Why Students Hate Reading - Myths, Part II

In part two, we explore two more myths that allegedly turned students off from reading. Again, popular sentiments remain about what reading should be like for students. Doing the opposite turns them off.  However, when it comes to the classroom doing wrong is right.

Before the two myths are discussed, it’s important to understand two possibilities that lead to “what reading should look like for ALL readers.”

Throughout my study and research for I Hate Reading, I noticed maturing readers were “expected” to behave like adult readers.  I’m not sure if this is what experts intended, but readers couldn’t nor shouldn’t have handed independent reading like adults. Nor should they have. They were learning to read. Moreover, they weren’t expert readers, at the time, hence the reason why students were in school - to learn to read. Many didn’t have an interest in pleasure reading or pretend to read like adults because they didn’t understand how to get to the point where reading is pleasurable.

This leads to the possibility that there was an “educational blind spot.”  Math is known for educational blind spots.  This occurs when we’ve mastered something, like multiplication using the standard algorithm. We think we did this by memorizing and performing rote practice of the algorithm we learned.  In reality, there were building blocks before that. Don’t ask me what they are. I forgot, which is why it’s a blind spot.

The more offensive aspect is where shame comes into play.  When students are expected to forsake themselves to behave like adults, problems occur. I know. This sentiment seems dramatic, if not outlandish. But I think it’s true. Going back to students who weren’t expert readers, or were extreme or isolated in their interest, students had not matured into adult readers.  Adult readers have cleared several hurdles, foundational skills being the prerequisite. Adult readers learned to find time, deal with boring or challenging books, and navigate the complexities of feeling comfortable and emotionally secure enough to read. Our readers are still learning these things.  Therefore, they need scaffolds. However, the scaffold I am about to mention has been blamed for turning students off from reading, when in fact, many students needed to place these assumptions aside so they could be seen. They are:

* Assigned reading turns students off

* High-level readers are already talented readers

Yes, assigned reading turns many students away from reading. I’ve written about this before. There is absolutely boring reading out there that is often assigned. Conversely, no one opinion is factually accurate. Where many of my classmates couldn’t stand the Scarlet Pimpernel, I love it. Was it assigned? Yes. Whole class. Was it hard? Sure way.  I could see how others thought it was boring. But learned a love for books about chivalry and being a hero to impress the one you love (that hasn’t worked out in real life so far, going back to middle school). The assigned reading helped me find myself.

Assigned reading needs to be intentional. If a teacher takes time to take the pulse of the class, choosing the right assigned books can go a long way. On the contrary, teaching the same assigned book(s) annually ends up with a reputation, so students have biases before they even get the book. Not to mention the books end up old and ragged

Another point about assigned reading is selection. Guided choice works in at least two ways: Knowing the student and books enough to introduce students to new books they might like and creating a long list of options. The latter opened up my world beyond Racing Forms and books about wagering. Assigned reading opened me to new cultures, differing opinions, and ultimately, things I needed to know just to know them. 

Every time I see someone “smart” and ask where they’ve learned so much it comes back to: Life experiences and reading.  That reading, almost every time, was about personal interest, not something different to be interested in or a way to know more about something new. Sometimes assigned reading flips that switch.

Another myth is that high-level readers are talented readers. Under this premise, I’ve offended more readers than I can count. Unfortunately, there can be at least three types of high-level readers: students with strong word recognition and fluency, compliant readers who take pride in being noticed for the amount they read, and genuinely high-level readers.  Only the latter has strong comprehension skills.  With that said, once maturing readers are affixed with the “high-level” reader anything to the contrary can be an indictment against them – even if it’s the truth. I’ve had readers who are great testers and read fluently at a high level but balk at slowing down, discussing their reading in-depth, or sharing how the reading impacted them.  Compliant readers are similar. The caveat here, of late, is that what I define as “compliant readers” reflects autism. These students read. They read a lot. Their interests are clearly defined, and deviation is unwelcome. However, comprehension is lacking.  When these readers see themselves in a window that no longer reflects positivity for compliance but hurt because they don’t understand the difference between the image of reading and the act of reading, things fall apart fast.  High-level readers tend to lean more on test scores, reading levels, and praise for their behavior.  They show disdain and withdraw when challenged with evidence-based questions, explained perceptions, or use strategies in complex fiction or nonfiction reading. Unfortunately, these behaviors reveal the truth of their abilities, and shame begins to coalesce.

Even though a few students “loved reading,” were high-level readers, or could never get their head out of a book, they were still learning how to make reading a beneficial experience. Not to mention, as students struggled with the disinterest and resentment of close reading, reading like an adult was further away than the image of a “lifelong reader” purported.

To end, I worry most about the students who only had to read what they were interested in. Challenging or boring books were avoided or relegated because the student “didn’t like them.” I’ve written about this before, but it’s still important to say that students were limited.  Adults can make such decisions because they have a deeper understanding of themselves as readers and the direction they want to go, in addition to time management, interests, desire to learn new things, and process to navigate a breadth and depth of reading. To presume that students can or should because they are independent readers is forsaking their reading development, a means of racing to the outcome. Oddly, I don’t prioritize that students love reading or identify as lifelong readers in the intermediate grades. It’s important to me that they gather the learning, and understanding of reading processes and themselves, along the journey to becoming a lifelong reader. The lifelong reader has integrated what they’ve learned and created a “Concept of Reading” for themselves. In essence, being a lifelong reader is the pinnacle of a lifetime of learning how to read.