Mark H. Parsons
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Don't Kill the Reader!

1/1/2020

7 Comments

 
Picture
 
In a moment of irony, we’re going to start this post with a pop quiz…
 
Questions:
 
1. What’s one of the biggest precursors for success not only in school, but in life?
 
2. What’s an activity that students seem to either completely love or totally despise, depending on how it’s administered?
 
3. What is the term for students perusing graphic novels, comic books, and silly picture books full of fart jokes?
 
4. What do we call it when students choose books with inappropriate Lexile scores, either well above or below the student’s assumed ability to comprehend?
 
5. What subject—as opposed to, say, math—can be forever lost to the student by too much dissection, too early?
 
Extra Credit: What’s THE terminal objective for having kids read in school?
 
Answers:
 
1. Reading*.
 
2. Reading*.
 
3. Reading*.
 
4. Reading*.
 
5. Reading*.
 
Extra Credit: Instill in them a lifelong love of reading*. Nothing more. Nothing less.
 
*NOTE: As used here, we’re referring to the common practice of sitting down with a book—fiction or otherwise, classic or contemporary—and simply reading it for enjoyment and edification. Yes, a math or history lesson requires reading, and analysis and testing of the material presented is an important part of the lesson, but the main point of reading a math lesson has little to do with enjoying the actual words in the textbook.
 
Nowhere in the common definition of “reading” is there anything about memorizing and regurgitating sections of the book in question. Nor anything about analyzing and dissecting the work in question to ascertain “greater” meaning than that contained within the words on the page. Nothing about using reading as prep for a test on the very same reading, either—a cart-before-the-horse exercise wherein the results of the test end up more important than the actual reading of the book.
 
So why do we do this? I think it largely comes from a well-intentioned desire to apply metrics to the subject. And for the more Boolean, STEM-centric subjects, yes, we often need to quantify results to measure progress. So we tend to think we need to create a methodology to dissect, measure, and test all subject matter.
 
But for the more right-brained subjects, applying this mindset often does more harm than good. (One of the banes of my corporate existence was the oft-repeated dictum, “If you can’t put numbers around it, it doesn’t exist.” Hint: people who say this might make good accountants but are almost universally poor supervisors.)
 
So, what should we do? I humbly offer three strategies:
 
1. Start with the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm. The first goal of any reading program should be that the student ends up with a love of reading such that they will continue the habit going forward. If that’s all that happens, that’s a wonderful success. But if the student ends up with a correlation in their brain between “reading” and “work,” then—regardless of all the curriculum objectives you’ve met on paper—the program is a total failure for that student. (Similar to sports programs that use running laps as punishment. Way to go, coach—you’ve just created a life-long negative association with one of the healthiest activities a person can engage in: aerobic exercise…)
 
2. Be mindful of selection criteria. You’ve probably seen the recent (and infamous) “recommended reading list” from Florida’s Dept. of Education that’s almost entirely comprised of books written before I was born, let alone the students. (Imagine a list for middle graders—put out in 2019!—that starts with Black Beauty, Heidi, The Secret Garden, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Wind in the Willows, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Anne of Green Gables. And I didn’t cherry-pick these… they’re simply the first seven titles on the list. The rest are more of the same. Who in the world thought today’s tweens might relate to those?) The same issues come with using big awards as selection criteria. (A famous report on the past 30 years of children’s literature says, “The Newbery has probably done far more to turn kids off to reading than any other award in children’s publishing.”) Remember, the first objective isn’t to introduce the students to “the brilliance of the classics,” it’s to get them to love reading. Which means they need to actually enjoy what they read, especially for the first few years of independent reading. Toward that end…
 
3. Let the kids pick their reading material. Obviously there needs to be assigned reading at times (but even then, please try to select something the kids might actually enjoy reading!), but it’s hard to over-stress the importance of actually letting the students select their own books—on their own—without “guidance” or “Lexile scoring” or “recommendations” (unasked-for) or any other type of thumbing the scale. If they ask for recommendations, then yes! This is where great librarians and teachers shine—they can pair up a student with a book in a way that seems almost like magic to an outsider (when it’s mostly deep knowledge of the material—including current books—paired with a deep love of books and reading, along with serious time and effort on their part). But one of the keys to developing a love of reading is the feeling of autonomy a student gets when they choose a book that they think might actually interest them (as opposed to their teacher), make the effort to read it, and end up actually liking it (both validating their choice and providing motivation to try the process again… win-win!).
 
