Response to "Readicide"

First off, this book is so spot on that I had to read some sections twice because I thought that they might have been talking about my high school/school experience. I am comforted by the fact that this crap didn't just happen to me or in my high school, it has happened to many people and I am not alone, but it also scares me so much because I feel like the educational system is so off track right now and I don't see how it can possibly get back on the right track in time to save the next generation of kids who are in school now. 

I did an activity a few weeks ago where I gave my students various statements regarding education and asked them to either agree or disagree and then defend their position (this was to introduce argumentation). I expected students to participate and engage fully, which they did, but what I didn't expect was the insight that I gained from them about their feelings and thoughts on the current educational system. These students actually told me that their teachers are shutting down their creativity and making them produce answers that are in line with what/how the teachers think/feel. For instance, if a student is reading a passage or piece of text and thinks about it in a way that is not conventional (or something that cannot be found on spark notes) their teachers tell them they are wrong and then makes them do it again until they get to the "right" answer. They also said that they think this is the job of a teacher. They expect their teachers to do this so they don't even worry about thinking outside the box or entertaining other ideas that they might have. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!! No wonder our students don't read for fun or even sometimes at all when it comes to curriculum reading. We are making them hate it! It is absolutely our fault. As teachers, we should be fostering student reading. We should make time for it, to the best of our abilities, in the classroom and assign reading at home that isn't just focused on analyzing and annotating the text but that is for fun. Sure, assigned reading can only be considered "fun" in so many ways, because it is, after all, assigned. If we can teach our students to actually like and enjoy reading, then the homework we assign will not be looked at like homework, but rather as a chance to escape the stress and pressures of their everyday life and have a little bit of leisure time. 

I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. Literally from the time I went to kindergarten I would come home and play teacher with my stuffed animals and I always knew that's what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Sure I have thought about other options, but I always come back to teaching. For the most part, people have supported my decision and thought it was great since I was so good at spelling and speaking, and because I got really good grades in school. But as I went through HS, people started asking me tougher questions about why I wanted to be a teacher and what I loved about English. They asked me who my favorite authors were and if I loved to write, they asked me about poetry and the creativity that comes along with English. I always had stick answers to give to these questions but then I realized that I was lying. I didn't have a favorite author, I hated writing, I didn't enjoy poetry, and I didn't think that I was creative at all. I never read for fun, and barely crawled through the dense reading that was assigned in my Honors and AP classes. My friends would encourage me to read the Harry Potter series but I never did because I hated reading and didn't feel like it was a good investment of my time. Then, after my senior year of high school, I experienced my first real free summer. I didn't have a job, I didn't feel any need to prepare for the next grade, and I didn't have any summer reading assignments to worry me. Thats when I really started to enjoy reading. Sure, I started off with the Twilight series, but those were the first books that made me choose between reading and having a life. I only wanted to read. All summer long I kept looking for more books to devour and that summer I probably went through 15 books. That was one of the best summers I have ever had. It was the first time where I didn't have to read something and take notes, I didn't have to worry about a paper that I was going to have to write, I was reading purely for the fun of reading. To this day, I still look to a book to occupy my free time. I would much rather read than watch tv and sometimes I even fall into the trap of reading book after book and forgetting/neglecting other school work. But guess what, I still get good grades and I get to read for fun. Its the best of both worlds. 

Reading has given me so much and I am so sad that students today don't get the feel the way I feel about reading. I totally understand where they are coming from though and its my goal as a teacher to inspire their love of reading before they go off to college. I want them to have the necessary skills and discipline to read in their free time, but I also want them to be able to understand the texts they are reading in school, without feeling like they are being punished or tortured. I want to stop readicide because I almost fell down that hole myself, and it wasn't a good time.