Chapter 2- J. McLeod

I am one of the students commonly describes in Readicide. I loved to hear my mom read Good Night Moon when I was little, but my first active reading memory was a negative experience. All I can say was there was a book being thrown across the room. My Mom never gave me easy answers. She made me spell out all the words. The word I was having trouble with was island. It does not sound like it is spelled, and I could not get it. It was very frustrating and I grabbed the book out of my Mom’s hands and threw it across the room! That is where reading started for me. It has never gotten any better. I do not know may people who were enrolled in Honors English and Reading Comprehension in the same year.

Chapter 2 instantly grabbed my attention. It mentioned Michael Phelps and if anyone really knows me swimming is the way to my heart. I really started to pay attention when Gallagher noted Phelps swims six hours a day. He has had success because of his training. This brings me to a few points. I also trained six hours a day and I do not have any Olympic Gold metals. There are many people who put in the time and effort, but never share in the accomplishments. Training and practice is only a small part of the equation. Michael Phelps has a talent, a talent to swim. If I was as talented and worked as hard, I would be closer to his success. This also brings up another point! Phelps, as well as myself, swim/swam every morning from 4:50-7:30 and every evening 3:30-6:30. After swimming, we had our commute, eating, and homework. Time for outside activities was limited. The days were very full! For me, it was very hard to find any extra time to pick up a book and read for enjoyment. Homework was the focus. How does this relate to Readicide? We are not aware of all of the outside influences affecting our students. Are they a world class athlete training six hours a day, do they have a job to help support he family, do they have children of their own, or is someone in their family sick. As teachers we complain about the lack of homework, but how much time do some students really have? Many times the answer is none. We have to find an avenue to attract the students to find importance in the work. The second point is the talent. After a certain point in school, reading is not taught, it is expected. If you fall below the acceptable range, good luck developing the talent. This is especially the case in high school. You are supposed to know how to read already. There are few talent building classes for the students who fall below the range. Many schools require all of the students to read the same books. How is that possible?

Let’s spend more time talking about what the students are reading. Gallagher mentions choice in reading. Choice is a very interesting concept because we provide choice for our summer reading program. In the past, a student could choose any book they wanted and we would fit it into the summer reading program. After the first year of the Summer Reading Celebration, it was discovered the students that selected a book outside the parameters did not necessarily fit into the reading groups. Students now are limited to the list. It actually now looks to change the focus of summer reading. Summer reading appears to be for the celebration. It is important for students to read. It does increase SAT scores and vocabulary. Students would be far more fond of choosing a book if they could choose a book they are truly willing to read. Students need to choose a book that is personally relevant and helps give meaning. For instance, it would be a great idea for me to read the biography on Michael Phelps.