Kelley Gallagher's Readicide

I understand that I was fortunate for being taught and encouraged to read by my parents but I figured that for students who didn’t have that luxury teachers and schools were supposed to make up for that. It initially was crazy to me that the only place many students have to go to learn and appreciate reading is having the opposite effect on them.

It reminded me of a teacher I had in high school who loved literature so much that he could not understand why anyone would not want to study it. I definitely remember students who were frustrated by this disregard for their uninterest. Instead of helping and encouraging them by offering other literature they might enjoy or engaging activities he continued with his cut and dry curriculum, even I was bored. He punished students who didn’t succeed in this type of strict academic environment with snide comments and bad grades making the students feel even worse about their abilities and I’m sure resent reading all together.

My own experience with what Gallagher terms ‘Readicide’ took on a whole new picture in my mind. If I, a strong reader who loved books, was becoming disengaged would not have had outside recreational reading resources I may have continued on the path of not wanting to read. This phenomenon is exactly what Gallagher is battling against because it is hard even to get all students on board with reading that we as teacher should not brush off those that already do. It seems that the struggling readers may be one of the reason the already successful reader get pushed to the side. Teachers focus so highly on getting all students up to the standards based level that students who are already there or past are not as acknowledged or challenged. Without separating students into levels of reading (that comes with a whole other set of issues) teachers need to follow Gallagher’s advice to keep all students engaged and excited about reading.