Readicide: Chapter 1

February 9^{th, 2012}

Readicide: Chapter 1

　
　

This chapter was an introduction to the book Readicide. It started off by talking about what readicide is. It discussed how standardized testing makes students lose their desire to be independent readers and they do not want to read at all. The material that teachers are offering does not encourage an interest in reading. It does not make the students want to dig deeper into a subject or topic. The chapter said that teachers who do not give stimulating “chip away at a students motivation.” Schools focus too much on tests. They tests for facts and not understandings. This does not encourage deep thinking. I agree with this chapter. It is so important to help students make deep connections when it comes to reading. If we don’t encourage students to do this, reading is just pointless. A student can get so much out of reading. It can be very inspirational and help students to make connections to bigger things in life. They will be able to apply knowledge to their everyday lives. However, if teachers focus on testing and reciting facts, students lose out on so much. As a student, I have classes in which the professors make you read something but don’t know encourage you to connect it to anything. It makes reading seem like a pointless endeavor. When this happens reading becomes a punishment instead of a supplement to helping a student acquire a deeper understanding. When I become an educator, I do not want to make reading an assignment. I want to make it something that the students can really get into. Reading can actually be very fun, if you make it fun. In high school I had teachers who made reading very fun by having us do activities and going out of their way to do more with a book than simply read it.

A reading strategy I used while reading this chapter would be making a connection to my own personal experience.

Citation

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Stenhouse Publishers