Speaking of the primacy of student choice, Penny Kittle—in Book Love, her book on getting students to love both reading and writing—says, “Allowing students to make choices about what they read has been presented in our profession, especially at the secondary level, as enrichment—something to do once the hard work is over. I believe, instead, that it is at the center of our work.” And, “I believe all students need to own their reading in the same way I believe they must own their writing.”
 
For many kids, reading enjoyment seems to peak in mid-late elementary grades then fall off somewhere in those tween middle school years… and sometimes never recovers. (And in schools where this doesn’t seem as prevalent, I’ve noticed they usually have deeply engaged librarians and language arts teachers.) In my own informal polling of young people, “They made us read crappy books!” and “They made it into work!” were two of the top reasons why this happens, along with basically being “too busy” for pleasure reading.
 
The busy-ness aspect is a separate subject, but if we take care of the first two issues and they actually learn to enjoy reading—and writing—then they’re more likely to stick with it even when life gets a little hectic.
 
Going back to the opening question (what’s one of the biggest precursors for success…?), pleasure reading actually has to do with a lot more than pleasure. So helping our kiddos develop a love of reading is beneficial to them well beyond the language arts arena, and well beyond school itself.
 
Happy writing… and reading!
 
7 Comments
Copeland
1/18/2020 12:00:05 pm

How do you feel about Accelerated Reader (AR)? It's not ideal, but I really appreciated it, both as a student and a teacher; it provides a fantastic means of goal-setting/stretching and accountability, even if it doesn't encourage higher-level thinking and can, unfortunately, be used to box kids in to confined reading levels.

In the classroom, I used AR solely for tracking reading. Other activities and discussions encouraged higher-level thinking and book appreciation, and, instead of correlating AR points to a grade (as was the practice when I was a student), students who met their AR stretch goals (or were on track to) earned a reward every week. Additionally, at various points through the year, I was able to show students their reading grade-level growth and correlate these successes to their efforts.

When I left teaching, I was dismayed that my school was planning to cancel their AR subscription. The tool has developed a negative association for reasons similar to those you discussed. Really, though, such softwares/programs are just tools, and the harm or help they cause is simply a result of how they're used.

Are you familiar with AR? Do you think it (or similar tools) make it too easy to put the horse before the cart? Other than generally prioritizing a love of reading over metrics, have you seen or can you recommend strategies that seem to effectively put this prioritization into practice?

Great post, by the way! I'm stunned by the Florida DOEd MG book recommendations! Have *they* even read those books?!

Thanks!

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Mark Parsons
1/18/2020 10:02:27 pm

Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and for sharing your experience about the AR program.

First off, I’ve never taught anyone other than adults, so you certainly have more hands-on experience with the program than I do. I know a number of teachers and know that they have varying opinions about the usefulness of the AR program, but it sounds like you were using it in a beneficial way (for tracking the reading, vs. using it to select/direct/rank the content the students were reading).

In a stroke of synchronicity, my wife did a public library presentation today, and we also happen to have a K-5 librarian as a house guest tonight. So we discussed your question (as book people are wont to do) and a couple of related things came up… One of my wife’s former students showed up at the presentation and related that she’d read most – but not all – of the Sammy Keyes books, because at some point her teacher pulled her aside and said that they were below her reading level and she should “move up” to something else, so she stopped reading the series. A series she’d loved and had gotten a lot out of, by the way.

