Books and Beers

Though the first three chapters of Kylene Beers’ book When Kids Can’t Read seem pretty basic, they set up some situations in the classroom that I hadn’t even considered before.  Even in the class I’m observing, which includes a lot of students who don’t speak English as their first language, I haven’t noticed any students who are having major difficulties with reading or refuse to read.  This may be due to the fact that I haven’t witnessed any major reading assessments yet.  We’ve mostly been focused on writing abilities, so I’m interested to see if any of the more basic reading problems come up (such as issues with reading for comprehension). The one reading “problem” that seems to have already been addressed in the classroom is the issue of not wanting to read.  My CT has implemented independent reading time, during which students can pick out any book they want to read.  This may not solve all problems—they are still easily distracted from their books, and I can’t assume that every student has magically discovered the exact genre of book that they like to read and that they will continue to read.  However, Thursday’s reading time was pretty amazing.  Every student in class was engrossed in what they were reading, and all you could hear was the rustle of turning pages for at least 25 minutes.  This was the first independent reading session all semester that all students actually utilized fully.

One particularly timely point that Beers discusses in chapter 3 is how classroom teachers (or, more likely, schools) can’t fix reading problems by buying into a particular program.  During our last class in Adolescent Literacy, people who were observing at Akins High School talked about the new lexile program that was supposed to be utilized in the classroom; there seemed to be numerous difficulties with how the program decided “higher” readers from “lower” readers, as well as the intersection of the lexile program with reading for enjoyment.  I thought to myself at the time, well, good thing that I’m at a high school that doesn’t employ these measures.  I could see it really getting in the way of that sacred independent, purely choice-driven reading time.  And then I arrived at school on Tuesday.

It seems that lexile programs are now being implemented throughout AISD.  My CT was distraught over the numerous requirements that had been introduced during a faculty meeting the previous day.  She was worried about what the program would mean for her students’ independent reading time, and there was also talk of an incentive program to get students to read (by incentives, I don’t just mean a pizza party; I mean discussions about a four-wheeler).  While I’m not sure about the efficacy of the lexile program just yet, I’m sure it is well intentioned.  A teacher does want to make sure that her students are not overwhelming themselves with difficult reading material, and she also wants to ensure that they are challenging themselves with texts that are at the higher end of their current reading abilities.  However, as Beers points out, there is no guarantee that this program will succeed in all classroom situations.  Why?  Because “teachers—not programs—are the critical element in a student’s success” (Beers 38).

I’m actually glad to have the opportunity to see the initial stages of a district-wide reading program because the enforcement of programs like this one seems to be a common occurrence in public schools.  I want to see how my CT deals with using the program in a manner that will work in her classroom setting, or even how my CT deals with the program when it doesn’t work.  I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about the program in the near future, so I’ll get back to you on that one. One student in the class I’m observing finished two books in a week, when he had previously never read a whole book on his own.  I can’t say whether or not the books were in his lexile range, but I can attest for the reaction from the rest of the class—they seemed to be encouraged in their reading efforts as well.  Maybe we should expand Beers’ statement about student success to show that when teachers instill a sense of self-efficacy into students’ reading lives, both teachers and students are the critical elements in students’ successes.