kelly Gallagher is my professional soulmate. I loved his book, Write This Way. Only two chapters into this text, and I know that Readicide is another treasure to be scribbled in, sticky noted, and kept at an arm's distance. Before I begin to dive into the last three chapters, I need to develop a symbol for the term, "my kids!" because it is everywhere in this book.

Mr. Gallagher and I were really jiving for the first ten pages. I was nodding along and even jotting down a note or two. Then, he brought out the show stopper. Robert Marzano. Normally I am not a huge fan of the district flying in a PIR day speaker, but Mike Ruyle from the Marzano group the last two years has not disappointed.  Our PLCs are centered around The New Art and Science of Learning.  Not that I was hesitant to jump on board the Kelly Gallagher band wagon, but when I read that my buddy Marzano was coming too, I had no doubt I was in love.

I am the ACT accommodations coordinator for my school. With this, I also do any alt testing. Do you know that as soon as a student takes the alt, it is recoded as a failure for the school no matter how they perform on the alt? And, it that doesn't rattle your feathers, it takes an average of four hours to give the alt. Four hours of my student's education to automatically fail. For students who take the ACT with accommodations, they try for an hour maybe, but then it is shut down city. I'd place my money on another failing mark for the school. Why?! Why, does all this time and energy (and money) go into what I can tell you before my students even take the test? They are going to fail. This test does the student no good. Okay, we can all agree: testing=bad, teaching=good. I agree Mr. Gallagher.

Now, I don't want to admit this because Mr. Gallagher might break up with me, but I do not have my students SSR. Worse than that, I do not allow books to leave my classroom. I know! Teacher fail. However, I need every moment I can get. My students do not SSR when given the time. They do not care if I read, if it is a grade, or if it is the most interesting book of their life. they are off task and I end up mad. There goes the classroom vibe for the day! I also buy most of my classroom books with my own money. If those babies leave, they are not coming back! Help me. I know this is wrong.

Finally, I must address background knowledge. Oh how that can make or break a student. My students have such limited background knowledge. I did something like AoW last year. Why did I stop? Probably because I got sidetracked with testing students for four hours a day. Thanks to the Kelly Gallagher website, it is coming back kids!