An Exception to the Rule

Do you believe that a teenager with a 1.58 GPA, a baby, parents who never completed a high school diploma, floundering in a failing school has any chance for a future, or are they just "the exception to the rule?" And further, if they are the exception to the rule then is there really any point in giving a damn when it comes to inner-city, struggling students? I mean, if success is an exception and failure is inevitable, then why bother even trying? Just get your paycheck, and get through each day, get your tenure, get comfy and destroy futures.

Sounds harsh, but that is the reality at our inner city schools. Recently at a department meeting, my DEPARTMENT HEAD made the following three horrific comments:

1. These students don't need to learn that, they're not at that level and we all know we're not graduating doctors and lawyers here.
2. The9th grade students that we get here are like the 7th graders at other schools
3. You made it, but that is the exception rather than the rule!

I never noticed racism. Not because it doesn't exist, but becasue it is so permeated in society that I couldn't even see it. UGGGGGGGGH

I wanted to scream and jump out at my skin. But then I would have just beeen another "dumb Puerto Rican" with a hot temper. So I swallowed the monster rage that threatened to make me do something really stupid.

If she believes "these kids" are going nowhere, then why is she teaching them? Since experiencing "Readicide," I have quoted Witty-Wiggy many times (what you test is what you get), and it all ties back to my rubric argument that I brought up at October's meeting. If you expect nothing, you're never disappointed. So if we expect little from them, we get little. We also teach little. So thier lives are little and never amount to anything significant.

Ok, long intro. The point is I wrote something about the incident. Pen is mightier than the sword. It saved me from punching her lights out. I wanted to share it here but I forgot to put it on my flash drive before I left today...

The point is, what you test is what you get. And you test what you teach. If you teach crap, you test crap. If you test crap, you get crap. Is that fair?

Melissa J's Post - Chpt 1

The first section of this chapter that made me stop and re-read was when Gallagher was discussing how teachers are forced to cover so many benchmarks, that schools would have to go from k-22 instead of k-12 (pg. 11). This has been one of my biggest concerns, and the system's biggest problems, to making our students genuine learners. I've also recently noticed that it's really only English that holds students to such a high expectation. Not everyone is required to take the highest level science, math, and history courses, yet our benchmarks clearly demonstrate an expectation for each of our students to be the next Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson. When only 13% of American adults are capable of performing complex literacy tasks (pg. 3), perhaps we really need to focus on remediation for our country, not to mention reigniting a love for reading a writing!

It is in this section of the chapter that Gallagher also discusses that we need to develop a genuine interest for a subject matter in our students...sometimes I wonder how in the world I fell in love with English, because I know exactly what Gallagher is describing when he talks about sprinting through benchmarks, instead of developing an understanding, and potentially love, for a subject. Both of these issues (speeding through materials and not having time to love a subject) can be summed up very quickly in how we teach writing. When we first discussed the difference between assigning writing and teaching writing, I think the truth of the fact that most teachers assign a piece with little to no instruction for how to complete it was a pretty well accepted fact. This reflects that same idea of how we are trying to rush through so many benchmarks, that we aren't taking the time to teach our students in depth. This also results in the assignment of rather rote, and ultimately boring essays. No wonder our students hate to write, not to mention our teachers! Time and time again, my colleagues are the first people to moan and groan at the thought of writing during a professional development session. What happened to loving to read and write?? It's like going cross country, but never slowing down under 60, and never making any stops...how in the world can you actually ENJOY the trip without being able to see and experience the amazing things you're flying by?!

Gallagher's discussion about standardized tests sounded like the same arguments teachers have been stating for years; I just don't understand why they haven't been listened to! It is an undeniable fact that standardized testing does not improve education, especially in a struggling district. It has been proven and discussed 10 thousand times over, to the point where even the most oblivious of politicians should be able to get it!! So why haven't they?!

In closing, I will have to admit, that my first few years teaching were certainly spent teaching Gallagher's "Readicide Curriculum". It's how I had been taught, it was what I was taught to teach, and it's what I was most comfortable with. Over the last few years, I've strayed further and further from that routine, and have seen a marked improvement in my students. Not only are they showing more interest in their reading, but their holding themselves more accountable for actually DOING the reading. I think the hardest part was getting past the testing and quizzing to be sure the reading was done. I still bite my nails every once in a while when I notice a student blowing off their work, but I've found that peer pressure from those completing their work is even more successful in changing these students around. Whether it's because their peers are showing genuine interest in the literature, or it's because they're afraid of being caught unprepared again, has yet to be determined, but it's working. Gallagher lists a bunch of difficult questions at the end of chapter one, and I feel that if every teacher took the time to consider this list, it may create this change in a few more classrooms. We keep trying to teach our kids to look outside the box, and go beyond the book report of literature to get the most out of it...so why aren't we looking outside the box of frameworks and standardized tests to give our students the most out of our classes?

