Thoughts on reading

I met with other teachers today to discuss reading strategies ... because we realize this is an issue, but also because we need reading CEU credits. I'm grateful to be doing this, b/c I was trained to teach science, not reading, and I desperately want my kids to be good readers. I can't imagine not reading myself. In fact, whenever I'm between books, I almost feel lost ~ maybe I'm codependent on books (is that even possible?), but mostly I think I just enjoy it so much that I feel discontent and a bit "off" when I'm not engaged in a book.

Why don't kids have this same passion? Some kids do ... like the kid who read 300 pages of his new novel between classes or during lunch today. But for the most part, reading is not cool and definitely not fun in the minds of our 8th graders.

What's more, whenever I have asked my students to read primary source material on a particular topic, I try to make connections to their world or lives. Invariably, their connections always come from movies, a TV show, or a youtube clip. They never connect it to reading material, even a blog or discussion forum! I think their world is just so much more full of things that are flashy and can attract their attention ... so books hold no interest. Our curriculum director is a literacy specialist and she confirmed that the #1 reason kids are ever attracted to any particular book is because of the cover (makes sense to me).

At any rate, I'm happy to be in a school where these discussions happen, and where educators are willing to try new strategies relentlessly until we find something that "clicks" with our students. It's so different from a previous school where decisions were made by admins, and policies were dumped onto us without any real consideration for the needs of our students or the context of our school. While my school may lack all the resources to provide a variety of reading texts, at least the discussion happens, and people who spend the money are involved in the conversation.