“Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher

“Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher is definitely a valuable tool for any teacher. While reading this novel I had asked my mentor teacher if she had ever read it. Turns out she owned the book and had plans to read it in the near future. Interestingly enough she agreed to read it before the end of my spring break so we could talk about the different points Gallagher makes throughout the novel.

I hope to use Gallagher’s tips on creating your own classroom library. I had no idea how easy it is for students to lose the value in reading. Even I was a victim of “Readicide.” To this day I have no idea what I read in my high school classroom. For now, I hope to help my mentor teacher implement some of Gallagher’s technique in her classroom. Having the ability to tackle it as a team benefits her and helps me gauge whether or not I can use the material in the classroom.

Furthermore, the tsunami effect was something I had never thought of occurring in the high school classroom. It’s true that teachers often force too much curriculum into their novels or just try to cram too much into their school years. Offering students time to actually read the book on their own leads to a more efficient classroom.

Additionally, SSR time in the classroom will definitely be incorporated when I begin teaching. Allowing students to pick on their own gauges their interest in reading. Also, students need to figure out what they like to read on their own. Eventually, students won’t have the ability to rely on the teacher to tell them which novels to read.

Lastly, I enjoyed Gallagher’s section on revealing the statistics. It is important for us as educators to discover what works and doesn’t in the classroom. We need to understand that we have the ability to keep other educators accountable. Putting false statistics out there doesn’t benefit our students. We are responsible for our students learning.