Readicide- Chapter 5

Unfortunately, the final chapter of Readicide is kind of a let down. In a nut shell, it's a list of all the problems that NCLB and technology have created for our schools and our students. Obviously, Kelly Gallagher knew what he was up against! The first thing Gallagher points out is that reading scores have gone up in many states in the last several years. However, if you look a little deeper you will discover that this is because many states are lowering their standards for state tests, in a desperate attempt to meet requirements and hold on to funding. This seems absurd, but I can hardly say I'm shocked. Just a few days ago I was speaking with the official CAPT coach at Westhill and she told me that the reading level on the story in the Response to Literature section of the CAPT has decreased every year. In fact, last year the story was only at a seventh grade reading level! So, instead of expecting more from our students just so we don;t lose even more funding? There's something wrong here! Shouldn't the government want to help students succeed not just "pretend" like they are?
Gallagher goes on to point out that the majority of gains in standardized testing have been made in elementary and middle school. As he has pointed out before, it is the high school students who are falling more and more behind and losing their desire to read at an alarming rate. Of course the reason for this is not simply bad schools and bad teaching. Kids spend more and more time watching television or on the Internet, where "deep" reading is not necessary. High school is also the point when many students "check out." They are sick of worksheets, sick of drills, and sick of test prep, and who can blame them? As a teacher, I hate doing these thing too. Just like the kids love to point out, they're boring! However, I constantly feel like I have to do these things. If I don't have my kids practice exactly what will be on the CAPT test, they won't pass, then they won't graduate from high school, and they won't get a good job.... So, we practice for the test. The kids hate it, but they pass. (hopefully!) But what have I really taught them? I certainly haven't taught them to love reading or writing, and I haven't taught them to be problem solvers. Sadly, this is the same problem we all grappled with over the summer. What is the right thing to do?
Thankfully, Gallagher did point to a solution in the last few pages of the book. He explained that although American students typically don't spend twelve hours a day in school, or have the best test scores, the United States is still a scientific and technological "super power." Gallagher (and many studies) have concluded that our nation's ability to remain at the top is really due to our "risk taking nature" and our creativity. Frighteningly enough, it is the creativity that is being removed from our school systems. Just think of all the schools that have cut art, music, and athletic programs to save money for test prep programs. Teachers (myself included) feel like they can't incorporate fun and creative lessons because their administrators will want them to be more correlated to standards and testing. I wonder, along with Gallagher, what will happen to our nation if our government drives the creativity out of our schools? What will we do without secret weapon?
Gallagher ends by explaining that we as teachers need to find a balance. Of course, we need to prepare our students, but can't we do it in a creative way? Shouldn't we be looking for what makes our students tick and find a way to connect that to our lessons? Shouldn't we also give the students the time to explore their other passions (music, art, athletics) instead of constantly pressuring them and overloading them? He points out that Finland has one of the strongest education systems in the world and Finnish students typically get about a half hour of homework a night and the majority of school funding is directed at lower achieving students, there are no gifted programs. Things that make you go hmmmm.....

Kate's posts

I wasn't assigned a specific chapter, so I just have some scattered commentary to make, i.e. what else is new.

Useful Things
What I really liked about this book were all the ways to actually employ his methods that Gallagher included. Theories and teaching philosophies are nice and all, but I don't have a whole lot of time to "be inspired" and then "create best practices" right now. Sad but true. I especially liked the "Big Chunk / Little Chunk" philosophy, and his explanation of exactly how to employ it. (Pgs. 99-102)

I've used this practice before, redirecting students to reread parts that I (as teacher) know are especially relevant, and / or may be useful to papers I intend them to write or tests that lurk in the future. Plus, they are the "best" parts - most beautiful, emotive, inspiring, or "just plain good," and therefore, worth a second look.

On Pgs. 104-106, I also found his list of strategies "adult" readers intuitively use that kids do not always know to employ (so, things we should be teaching) quite useful. It's nothing we haven't considered / discussed before at the CWP, but it's cohesive and pretty damn thorough, and I thought one way I could use it in my classroom would be to post such a list for students to refer to as "entries into texts" when they get stuck.

