I was greatly saddened by a post that I read last night by discouraged reading teacher Sandra Stiles at Musings of a Book Addict. Sandra's school district is requiring her to follow a particular, proscribed curriculum, which she's sure will teach the kids (many of whom have no books at home) to hate reading. A particularly heinous part of the program is that kids who finish their workbooks early are only allowed to read books from a program-selected list of 8 titles. Any "pleasure reading" is expected to take place at home (hardly a realistic thing to expect from kids who never see pleasure reading in school). Sandra (who read some 70 kids' books this summer, in large part so that she could make recommendations to her students) is taking a stand. She says:
"So the 1200+ books that I have purchased and placed on my shelf are for naught. Oh did I mention they will be doing fidelity checks to make sure we are following the program to the T? How degrading. Do I disobey and work the program only a portion and try to teach them about good books? I will tell you this. I decided to become a teacher to teach students. Not to teach them to hate reading. I will do as usual.Against the district I will modify my program and teach them about good books and put good books in their hands and if they keep those books then I will go out and buy more. Until they fire me I refuse to fail my students."
Sandra's is not an upbeat post, but it is one that I think people should be aware of. We can't fight these sorts of practices if we don't know about them. You can also read reactions to Sandra's post from Karen at Literate Lives, Sarah Mulhern at The Reading Zone, and Donalyn Miller at The Book Whisperer. Sarah's Reading Zone post is particularly detailed, and has generated several comments in response from teachers. Also worth a read is a followup post in which Sandra thanks others for their support, but also laments the reading teachers that she encounters who don't read.
And don't even get me started on the money being spent on these canned "literacy" programs and on testing, instead of on books. As Sarah said:
"... the millions of dollars spent annually on reading programs should be funneled to school and classroom libraries. We should be booking author visits, connecting students with real live writers and creators. We should be buying novels, graphic novels, realistic fiction, non-fiction, every genre of books for our schools. We should be exposing students to real text with real stories."
Schools should be growing readers. Some are, of course, and that's a wonderful thing. But Sandra's situation is a travesty. I am grateful for this virtual community, which allows people from around the world to feel Sandra's pain, and be outraged by it.
This is so sad. Haven't we learned anything? This is exactly why I wasn't a reader growing up - the books we read in school were so boring I never thought I'd enjoy reading.
I bought Donalyn's book and passed it to my kid's teacher. What she does is such an inspiration. It should be required reading for school administrators.
Posted by: Sheila | August 14, 2009 at 01:34 PM
It's definitely sad, Sheila. As for whether we've learned anything, I have to admit that it feels like, as a country, we're going backwards (though with notable exceptions like Donalyn, Sandra, Sarah, and Karen).
I'm glad to hear that you passed along Donalyn's book, though. And of course I agree with you that it should be required reading for school administrators. If only...
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 14, 2009 at 07:05 PM
It's a terrible indictment against canned reading, where a caring teacher jeopardizes her job to bring a wide range of literature to her students. Is there such a thing as well-meaning, economic rationalism- turned-censorship?
Posted by: Book Chook | August 15, 2009 at 03:02 AM
"Is there such a thing as well-meaning, economic rationalism- turned-censorship?"
Apparently, yes. (shakes head) Thanks for listening!
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 15, 2009 at 10:13 AM
"Is there such a thing as well-meaning, economic rationalism- turned-censorship?"
Apparently, yes. (shakes head) Thanks for caring about this (not that I'm surprised that you do, of course).
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 15, 2009 at 10:19 AM
One would think we've never taught reading in this country and that we've not done any research on how to teach it! It seems that the best practice is more dollar driven that results driven. One of my listservs came from someone who has been required to keep count of the total amount of words students read. The teacher has not tool for counting the words.
I do hope those of you in schools with programs that beat the joy out of reading have media specialists who are willing and able to create pleasurable reading experiences for your students!
