Readicide 2nd week blog hop!

Welcome to week two of my:

 

This week we'll be discussing:

Welcome to my second week of reviewing Kelly Gallagher’s novel: Readicide!  

This week’s chapter, Endangered Minds, delved deeper into reading problems in the classroom more specifically addressing reading materials.

I’ve decided to break this week down into three key points that resonated with my own teaching practices.

#1

     The first point that stood out to me was that many teachers don’t offer students authentic reading material which includes newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites. Gallagher tells a story about some of his high school students who thought Al Qaeda was a guy named Al. Last year, I ran into a similar situation when my Nevada desert raised students did not really understand tornadoes.  They were unclear about funnel clouds, twisters, storm cells, cellars (we don’t have basements in Nevada) and even tornado safety.  Having visited the Midwest every summer as a child, I was surprised at their lack of background in this area. I also thought they’d be more familiar with the natural disaster as it is a key element in The Wizard of Oz; however, ten year olds of today are only vaguely aware with L. Frank Baum’s classic. Their lack of knowledge turned into an exciting one week unit on tornadoes, but it still made me think about their overall prior knowledge and how I can help improve this area of their learning.

     I thought Gallagher made a brilliant suggestion with setting up an “article of the week”.  I think this could be something I could easily implement in my class without taking away instruction time or putting myself into a time crunch.  Last year I used www.newsela.com for a lot of my expository reading. The site is great because it’s written on a kid friendly level.  You can assign students different articles and correlating essay questions or they can choose the articles themselves.  Students can also manage their LEXILE level on the site, so if the article is too hard/easy they can go “up or down” in reading level. This leads to great metacognitive choices by the reader. 

Next Key Point!

     There are not enough interesting books in schools today (because the money that could be spent on books is being spent on professional development to raise test scores)!

     I would have to agree and disagree with this point!  Sometimes I think students and even teachers aren’t aware of the resources they do have at their fingertips like local libraries and school libraries.  Many schools have rooms full of classroom sets of books that aren’t being utilized to their fullest extent. Many teachers hoard their books when they could be sharing class sets with other teachers.  I think the gravest problem is not the lack of books, but a lack of MODERN, interesting and challenging books.  

     I will flat out admit that over the past three years, I've spent a lot of my own money in order to build my 700 book classroom library by scratch.  When I decided to become a teacher, I committed to the thought set that just like any career, I would need to invest money in it to get myself going.  First, I bought lots of books on Ebay.  I remember I first purchased 100 goosebumps books for around $50.  Then, I discovered that the local thrift stores had book BAG days.  On those days I could fill up a plastic or sometimes paper bag with all the books I could stuff into them for $5.00.  Those were my best finds. Over 6 months, I purchased over 400 books for less than $40.  I also bought a lot of books at yard sales.  I never pay more than .25 for a book unless I know it is a *game changer*.  I’ve also been lucky enough to inherit books from retiring teachers, but still my best finds are at LOCAL thrift stores (not Goodwill- their book prices are crazy!)

Final key point!!

     Impoverished kids face a 32,000,000 word deficiency entering school.  Wow, that’s a lot of words!  I was also surprised to see an extremely positive correlation between minutes of reading per day and test scores.  According to a study done by Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1998)  A 5^th grader who reads 90.7 minutes is likely to test in the top 2% of test takers. Whereas a 5^th grader who reads only 2 minutes per day will test in bottom 10% of test takers.  

   My biggest issue with reading in class is I can tell as a teacher that there are so many kids who are unable to focus their attention to a book in class.  Whenever I’ve had a “quiet reading” rotation built into my literacy block, I’m constantly intervening and redirecting kids to get back to reading.  I know they are just *pretending* to read.  That’s why I focus on class novels. Every kid gets a copy of the book that I’m reading and I expect them to follow along.  I also help kids choose books wisely at the library, and I try to book talk my favorite authors up in class frequently.  I find that my own excitement over books can definitely effect my student's interest in books.

     I also have an issue sending home a nightly reading log.  I feel like most of the kids are just pretending to read and that many parents don’t sit and talk about the readings with their children.  I think they just sign the log as another boring routine.  There’s a real issue in 5^th grade with building a love for books and reading after the 4th grade reading "slump".  That’s why I try to introduce my favorite books (The Phantom Tollbooth, The BFG, Hatchet, and The City of Ember) as staples in my reading curriculum.  I’ve had some success with getting kids excited over these books, but after we’re done with them or they’ve read everything that author has to offer, sometimes we hit a wall with “interest” level (especially if there are no comic/cartoons in the book). 

Final thoughts:

     After reading this second chapter of Readicide, I’m seriously considering structuring my whole lit block around reading.  I’m wondering if it’s even possible to read for 90 minutes a day in school.  I wonder if I could break it up with writing into 30 minute blocks (read for 30-journal for 10?).  I just want to give my students the most for their time.  I know I’m on the right track, but there’s always room for improvement!

Now, please go check out my fellow blogger to read more exciting thoughts on Readicide this week!

Stay tuned for a new exciting blog next Tuesday!

Take care fellow readers!!

ps. The graphics I used to explain Gallagher's key points were designed using Glitter Meets Glue digital clip art and papers!  Please check out her store on TPT!