On Literacy: New Beginnings

I have always been one of those blessed persons who was an avid reader. I read viciously--devouring books before moving on to the next. I despaired when my academic coursework overtook the precious time that I had set aside for reading. I knew not everyone felt this way about books, but I never thought that so many of my peers and students my age were so far behind in their reading abilities.

So when our first week of Reading 3323 commenced and I learned the stark and devastating facts about literacy in the nation and in Texas-- how most students do not read at grade level, how Texas places dead last in literacy (51st--behind even the District of Columbia)--I was shocked. I felt the desperate need to run home and hold all of my books and thank them for the advantage they had given me.

I was less surprised in reading the facts about the effects that socio-economic status and race had on literacy but here as well I did not think things were as bad as they were. I expected there to be some form of difference because there usually is when it comes to statistics, but I did not expect to see these at the severity which I did.

Saddened and in need of holding my books close and thanking my parents for sending me to good schools, I went home and began to think. Yes, the numbers were bleak and adolescent literacy was clearly something that needed to be addressed head on. But something in the back of my mind nagged.

Why?

Why were the numbers so low? What was happening that was causing so many students to read below grade level? How did these students not know how important reading was? Why do their teachers not tell them? How can we fix it? What could I do to share my love of books and reading with my future Math and English students?

In the last week or so, I have come up with a few answers that I have discussed in class and that I have had floating around in my brain. Essentially my answer to these questions is this: I have to make reading cool again. I have to show my students that books are portals to other worlds that can help them with their problems and teach them about the world around them and the worlds they know nothing of. Yes, I must teach the phonemes and the morphemes and how to put words together and comprehend what students are reading, but I also recognize that that will not do me any good without making reading cool.

So the next question follows--how would I do that? This answer is simple. Teach, recommend, and provide access to interesting texts on a wide range of subjects. Find my students' passions and get the books that they need to explore those passions. As a teacher, I aspire to do that.