We started talking about Lexile scoring, one of my pet peeves. NOT that I don’t believe that knowing the content and reading level of texts isn’t helpful in matching books to students. But because the algorithm is exactly that… an algorithm, deducing the supposed “reading level” of a book by using simple metrics such as sentence length and word frequency. So I looked up a few works with which I’m intimately familiar (and which were part of today’s presentation)…

Wild Bird has a Lexile of 680, basically meaning that smart 2nd graders, average 3rd graders, and almost all 4th graders can read and comprehend the text. The big mistake being, of course, that understanding the words and sentences used to make up the book has little to do with understanding the concepts contained therein. (Wild Bird is about a troubled teen finally having the self-generated epiphany that deciding who she wants to be—as a person—is much more important than deciding what she wants to do.) The Running Dream is rated even lower, at 650, primarily because it uses clear, simple sentences to describe the emotional rollercoaster—and the fundamental changes in self-image—that occur when one loses a limb or otherwise can no longer do what they love to do. (A really talented high school runner loses a leg in an accident.) The writing style was chosen on purpose (to reflect the short, almost breathless feeling we experience when something traumatic happens to us) and is used to convey sophisticated thoughts and feelings with a highly emotive impact. Again, the words and sentences may be understood by the average 3rd grader, but the deeper message…? Perhaps not.

Then there is the “Harry Potter problem,” where almost all kids want to read the books, but they’re either “out of range,” or they choose something shorter/easier to get more points.

As for strategies that seem to effectively prioritize a love of reading over metrics, by far the best I’ve seen is having a librarian with a deep knowledge of children’s literature who has the ability to match a student with works which will (1) interest them, and (2) which may challenge them a little, but not to the point of discouragement. Couple this with teachers who (1) maintain an in-classroom adjunct library, and (2) prioritize SSR, and are open and excited about discussing books with kids (all books, with all kids) without over-directing them. (As Anne Lamott so wisely says, “help” is the soft side of “control.”)

Reading is like exercise: it’s all good, regardless of the specifics. And like exercise, if a kid learns to like it and internalizes the idea that it’s a good thing, they are going to be infinitely better off going forward, for the rest of their life. Period. Once they cross the bridge to that point, it’s self-sustaining. But many don’t get to that point, because we inadvertently create a negative association with it in our attempt to “help.”

Thanks again for your insightful comment!

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Copeland
1/19/2020 02:42:28 pm

What sweet synchronicity that brought a K-5 librarian and former student into the discussion! I really appreciate their insights. It is utterly tragic that the former student was discouraged from reading the rest of the Sammy Keyes series because of the Lexile scoring. The teacher who steered her to higher Lexile material was severely missing the bigger picture.

I admit that I took issue with the Lexile scores when I tried putting them to practice as AR recommends. One of my fifth graders tested at a twelfth grade reading level at the start of the school year, and I set out to match books to this level, only to find that every book I uncovered with a 10+ reading level was a textbook. The closest I found to a good fit that matched his interests was "The Book Thief" at a seventh grade reading level. (If I recall correctly, Game of Thrones (not that I would have recommended that to him) was at a fifth grade reading level.) I discussed The Book Thief option with his parents, and we agreed the material was a bit too dark for that particular student at his age. I felt like I'd failed the student at the time when I told him to just read what interested him. (He ended up reading and rereading Esperanza Rising, which I just learned has a Lexile of 750.) I've since decided, to your point, that I had actually stumbled upon a very constructive bit of advice for him. I would still feel that way if he'd picked up comic books, so long as they held his interest and fueled the reading fires. I agree with you; all reading is good.

This situation (and a few others) led me to eventually ignoring the Lexile scoring altogether. I can understand AR's dilemma: they want to provide guidance to educators, but there's no way to consistently and effectively process and synthesize every book in a way that considers context, structure, content, etc. and pairs accordingly with students. As a book fanatic, I didn't especially need guidance like this to find books for my students. However, many, if not most, of my coworkers were not book fanatics. In fact, many of them didn't read at all(!). They would recommend classics because "it's a good challenge", yet they wouldn't dare pick up those books themselves (a-hem, Florida DOEd!). Some of them certainly would have been duped by the "low" Lexile scores of Wild Bird and The Running Dream, and would probably even recommend them to any random second or third grader looking for a chapter book.

In some ways, I think the root issue is the same between the bad guidance provided by Lexile scoring and non-reader teachers: lofty, ill-informed goals are espoused that are not grounded in a love of reading. Just like there is no way for AR to effectively synthesize every book and reader to make matches, there is no way to ensure every teacher who promotes reading is actually someone who enjoys reading. I only hope there are enough awesome librarians and teachers out there who really love reading, and who can counteract bad guidance and use reading tools in a conscientious way that is grounded in a love for the activity.