Or if they come up to me and say "I don't get it" and I say "what part" and they say "All of it" I could pick something on the list and have them try it out. "Well, why don't you use #4 on the first paragraph and give it another shot? Come back and let me know how it went."

Idea I'll Be Stealing
Appendix A (a list of book for "Reluctant Readers" or any student looking for something new / extra to get into) is something I've always MEANT to do and something both my students AND their parents ask me for every year. I resolve to hereby steal Gallagher's list, and add my picks to it.

The way he included one small sentence summarizing each book and broke them down into topical categories is also very smart and user-friendly. And I haven't read some of these titles, so if I ever get a free moment...

A Point I Can't Get Out of My Head
The Death of SSR, from Pgs. 42-45. I can't EVER remember having time for SSR in English class in ANY school I've ever attended. It was employed in Social Studies, Math and Science, but then only as punishments or when we had "bookwork" to do and questions to turn in at the end of the period. Frankly, I would've LOVED to have SSR even for "assigned books."

Of course, I loved to read, period. But so often, I know my students who DON'T necessarily love to read but DO the class reading anyway shoot me emails at 9 o'clock at night, after their clubs and sports are finally over and they are getting to my assigned reading to ask questions about characters, situations, and sometimes even vocabulary.

But, if I gave them time in-class, maybe these questions could be answered then, leaving them time at night to take the knowledge acquired in the reading and the clarifying and apply that to the writing that goes with it... Or, maybe they'd really get more "into" the book knowing they were in a roomful of people all reading the same thing as themselves... Maybe discussions would spring up later-on in the lunchroom, about whether or not you'd ever be friends with Holden Caulfield, or the Haitian-American immigrant experience, or the parallels between Othello's rise and that of Obama's (and who his Iago may yet be - that Biden is quiet, too quiet).

It's a lofty dream.

You know what I end up thinking though? I find myself wondering just what would happen, if I wrote in my lesson-plans (which I have to submit to my department head and administrator on a weekly basis) "Today in class, students will read silently to themselves from Ch. 1." I am willing to bet I'd be told this is a waste of a period.

Especially as I was so recently told, when seen carrying a copy of Readicide - "Oh, that book? There's nothing new in there. And frankly, I found the woman who wrote it just plain irritating." No, there was no typo in that sentence.

ALL OF BARBARA'S POSTS!

Reflective Journal - 17

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Introduction

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” This comment by Ray Bradbury, the masterful science fiction writer and author of Fahrenheit 451, is more ominously prophetic today than ever before. People, as Gallagher documents in his introduction to Readicide,
are not reading. The statistics he cites do not just apply to students since the frequency of adult reading is also alarming, but there is an inherent sadness when a secondary school student states that “reading is only fun if I have nothing else to do.” (4) What happened to getting lost in a book, of being unable to disconnect from that world, of being in “the reading zone”?

One of the factors for readicide that Gallagher cites is all too familiar to me. “SSR time is being abandoned because it is often seen as ’soft’ or ‘nonacademic’.” (5) About five years ago in Westport, we had a Grade 8 independent reading program, where students and teachers read and commented on their texts.
The program was held during enrichment time several times a week. A survey, completed at the end of the program, indicated that students were reading and enjoying it immensely; yet, because this activity was deemed as non-instructional, the policy makers determined that it was inappropriate.

I also concur with Gallagher’s four factors for the demise of reading. First of all, schools are driven by tests and test results, no matter how loudly they protest.
Unless teachers, librarians, and administrators actively introduce, sell, and provide books - classics and YA lit - to students, there is no one to advocate for the variety and the enjoyment of literature, and authentic reading experiences will become fewer and fewer. And, yes, teachers do over teach some books and under teach others, whether these professionals are driven by curriculum-coverage or comfort level. (5) This is where literature circles or book clubs can save the reading experience!

Reflective Journal - 18

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide

Chapter 1

I really enjoyed Chapter 1 of Gallagher’s book, so aptly titled “The Elephant in the Room.” The focus of the chapter - that an “overemphasis on testing is playing a major part in killing off readers in America’s classrooms” (7) - is effectively demonstrated by his description of the formidable and frightening scope of the Social Studies Grade 10 test in California and by his own experience of needing six weeks just to teach his sophomores about 911. I loved the Marzano comment that content should be “cut by two-thirds and that the sheer number of standards is the biggest impediment to implementing standards.” (11)

The next part of the chapter dealt with the shallowness of tests and contrasted the kind of test that a good teacher creates before a unit of study with the state
created test that covers so much that there is little deeper thinking. Sternberg is right on here while Rod Paige is absolutely frightening. Gallagher anoints Paige
as the father of readicide and delineates what happened under the Paige Paradox. (17-18) I found that these were some of the most infuriating and disheartening educational beliefs, practices, and results ever.

