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

Even though Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide was published in 2009, I feel the book is still relevant in 2017 classrooms because “teaching to the test” has remained a prevalent notion in schools. 

One of my favorite parts of the book was about “Establish a book flood zone” (52-53) and the inclusion of Appendix A: 101 Books My Reluctant Readers Love to Read (119-124); he mentions he has over 2,000 books in his classroom because he believes in bringing the library to his students (53).  In high school, my AP Language Arts teacher had the same line of thinking and had her own Classroom Library.  Students could check out books from her library to encourage reluctant readers to find books that they might find interesting.  I plan on having my own classroom library as well; I’ve started an Amazon Wishlist for a classroom library, so I liked reading through which books Gallagher’s reluctant readers enjoyed because I want to add them to my list to create a diverse library of materials.  He talks about how research has found that the more students read for fun outside of school, the better their reading skills are for higher assessment achievements (52).  Even though schools want to focus on test preparation, reading should be a part of that test preparation, and not just required reading; students should be allowed to explore books and reading materials in which they are interested and engaged in so required reading isn’t all they are reading all the time.

Gallagher offers a lot of passionate tips and observations about reading which I plan on exploring as I start my teaching career.  As an English teacher and someone who always had at least one (maybe 3 or 4) book in her hand always, it breaks my heart to see students who dislike reading.  Before my students began reading Lord of the Flies, I had one student tell me he didn’t want to read the 5-page introduction they were analyzing because he thought reading was pointless and he didn’t want to read a 60-year-old book that he would gain nothing from.  Since I’m still a student teacher, this was my first interaction with a reluctant reader and I had to take a moment to take a step back.  My inner reader wanted to get frustrated because I’ve read LOTF before and I understand the impact the book has and why the book is still used in classrooms today.  However, as a teacher of English, I had to remind myself that not all students read for fun all the time or at all, and there are some students who don’t even want read novels required in their English classes.  This was one such student.  So, I think Gallagher offers different tips and strategies to not only understanding what Readicide is and how it’s affecting students but also ways to combat and change it so students can find enjoyment and/or understanding about why reading is important and helpful.