Thank you for the response, and for the great food for thought, Mark! I'm especially interested in your comment about help vs. control--a major grey space, especially for parents and educators. If you haven't made a post about that previously, I'd certainly be interested in learning your thoughts on this in future post!

Thanks again!

Reply
Copeland
1/19/2020 02:47:15 pm

btw, I love that the boy pictured is reading The Pokemon Handbook! I loved that book as a kid! (And it's a perfect example of a "non-literary" book that many teachers (and my parents) definitely frowned upon.)

Mark Parsons
1/20/2020 08:30:22 am

Thanks. You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this. I understand the frustration you must have felt when trying to match a precocious child with a book at his/her “level.” I think The Book Thief is an amazing book, both the story itself and Marcus Zusak’s brilliant handling of it. And I loved it as an adult. But I doubt it would have clicked with me at ten years old… and even if I’d made it through, I wonder how much I would have truly comprehended. But it sounds like Esperanza Rising was the perfect book for your 5th grader at that point in his life, regardless of Lexile score. (Kids probably don’t reread multiple times if the book doesn’t really resonate with them.) So your advice was spot on. (Man, you were obviously an engaged and involved teacher. I wish there were more like you!)

Good point about the low Lexile of some mature titles fooling teachers into recommending them to younger readers. I cringe when I think of giving a second or third grader Wild Bird. (Our K-5 librarian friend keeps a copy of Wild Bird behind her counter and only gives it to the occasional 5th grader who she thinks is ready for it.)

I think kids seek out the books that they’re ready for. (By “ready,” I’m more referring to emotional content than complexity of vocab.) And really, if they read something that’s a little below their comprehension level, how can that possibly hurt them? If it’s too low – or if the content is a little young for them – they’ll get bored and try something a little more challenging next time. It’s a self-correcting process, and in reality it seems to work well. The people who don’t trust kids to choose their own SSR content are the same type that recommend the classics, for exactly the reasons you gave above. (I’m talking to YOU, Florida. Ha!)

Not saying we don’t want or need assigned reading… it’s hard to do a guided study of literature in a classroom environment if everyone’s reading something different. And a good teacher can make all the difference in the world when it comes to making literature come alive for his/her students. (I can still remember my middle school teacher reading Shane aloud and discussing it with us in class. I later heard the author speak and to be honest, my 8th grade English teacher did more to bring that story to life for me. Thank you, Mr. Hixon!)


PS – Guessing you might be the Copeland we met on book tour in New Mexico? You’re a writer and your wife is a singer, IIRC? If so, hope you’re both still at it—you’re both very talented.

PPS – You noticed our son’s Pokémon Handbook—good catch! Fun fact: the voice of Bulbasaur—the amazing Tara Sands—also voiced the Sammy Keyes audiobooks. (Our sons were more impressed with this than that their mother actually wrote them… ha!)

Copeland
1/20/2020 08:33:13 pm

Go, Mr. Hixon!! How awesome that teachers like him exist. It's fascinating to think that he did Shane more justice than the author himself.

I really like your idea that reading to comprehension and interest is a self-correcting process. I hadn't thought of it that way, and I think you're totally spot-on. Adding to our previous discussion, I think there's also a tendency for adults to forget that kids often are trying to stretch them*selves* in terms of reading difficulty. I remember battling my way through The Dark is Rising in fourth grade, having no idea what the Lexile score was (and not caring), but knowing it was a great story and a really good challenge for me. I was certain I would be smarter by the end, and I was so proud when I finished it. So, not only is the process self-correcting, but it also continually tests its own limits.

Thank you for taking the time on this deep dive! I really enjoyed the thought provoking post and the continued conversation.

PS - I am that very Copeland--good memory! And thanks for the kind words. It goes without saying that you and Wendelin are both amazingly talented (and quite the inspiration to us). Hope all is well with you guys! Let us know if you swing anywhere near the New Mexico area on an upcoming event. We've got a one-year-old to introduce to you!

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Kayla link
9/15/2021 06:06:57 am

Loved reading this thaank you

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