Readicide is a term that was coined by Kelly Gallagher, an English teacher and education writer, to describe the phenomenon of students losing their love of reading. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as being assigned dry or uninteresting materials, being required to read too much in a short period of time, or being made to read texts that are too difficult.
The consequences of readicide can be serious. Reading is an essential skill that is crucial for academic success, as well as personal growth and development. When students lose their love of reading, they may struggle in school and may be less likely to pursue higher education or engage in lifelong learning.
There are several ways that educators and parents can help prevent readicide. One way is by choosing materials that are engaging and interesting to students. This can be achieved by selecting texts that are relevant to students' lives and that address their needs and interests. Additionally, educators can encourage students to choose their own reading materials and allow them to explore a variety of genres and formats.
Another way to prevent readicide is by creating a positive reading culture in the classroom and at home. This can involve setting aside dedicated reading time, providing access to a wide range of materials, and fostering a love of reading through discussions and activities. Parents can also play a role in promoting reading by setting aside time for their children to read and by providing access to a variety of materials at home.
In conclusion, readicide is a serious problem that can have negative consequences for students' academic and personal development. By choosing engaging materials, creating a positive reading culture, and encouraging students to explore a variety of texts, educators and parents can help prevent this phenomenon and foster a love of reading in students.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher
While too much attention to the details can interfere with overall understanding, I agree with Gallagher that students need to learn how to learn, and how good readers come to terms with complex test. This book is seriously short though - I was stunned when it ended at the 75% mark on my kindle - and I think it's rather repetitive in parts. I mostly agree with Kelly Gallagher's points but could barely get through the ridiculous metaphors for teaching swimming, baseball, et cetera the repetitive writing, and the contradictions. I am a reader - a staying up till 3am, books spilling out of the shelves, don't look at my Amazon bill, reader. This will be an important book for what I do in my classroom.
Books, are essentially ruined for them. The problem is I completely agree with what the author has to say with one exception, that I'll address later. Last year my sophomore class read six books in addition to the required reading for the curriculum and they loved it. This conversation often comes to mind as I teach my students at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, California. It's short, handy, and very convincing. Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools. He explains how American education is failing to create lifelong readers.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It Summary
He mixed in some chin music. For people not in the industry, all of these ideas are somewhat controversial, and in a few cases quite a lot of money is riding on what policy makers decide to do. I do, personally; I have loved reading and as a kid, probably listening to more often stories since long before we were taught to read a book in school, I guess. I agreed with a lot of the ideas that Gallagher proposed in his book and I felt a lot of the same pressures that his students felt. If the time spent reading in school decreases, students are far less likely to read out of school.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It 9781571107800
Basically the premise of the book is, given the current political atmosphere schools are focusing on shallow, short-term, to-the-test teaching rather than focusing on developing life-l It's always nice when an author dedicates a book to you. Lexile scores and success on state tests are important. When teachers spend so much time overanalyzing books they stop losing meaning and students fail to make present day connections to them. I believe Gallagher is preaching to the choir. Behind the scenes there was cheating, statistically inaccurate scores, and a decrease in students progress in the long run. When teaching more challenging works, stay in tuned with the students who seem to be confused or falling behind.
Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and what You Can Do about it
The point I agree with most whole-heartedly? He calls for students to be given access to high interest books and the time to read free voluntary reading, or sustained silent reading. He talks about chopping them apart so much that the students aren't even actually reading books any more at all. He is obviously one of these, as is everyone who reads this book. We can't focus on academic texts only. Key takeaway: as English teachers, one of our primary goals is to develop students into lifelong readers. We find the answers in Kelly Gallagher's Readicide. A decent teacher will choose just the right piece.
Choices must reflect a sense of the possible links between those materials and present levels of emotional maturity. High-interest reading is being squeezed out in favor of more test preparation practice. On the other hand, almost every student can name the four judges on American Idol. For the next two advisories, each girl feverishly discussed the characters, plot, and subject matter. To me, this seems like it would be very beneficial because it is allowing students to have more choice and more fun with what they are reading. Further, he supports programs that encourage students to read high interest texts, allow students time to read, and give students a place to read. And yes, the schools that have removed long works and novels from their curricula in the interest of state test preparedness are damaging their children.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher, Richard L. Allington
And let's have a laugh or two while we are at it. I wrote notes in the margins though where he was either lying or ignorant. Stop complicating a rather simple process. There's just too much to like and dislike. Building a Foundation Each year, I work to combat readicide in my classroom. I hope to bring more authors to the school, and I want to invite students to book readings by authors. Gallagher contends that this is losing us both a generation of readers, and America's creative edge.
The people who read this book are already going to be interested in reading and the growing trend of illiteracy amongst our students. Allow Great ideas, but suspicious statistical manipulations to prove his points. When Amy and Jenny walked into the room without mentioning their books, I was confused. So what does Gallagher propose? From there, the student can move on to more challenging reading and build upon his or her skills. He explains how American education is failing to create lifelong readers. For a much more balanced approach to these issues, read Reading Matters by Catherine Sheldrick. We can keep our students from hating reading and allow them to become excited about reading.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher
In this provocative new book, Kelly Gallagher suggests, however, that it is time to recognize a new and significant contributor to the death of reading: our schoo Reading is dying in our schools. I felt Readicide failed to address how to cultivate that value other than surrounding a kid with books and appropriate teaching of books and hoping it happens. I don't particularly like Gallagher also addresses 'readicide' at different stages of students' lives - particularly the age 10-14 stage - which is very much aligned to what is happening in Singapore as well. Basically, as a nation, we are graduating students who will never again pick up a book for pleasure. My problem lies with some pretty huge assumptions Gallagher has made.
Don't kid yourself though, we're all Language Arts teachers. What has labeled them a problem are unrealistic expectations and the idea they there is some way to rush the language learning process. Reading is dying in our schools. The second half of the book explores how teachers overteach books by beating them into the ground and underteach books by failing to prepare students to tackle difficult concepts. In other words literature rich home environments. Of the people on this website, who loves reading because of a book assigned in school? Reversing the Trend We must ask whether teaching in a coverage mode serves the long-term interests of our students as readers.
