Listen to the wisdom of William J. Broz, as referenced in Penny Kittle’s super-awesome-amazing-fantastic book called Book Love:
“If students do not read the assigned texts, nothing important is happening in your literature classroom–nothing very important to develop your students’ reading and interpretive abilities is happening, no matter how many lectures you deliver, vocabulary words students ‘learn,’ elements of fiction students define, quizzes students take, essay test answers students write, or films you show.” (from “Not Reading: The 800-Pound Mockingbird in the Classroom”)
And Penny writes, on page 15, “I’ve discovered that most teachers know many students aren’t reading…Teachers tell me they think about 20 percent or fewer of their students actually read the literature assigned.”
I know kids don’t read assigned texts. All sane teachers know kids don’t read assigned texts. Yet, instead of figuring out how to fix the problem, they continue to plug forward with what they’ve always done–teach class novels, knowing that 80% of their students are not reading what they’re assigning.
We teachers are smart cookies. We know this. So, now what?
Step One: Identify the problem. Step Two: Find a solution.
Teachers do this a hundred times a day.
Problem: Some kids can’t see the board. Solution: Move the affected kids.
Problem: Johnny keeps slurping his snot back into his head. Solution: Put the tissue box on Johnny’s desk.
Problem: Yesterday’s date is still written on the board. Solution: Change the date.
Problem: Sally’s tampon falls out of her pocket. Solution: Pick up Sally’s tampon.
See? Easy-peasy! But, for some reason (well, I know the reason), teachers do not fix this problem of their students not reading. They know there’s a problem. But the solution is another story.
Here’s why most teachers do nothing: It’s hard work to do something.
I could talk about this topic for days. I’m passionate about teaching reading. It’s why I live and breathe and why my students tell me they think I’m a “little crazy.” But the truth is that it takes a lot of time and effort to develop the kind of classroom where students become lovers of reading. It’s not impossible. But it is hard. Really, really hard. It takes a lot of reading the research, a lot of planning, a lot of books, and a lot of energy.
I know I am not normal. The name of my blog is not just catchy, it’s the truth. I’m not the teacher who keeps doing something that isn’t working or does something just because everyone else is doing it. And I am the kind of teacher who can’t understand why other teachers complain about how stupid and lazy and irresponsible the kids are. We have the same students, and my students are curious and funny and hard-working and thoughtful and insightful and compassionate and a thousand other synonymous adjectives. I want those teachers to see all students as worthy of positive adjectives. Imagine what our schools would look like if all teachers tried as hard as they could to provide the best education for our students based on the latest, tried-and-true (not fly-by-night) educational research.
I think it’s worth it. I think that my job as a teacher is to do the best I can for my students. If I truly want the best from them, how can I give them anything less than my best? Of course I will make mistakes; of course I’m not perfect, but I know that I’m doing the best I can right now, and I will do even better tomorrow. Every kid deserves my best.
Hi Auntie,
I am so happy to find your blog. At the beginning of the course, I posted in the commons to find teachers so we can connect and let the conversation go. This is a great chance to share ideas and discuss things we have in our classes.
For this post, I love your strategy; identify the problem – find a solution. I agree with you that we should adapt things to work well with our students.
I’ll come back to read more thoroughly and get connected.
All the best!
🙂
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Hi, Azhar!
I am so glad you found me. I’ve checked out both of your blogs and can’t wait to keep reading your posts. I have a lot of teaching experience but limited technology experience. You will definitely be an asset in that realm.
Thank you for the likes and the comment.
~ Dawn
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I hear you! With all the talk about Common Core and citing textual evidence, everyone seems to forget that somewhere along the line, we have to convince the kids to actually read something. The idea of simply asking them to bubble in some answers while they are reading or to cut and paste some “evidence” does nothing to actually inspire kids to read.
While I do teach a class novel and do the traditional analyze with class discussion, we do projects and write papers. I think is is important for a class to share a reading experience, but I read your suggestion to have kids have input in what they read. I’ve incorporated this as well. I think we can have the best of both worlds.
I agree 100% with you that sometimes we teachers have to be responsive! I get so sick of hearing colleagues complain about being asked to try something new. I’m at a similar stage in my career (25 years), and I feel that when my teaching stops evolving, it will be time to retire. (My district is really getting behind technology in the classroom right now, and I started blogging over the summer to learn about how to utilize it as a learning tool–I think it will be great for the personalized reading I mentioned.)
Keep on keeping on!
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Hi, Tracey!
Thanks for the nice reply. I’m so glad you found me! It took me a while to figure out why I wasn’t finding many veteran teachers who were blogging, but…duh! We’re the digital immigrants, not the digital natives! People our age don’t blog! I love that you took up blogging to improve your teaching. I totally agree with your comment about knowing that it’s time to retire when your teaching stops evolving. I don’t know why I started this blog. I think it’s because a little voice in my head started crafting blog posts while I was driving cross-country. I’d never had a little voice in my head before, so I figured it was worth exploring.
I know that some people have to teach classics or class novels (or feel like they have to), but I don’t and won’t. It’s hard to let the classics go, believe me, because I am all about Atticus and Huck and Gatsby. But when people say they have to teach __________, I ask, “Why?” The research is out there that proves that kids don’t read assigned novels. We teach like we were taught, and teaching novels has been around for a really long time. And it’s easy. Much easier than creating something from virtually nothing. But I can sense your passion. You are “not that kind of teacher,” too.
I really value your opinion and your experience, and I hope we can continue to connect. Here are two things to put on your must-read-before-school-starts list: Book Love by Penny Kittle (she has the experience and the passion and the voice to share her amazing ideas), and the article called “Not Reading: The 800-Pound Mockingbird in the Classroom” by William Broz (http://brozediting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/broz_not_reading.pdf). If you have to teach class novels, he has some great suggestions about how students can process the information they get out of a the book authentically and honestly. Penny Kittle also has great ideas about using a reader’s notebook/journal. I’m planning for my students to use them this year on their Reading Journeys. I’m so excited! Oh, one more! Kelly Gallagher’s new book In the Best Interest of Students. TONS of great ideas, especially for the older grades (and with lots of pros/cons for Common Core). I love KG. Do you?
Keep on keepin’ on yourself!
Dawn
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Thank you for the William Broz resource! (I’m checking out the Gallagher resource this week.) It has some fantastic insights. I especially liked the part about how we must not tell our students that they “have to know this stuff.” I always try to let my students know that we’re working on strategies that will work for anything they want/have to read, not just what we are doing at the moment. Students respond well to this. Kids respect honesty; they have great BS detectors.
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What an inspiration. As a parent at times I get frustrated at some teachers lack of compassion to teach. They do what they have to do to get by and no more. I love that you are a passionate teacher wanting kids to have a love of reading. I couldn’t agree more that first you must identify the problem and be creative to find what may work for each student. Bravo! Always follow the inner voice it’s usually your spirit guide.
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