Posted by: Edi | August 15, 2009 at 10:40 AM
I think that you're right about a lot of these decisions being dollar-driven, Edi. Really, when I think about how much is being spent on testing, and how much the testing kills the joy of learning ... well, I can't even think about it. The idea of a teacher counting the number of words read by students is just ridiculous, too, of course. But thanks for taking time share - the more we shine a light on these things, the better.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 15, 2009 at 11:33 AM
So sad. This one especially resonates with me. Check out and comment on What Remedial Reading Teachers Want (A Manifesto).
Posted by: Mark Pennington | August 15, 2009 at 03:01 PM
I am shocked by this!! Honestly, as a parent and absolute lover of books, I would speak out. Hopefully, the parents in this situation will do just that!! I know that I personally always ask about the importance of books in my child's classroom. This is not something that can be ignored and I admire the strength of this teacher for standing by what she believes in. What a lesson she is teaching to her students as well!!
Posted by: Tif | August 15, 2009 at 07:48 PM
I have a story like that: I've been the teacher advisor for the last four years for the home/hospital school in the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, which adheres to a "scripted reading program" pretty rigidly. Our program has a little more freedom than other schools since we work one-on-one with students who are at home due to long-term medical problems. I was explaining to a new teacher that she should try to have her students read for pleasure in addition to their regular reading assignments. After all, they have a lot of time on their hands! I was showing her all the wonderful books I'd bought for our little Resource Room when she said, looking dubious, "Excuse me, but isn't that WHOLE LANGUAGE?" Like it was the bubonic plague! I said, "No, it's READING PRACTICE. You use the other stuff to teach them how to read, but then they truly need to apply it. And it's okay for them to have fun while they're practicing. Really." I'm not sure she believed me. Scary!
Posted by: Kate Coombs | August 15, 2009 at 10:01 PM
Thanks for commenting, and sharing your link, Mark.
And Tif, yes, I hope that parents are understanding what's going on here, and protesting. It's their kids who stand to be harmed. I think it's great that you ask about the importance of books in your kids' classrooms, thus sending the message that YOU think books are important.
Kate, that is very scary. Reading teacher scared of the idea of ... having kids read books. Sigh! Thanks for sharing the story, though. I think it's good to have a sense of how wide-spread the problem is.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 16, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Wow, that's terrible! I can't imagine only being able to choose from 8 books. I hope her community rallies around her and allows kids to make their own reading choices.
Posted by: Solvang Sherrie | August 20, 2009 at 08:41 PM
It's a travesty, Sherrie. But I do hope that getting out the word will help in some way. And I'd definitely love to see Sandra's community rallying around her on this. Thanks for taking time to comment!
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 20, 2009 at 09:09 PM
As someone who changed careers in order to teach, after having children, this type of problem is precisely why I am taking a break from pursuing a permanent position in education.
So many of the things I had learned as a parent, an avid reader, and a grad student were in complete conflict with what I was seeing in the local public schools. I decided that I had to do something, so I started my blog to help parents.
I am sure that there are many teachers who feel the same way that Sandra Stiles does, but are either too busy or too afraid to speak out. I commend Sandra Stiles for putting herself out there and taking a stand.
Thank you so much, Jen, for calling our attention to this important post.
Posted by: Dawn Morris | August 22, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Thanks for taking time to chime in on this, Dawn. I agree - I'm sure that there are many teachers facing these issues (sadly). I'm sorry that you ran into related issues, too, and that they've contributed to keeping you from working in education (though I love your blog, and I do think that you're making a real contribution there). But in the bigger picture, the idea that people who care passionately about raising readers are risking their jobs, or dropping out of the formal system altogether ... it's sad.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 24, 2009 at 09:05 AM
Just thought I'd let you know I linked to this post on Examiner.com today. Here's the link.
Posted by: Tasses | September 16, 2009 at 09:17 AM
Thanks for including that link, Tasses! I edited your comment to make the
link live, and will be writing more about your article later today. I think
that you made some excellent points!
Posted by: Jen Robinson | September 16, 2009 at 11:14 AM