The Texas Miracle/Sham also aroused my ire. With all the facts and information we deal with here in Connecticut and with some CMT situations in East Haven and Fairfield that were addressed by the State pretty aggressively, it seems so unfair that, there, results were statistically flawed, that wide-scale cheating occurred, and that, in places like Aldine, TX, students were harmed in the long run. (21)

I decided to revise Gallagher’s list of how this vicious cycle is perpetuated especially for low-income students (22) and created a positive prescription for reform:
Low expectations -> High expectations
Multiple choice exams -> Paragraph + responses
No time to read -> Time provided for reading
Remediate drill + kill -> Use real literature and responses
Less interesting reading -> More interesting reading
in school + recreation in school + recreation
reading reading - book clubs, lit circles
Less experienced teachers -> The most experienced teachers

Finally, I appreciated the irony that Gallagher pointed out; the NCLB goal that every child will be proficient in reading by 2014 may actually turn into its opposite and fewer children will be good readers five years from now than when NCLB began.

Reflective Journal - 19

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Chapter 2

It is almost impossible to select the most telling anecdote or the most compelling research in “Endangered Minds,” Chapter 2 of Readicide. The stories and the fact-finding all point to a situation that should be of paramount concern to educators throughout the United States - the sad state of reading, of prior knowledge, and of comprehension. For me, the most memorable anecdotes
were Marissa and Justine’s confusion over Al Qaeda, Mike’s dismissal of farrier,
and Kelly’s own frustration over the 28 other, non-reading concerns of his fellow educators/administrators at the start of the school year. (27,37,30) I also strongly identified with Healy’s Endangered Minds: Why Children Can’t Think. The effect of television and video games on the key cognitive developmental windows that may well lead to the increasing number of attention deficit disorder diagnoses is of great concern, and her view of the school as a troubled haven where “students are not allowed to sit and think” is something that I fought against for years with 42 minute class blocks in middle school. (39-40)

Years ago, Fairfield University sponsored a marvelous summer program for teachers called Renaissance, where noted educators met with K-12 teachers and a few administrators to explore issues in education. Not only did I adore the program but I also was totally impressed with the speakers, particularly Dorsey Hammond, who was a proponent of prior knowledge. I still remember the article he gave us on Michigan wild rice and the introduction to Ogle’s KWL. Both of these techniques were invaluable approaches to prior knowledge and both appeared in my classroom the following year. Gallagher’s Bridge to Prison cartoon makes the same point that Dorsey made to us - we could all decode the words, but we needed to connect those words with prior knowledge. Today, the in term, in Westport, is pre-assessment, but the goal is the same. Teachers need to know what students know before the first lesson begins.

Another part of Chapter 2 that intrigued me was on page 42 where Gallagher cited the work of Stephen Krashen, The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research. Free voluntary reading time was studied, and in 38 out of 41 cases students with FVR performed “as well or better in reading comprehension tests”
as students in “traditional skill-based reading instruction.” As a veteran of SSR,
I thought that having 20 minutes to read in middle school was great. However, since we had the time in homeroom at the start of the day, the time was often disturbed by latecomers, delayed openings, intercom calls from the office. . . .
Also, my room might be totally quiet with everyone immersed in a free choice
book; but, in other rooms, students might be doing homework or reading magazines, teachers might be working a crossword while sipping coffee; you get the picture. Then, middle school adopted advisor/advisee programs, and that fit perfectly into the 20 minute homeroom time slot, once a week. Next, a guidance program came along in response to parental concern about bullying. Finally, morning announcements, which originally were read over the intercom at the end of homeroom, moved into the television studio and were broadcast to the entire school and consumed almost all of the 20 minute time block. It is interesting that these programs were very well received initially, but now, if you walk down the hall, you can spot students surreptitiously . . . . reading!

SSR works if everyone involved, students and teachers, are committed to it.
I also believe that a product is necessary, or SSR is perceived to have lesser value.

