Blog Post #10:Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide"

Readicide: the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools (2).

I’m going to admit something that I probably should simply keep to myself: I was the victim of readicide. At one point in my life I used to love to read. I mean really love to read. During summer break, when I ran out of books to read, I would sneak into the garage to find my moms’ box of Nora Roberts’s romance novels. Steamy romance novels may not have been the most appropriate reading material for a 5^th grade reader, but I loved reading so much it didn’t matter. This all changed after my senior year of high school and I literally did not pick up a book for years. Luckily, my love for reading somehow resurfaced and I once again love reading. But the reality is that most students don’t find a way to incorporate reading into their lives, once it has been ruined for them.

 How does someone who loved reading as much as I once did, not pick up a novel for years?  Gallagher talks about the reasons why this occurs and provides multiple strategies for teachers to introduce reading as a fun and important activity, rather than a required one. In the classroom, so many books are killed because teachers make their students focus on tiny details, which does not allow students to meaningfully engage with the text. As Gallagher states, the overteaching of academic texts is damaging our students’ chances of becoming lifelong readers. Yet time and time again educators continue to follow the Kill-a-Reader recipe, even though they know it is killing reading.

The Kill-a-Reader Casserole (pg. 73).

Take one large novel. Dice into as many pieces as possible.

Douse with sticky notes.

Remove book from oven every five minutes and insert worksheets.

Add more sticky notes.

Baste until novel is unrecognizable, far beyond well done.

Serve in choppy, bite-size chunks.

One of the strategies Gallagher uses in his classroom to prevent readicide is augmenting books with authentic, real-world texts. He argues that we need to “augment the curriculum with as much real-world text as possible” so that kids don’t come across words like “al-Qaeda” in life and ask “Who’s the Al guy?” (46). One way I’m implementing this strategy into my three-week unit plan is by having students read real world news articles that discuss the same topics as the novel we will be reading. I love the task Gallagher uses in his classroom, which he calls “Article-of-the-Week.” I was really sold on this particular idea because reminds me of the article we read this quarter on critical pedagogy. The AoW tasks provides an opportunity for students to become interested in the issues of their own time, thus becoming far more interested in issues, people, and literature of the past.