Kelsey Myers, Luqi Huang, Madison Cappas,and Rachel Sutphin

Read-i-cide
n: The systematic killing of the love
of reading, often exacerbated by the
inane, mind-numbing practices
found in schools.
Elephant in the Room
● Forcing students to read inauthentic materials that kills a love of reading
○ Eliminates the possibility of creating lifelong readers
● It is just as bad to over-teach books as it is to under-teach books
● Because of countless Learning Standards, teachers are forced to sprint
through material, which turns students into memorizers rather than thinkers
● Texas Miracle or Mirage? (Remarkable “Progress” in Texas Schools)
○ We have been tricked into thinking test-driven teaching is the best when it was a sham in
many ways
■ “The results of the Texas Miracle are statistically flawed” (p.19)
● The score report of school didn’t count many students who gave up and dropped
out.
● Low-achieving students did not take the test
■ “The pressure of the test fostered wide-scale cheating” (p. 19)
● SPED students were not included
■ “The Texas Treatment actually harmed students in the long run” (p.19)
● Students entered into college, reading scores presented dramatically decreased.
Elephant in the Room (cont.)
● The “worth” of teachers and administrators is based on how well their
students perform on tests.
● Reading emphasizes skills like creativity, common sense, wisdom, ethics,
dedication, honesty, teamwork, hard work, knowing how to win/lose, fair play,
lifelong learning… NOT MEMORIZING BOOK FACTS
● Teaching to the test can be a good thing if the test is a good test
○ Give them exam question before even beginning to read
Endangered Minds
● Because of test preparation, students received reading from narrow windows
which restricted their reading experience and made them miss the larger
show from reading.
● Students become really good at bubbling in answers on a test, but don’t know
what’s happening in the real world.
○ Encouraging students to read all kinds of reading as adults do in newspapers, magazines,
blogs, and websites.
○ “Our students should be reading through many windows, not just a single narrow window that
gives them a view of the next exam” (pg. 29).
Endangered Minds (cont.)
● There is not enough interesting academic reading material in schools.
● Struggling readers are too often placed in classes where the pace is slowed,
and reading is moved to small chunks instead of actually reading books.
● Research- this is not just a cute idea. Pg 35
Avoiding the Tsunami
● Recreational reading helps students in all areas of testing
○ Honors students are getting the most independent reading times while struggling students are
getting the least
● Reading for preparing test
○ Overteaching/overemphasizing the reading, and it caused students feel bored and stressful
● “Young readers are drowning in a sea of sticky notes, marginalia, and double
entry journals, and as a result, their love of reading is being killed in the one
place where the nourishment of a reading habit should be occuring
-school”(pg. 59).
 Avoiding the Tsunami (cont.)

What
Reading we are Our
flow not job
saying
Finding the “Sweet Spot” of Instruction

Genuine
Learning

Listening Collaboration
Finding the “Sweet Spot” of Instruction (cont.)
● “There is a huge difference between assigning reading and teaching reading,
and students need teachers who recognize the balance between chopping
books to death and handing books to students without the proper level of
support” (p. 87)
● Classics provide themes all students should recognize even if they do not
enjoy the books
○ Do you think students will get anything out of books such as Hamlet, The Iliad, Crime and
Punishment, and other books if they are forced to read them without feeling any connection to
them?
● Drafted reading
○ Pre-reading (framing), 1st draft with lens, 2nd draft as a closer look, continuing to complete
understanding
○ 3+ draft: continue to read and re-read with different purposes to gain complete understanding
● Trying to pull readers out of “survival mode”
Ending Readicide
● “Testing expert Robert Linn reminds us that it would take 166 years for all
twelfth graders to reach reading ‘proficiency’ under this plan…” (p. 112)
● Finland education
○ Parents receive packs from government for child development, include books
○ Children do not begin school until age 7
○ There are no classes for the gifted, more emphasis is paid to struggling students
○ Teachers have more freedom planning lessons to fit their students
Ending Readicide (cont.)
● There should be a 50/50 split in the classroom of academic reading and
recreational reading
○ Stop grading recreational reading
○ Teach less academic material and teach it deeply
● Choose essay tests which require deeper thinking over multiple-choice
● Stop focusing on whether or not students like the book
How to Teach Reading
● Incorporating classics, but do it well. Get rid of the 200 page curriculum
guides, and focus on the applicable takeaways / what the author intended to
teach the readers.
● Developing recreational reading. Increasing interesting reading materials in
the schools such as novels rather than only providing the test-based reading
materials.
● Adopting a 50/50 approach. Mixing reading diet for students - half reading is
academic, another half is recreational, so students’ academic reading and
recreational reading can be balanced.
● Identifying sweet spot. To Balance the ‘teacher-direct help’ in reading
instruction.
○ Depending on reading material, to identify “How much help is too much help? How much help
is too little help? What is the right balance?” (p.92).
 Applications to our Future Classrooms

● One recreational book per month & a one page reflection after
● Ensuring every student has a book to take home
○ Climb the ladder for resources- make it happen!
● Article of the Week
○ Demonstrate evidence of close reading
○ Highlight confusion
○ Answer two questions at the bottom of the page
○ Write a 1 page reflection in your WN
● Come out from behind our desks
● Framing text and do drafted readings
● Do not teach the reading, teach the reader