Reflective Journal - 20

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Chapter 3

In Chapter 3, “Avoiding the Tsunami,” Kelly Gallagher confronts the issue of over teaching and deals with some of my issues with SSR. As a fan of Mem Fox, I adored his opening anecdote about Chloe and how books were ruined for her in her American school; and, as an Atwellian, I felt right at home with being in the reading zone that Kelly described on his flight to Michigan with Come Home. (59) I had the same reaction with Isabella’s Key on a flight I took earlier this year; it was hard to leave Castile and its red-haired queen behind.

I also bonded with Kelly when he described what Los Angeles (LA) had perpetrated on To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) with its 122 page teaching guide.
I have taught TKAM for over 25 years to eighth grade students and consider it to be one of the best American novels ever written. But I had difficulty reading and understanding the seven goals and, especially, the nine habits of thinking where
the words “complex text” are used so often as to be unintelligible. (63-65) The five culminating assignments are items I would consider, but certainly not all of them. Is student choice of culminating assignments or of anything else allowed in LA? Perhaps that could throw a lifeline to the students, teachers, and TKAM!
Reading flow is certainly at risk there.

I enjoyed Kelly’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s idea that literature provides “imaginative rehearsals” for situations in the real life as well as his idea of using TKAM “as a springboard to examine issues in today’s world.” (67) I was impressed with the profusion of his current suggestions from the incident in Blick
on race and gender in Chicago car buying to Barbara Bush’s chilling comment
(68). I hope that educators in LA read this chapter, if not the whole book, and
revise their curriculum guide!

On a sad note, Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry” is a wonderful paean to reading flow and not chopping up text, but the sad thing that I’ve noticed in classes lately is that students now expect that teachers will
“tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.”
I guess that is the result of over teaching and too much test angst.

The best part of Chapter 3 was Kelly’s recommendations on what to do to prevent readicide: access to great books, time to read, and recognition of the value of reading. Kelly’s approach to academic texts came alive with his use of Polonius’ speech to Laertes, with his guided tour then the budget tour, with his jigsaw on articles related to 1984, and with his topic floods and colorcoding arguments on both sides to lead to persuasive essays. (76-81) The suggestion that addresses my SSR issue is to have “the one-pager” for recreational reading, a reflection on a book just read, that could focus on a minor character that has major importance as well as a section to comment on the author’s purpose and the intended audience. (82-83)

Reflective Journal - 21

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Chapter 4

In “Finding the Sweet Spot of Instruction,” Kelly Gallagher deals with the seemingly paradoxical idea that under teaching books can be a dangerous as over teaching them. Chapter 4 presents why teaching is important and references Haycock’s “Good Teaching Matters,” which reports on what happened with ineffective and effective teaching in Boston and Dallas. (88) Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia contends that “highly skilled, engaging teachers can help close the achievement gap” but that “only one out of every fourteen kids are in a consistent classroom environment that helps them do so.” (89)

Kelly, then, uses a baseball analogy to establish his sweet spot of instruction
- “what we know works” - and refers to Nancie Atwell (In the Middle) and her advice for teachers to be a mentor, mediator, and model to students. (90)
He and I share the same enthusiasm for Atwell’s ideas, but we both exist in public schools with constraints that Nancie does not face, such as required texts.
His suggestions are really noteworthy.

Suggestion #1 is to recognize the importance of framing. Kelly uses Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as his text and explains how he previews the final exam essay question with his class to establish the purpose for reading the book. He also previews key vocabulary. Then he gives some historical context and shares something about the author and what he was trying to accomplish with this piece of writing. Then, Kelly hands out an anticipation guide to focus on universal truths and discusses why the class will read this book and its value today. (93-96) I have used a similar procedure for years in middle school and cannot recommend it enough. I think that anticipation guides are invaluable to begin a text and to return to at its end.

Suggestion #2 is to remember the value found in second and third draft reading.
Kelly points out how a first reading of Romeo and Juliet or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is strictly survival mode until the teacher goes and focuses on a particular speech or character description - like that of Mr. Utterson - to enable the students to see Shakespeare’s use of metaphor or Stevenson’s use of duality.
(97-99) In Grade 8, we read Much Ado About Nothing, and, early on, we use Kenneth Branagh’s fine film version both as a first-reading survival mechanism and as a looking-deeper, second or third perusal. For example, in Act II, scene iii and Act III, scene I, Benedick’s and Beatrice’s quandary about how to approach each other becomes crystal clear to thirteen year olds who are in a dither about their own relationships. Of course, Branagh, Thompson, and Washington are magnificent Shakespearean actors, and the students are soon cheering them on, although almost everyone moans and groans over Keanu Reeves’ wooden Don John. And, while we always send home a permission slip home since this is a PG 13 film, no parent has ever refused permission; and, once the film’s opening moments are over, these gender-conscious students are glued to the screen.

