Reddit reviews Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It

Lots of experience.

First, here are four books I recommend related to this (in rough order of practical to theoretical):

Book Love

Readicide

In The Middle

Free Voluntary Reading

Second, if ALL you did was make sure they read books and developed a love for them, it would be good.

The best way to "keep them accountable" imo is to conference with them semi-regularly to talk about the book they are reading. Something else I do is go around and write the page number they are on. This can give you data on reading rate over time. It also helps to know who is reading and who is faking.

Now, your student population will affect how/when/if you do this. But, I imagine it will be helpful for about 90% of high school populations. Maybe 100. (Free Voluntary Reading backs this up with many many studies)

It can be a struggle, but if you make it part of your culture, you will get buy-in. Consider that I work at an alternative high school with "difficult students". One of my most resistant readers this year ("I ain't reading books. I hate reading..") Has finished like 6-10 books in half a year. She probably hasn't read that many in her last 3-5 years of school combined.

One important key is getting good books.

The most common argument against high school SSR is "I don't have time to that with all the content I have to cover." Depending on how nice I was feeling, I would say, "You don't have time not to." Otherwise, I might say, "Quit wasting student time with so much 'content'. "

I appreciate your thoughtful comment. I think some of your generalizations about the families I serve are dangerous, though; they're the kind of generalizations I've seen used by teachers and administrators to avoid pushing my kids the way they need to be pushed, and they're the kind of generalizations that people use to justify abandoning these schools and families when it comes time to vote on education policy and spending. A lot of my kids come from two parent homes, a lot who don't have wonderful grandparents, aunts and uncles doing their best to make sure these children have what they need. A lot of my kids have parents and siblings in their homelands; they are here with me because their parents believe that splitting up the family and sending the kid to a Title I school in America is STILL the best thing they can do to give their kids a chance at a better life (and in most cases I tend to agree with them). I taught between 70-80 kids last year and I didn't meet a single parent who I thought was a deadbeat or was doing anything less than their best for their kids under often grueling circumstances. Many of them were marginalized and neglected by their teachers and administrators when they were students and have a hard time trusting educators, and they certainly are at a disadvantage when it comes to navigating the bureaucratic nightmare that public education can be-- especially if English isn't their first language. There are so, so many reasons my students are behind (and truly, I have many students who meet and exceed grade level-- more than people usually assume), a different reason for each kid, and there are so many shitty, negative messages in our culture about who they are and what they are capable of that they really do internalize-- and little to none of that has to do with bad parenting.

That said, thank you for the resources. I think you're spot on about classic drama being a good entry point, I plan on doing Antigone with my kids this year (R+J being a 9th grade text and Macbeth usually reserved for seniors, though I loves me some Shakespeare). And a lot of these modern or urban interpretations can serve as wonderful "hooks" to get kids to be receptive to the classics. I think the problem is when teachers are unable to go beyond what the kids immediately relate to ("oh that dude is rapping. I like rap.") and bring them closer into the text and its original context, as well as how it speaks to our contemporary issues. The truth is that kids at affluent schools like Myers Park aren't being taught Shakespeare in a way that is "easy to relate to" and that in college their professors won't be teaching it to them that way either, the expectation of those students is that they rise to meet the text and the teacher should be giving them a boost. I definitely want to use every resource available to maximize my students' initial interest in the text, but I also want to make sure I am holding my kids to the highest academic expectations possible (which includes habits and mindsets) because that is what is really going to open doors for them after high school.

All of which is kind of aside from the point that all kids need book-rich environments; they need to be surrounded by books that represent lots of interests and skills levels and need to be given time to spend with them freely. This is happening less even in affluent public schools, as the standardized test push makes independent reading seem frivolous and time wasting to administrators and as technology becomes accepted as the cure-all for our education ills. An excellent book about this problem is "Readicide" by Kelly Gallagher (http://www.amazon.com/Readicide-Schools-Killing-Reading-About/dp/1571107800) if you're interested. It has definitely helped me refine what I want to do with my kids this year.

Read, Write, Think for your immediate needs (pre-made lesson plans and activities)

Some reading for later:

The English Teacher's Companion and Jim Burke's Website

Readicide and Kelly Gallagher's website

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling and Emily Kissner's blog

I Read It, But I Don't Get It and Chris Tovani's website

I have more, I just can't find them right now. Hope these are what you're looking for.

Yes! SSR is an important part of my class. I make sure to give students 20 minutes each day for it, and they have 20 minutes per night, 5 nights a week for homework. They may choose any book they want as long as they read. I work with students who are in grades 9 and 10, but they test at a 6th grade reading level. We also read literature, but SSR is so they can read recreationally and find books that suit their interests. Kelly Gallagher's Readicide is the book that most informed my reading pedagogy. It also cites many studies about the importance of students doing recreational reading.

Apparently it's pretty common for kids to absolutely love reading in elementary school, and then schooling unintentionally teaches them to hate reading.

I read obsessively up until about age 12. I haven't read a book cover to cover in years...

I have to leave for work soon, so I'm going to make this short and can edit or make another post later. I am a special education teacher and have my reading endorsement for k-12. Part of my studies involved getting children with special needs to enjoy reading. This is a challenging area because many of my students struggle with reading more than your typical student and no one enjoys doing stuff they struggle with.

If you don't mind some reading, Readicide: How schools are killing reading is a great book that talks about how testing and our school system is killing students reading. It is a good start point and I really wish more people knew about it.

I'll come back and edit this post after work.

You could read up on the common core standards.

I haven't yet read Readicide but I've heard it's good. It's about how schools systematically destroy the love of reading in students.