Suggestion #3 is to adopt a “Big Chunk/Little Chunk” philosophy. Here, Kelly suggests reading the first few pages to the students and pausing to think aloud
with this big chunk. He recommends modeling his own confusion and how he coped. He also suggests giving students a purpose - one of two elements - for reading a large chunk on their own. For a little chunk, Kelly has his students read Kain’s article on close reading that was created at the Harvard Writing Center. She introduces three steps - read with a pencil and annotate the text,
look for patterns in the text, and ask how and why questions about these patterns. (101) Kelly thinks this big chunk/little chunk procedure leads to reading flow and sharpens analytical skills. I agree. We discovered a great way to use these chunks in MAAN. We show the first part of a scene in class, then let the students read the rest on their own in class and at home. We arm everyone with lines to examine and to attempt to translate. The next day, we create expert groups to work on these particular lines and then jigsaw so each expert can share the translation and understanding from his/her group.

Suggestion #4 refers back to Chapter 3. Here, Kelly proposes the carefully paced, detailed guided tour for the first part of the book followed by the budget tour for the rest of the text. I have used a similar technique and it works well.
In addition, I have previewed in all classes each and every book that I handed out - not just the table of contents and the glossary, but the cover, the chapter titles, the graphics, everything. This raises student comfort level with an assigned text since they know what lies ahead, including the number of pages.

I think Kelly’s ideas in this chapter are best summed up by his reference to Donald Graves - “A teacher teaches most by showing how he learns.”

Reflective Journal - 22

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Chapter 5

In “Ending Readcide,” Kelly shares his chagrin over the call for more testing. He contends that test scores may rise, but that is partially due to states’ lowering standards in light of 2014. (111) His reference to Robert Linn and the specter of penalizing failing schools makes his point chilling. Kelly also mentions that progress in raising reading test scores is greater in elementary schools and middle schools. (112) Teachers have known for eons that reading flags at thirteen. Hormones are raging, the adult world beckons, peers are more important than family, and reading suffers. I think one of the best arguments for middle school, as opposed to junior high, is that it keeps a team of concerned adults aware of and concerned about a group of these young people for as long as possible.

The eight items from “To Read or Not to Read” (112) via National Public Radio are certainly a call to arms, interestingly enough, if anyone in power is not only reading but also understanding them. The final fact that half the adults in the country do not read to themselves or to their children is absolutely mind-boggling. My husband and I were in a local restaurant one evening when a young woman with two boys, probably 7 and 8, sat at a table near us. Both boys had their video games which they played ceaselessly as they stretched out on the chairs, slid to the floor, and climbed back over and over without a word to each other. The mother was in her own world as well, texting away, and only interacted with the boys to order and to eat. I mentioned the absence of family communication to my husband; perhaps parents are not reading because they are not even talking to their children at a most impressionable age.

I think all educators should read pages 113 to 117 of Readicide to learn about an excellent opening activity for the school year. First of all, this might raise educators’ - teachers’ and administrators’ - awareness of the importance of creativity and thinking out of the box. The success of the Finnish education also holds out interesting child and educator empowerment information to consider. I’ve been to Finland, and I was very impressed by the presence, knowledge, and English fluency of the young people I met. Finally, Kelly’s key elements are just that; essential parts of the education of a literate individual. (117)

Reflective Journal - 23

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide Appendix A, B, C, D

I really enjoyed the 101 Books Reluctant Readers Love to Read. Ones that work well in middle school are the titles by Crowe - Mississippi Trial 1955, the
fictional counterpart, is also popular - Farmer, Flake, Fleischmann - this is a nonfiction book that Grade 6 boys devour - Haddon, and Zusak - the must-read for Grade 8 girls last year.

In Appendix B and C, Kelly puts his money where his mouth is and gives a variety of samples of his Book of the Month and One Pager formats. (125-127)
I loved them both, but I have one concern. With work-avoidant seventh and eighth graders, a reflection which calls for a personal response to the book will give a truer sense of the student’s interaction with the book. Summaries are all too easy to copy from Amazon.com and a variety of online sources.

Appendix D contained the memorable Hard Talk Checklist, which could and should be the focus of a lively, interactive professional development day for all educators, teachers, and administrators. (135) Obviously, I love this book!

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