How English Teachers are Killing Students' Love of Reading and Why They Need to Stop

Each year, I have students do a reading history for my class, where they go through some of the highlights and lowlights of their journey as a reader.  After years of doing this assignment, there are a few things that stand out to me.  The first is that at some point in their lives, students loved to read.  This usually centers around trips to the library with mom, or reading Dr. Seuss in bed with dad, or even having a kindergarten or 1st grade teacher expose them to a book that they fell in love with.  It is wonderful to see students take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the things they enjoyed about reading.  The second thing that stands out is that for the VAST majority of students, their love of reading somehow got killed along the way. And you know who's responsible?  English teachers.

I know what you're thinking.  Why and how would ENGLISH teachers be the ones who are killing students' love of reading?  Aren't they the ones who would teach kids to love it?  And the answer is yes.  Yes, they are the ones who want to foster a love for reading, and yes, most of them do just the opposite.  These well-meaning book worms are employing practices they think are beneficial for students'reading, but in all actuality they are pushing students away from it. I sat through presentations and discussions and I heard the same things over and over again that killed students' love of reading:  reading logs...leveled reading...AR testing...reading boring books in class. As one after another student spoke, these points continued to come up.  And sure, there were a few kids that liked AR testing because they were REALLY good at it and got prizes.  But for every one of those kids who liked it, there were 5 who said it made them not like reading because they could no longer read the books they liked.  Or they felt pressured to read certain books.  Or they were embarrassed about their reading level.  I could go on and on. (By the way...I've yet to hear ANY student say anything positive at all about reading logs)

So, here's what I do.  I tell them up front that in my class, there will be no reading logs. There will also be no STAR or AR testing.  They will not have certain levels of books they are allowed to read. In my class, there is one goal for choice reading: that they find a book that they can enjoy and they read.  That's it.  As I tell them this, I begin to see the students' demeanor relax.  I begin to see hope in their faces, as they think that maybe they will be able to enjoy reading again.  They then reflect on their past year of reading and set goals for themselves as readers.  You know what's amazing?  ALL of these students have the same goals I have for them: to become a better reader, to read more books than the year before, to find a book they really enjoy.  If each student could achieve 1 goal for the year, I know they would be better off. 

Is my system perfect?  No.  Are there still flaws in it.  Certainly.  But, I am heading toward my goal, which is to continue to strive to rebuild students' love for reading, one student and one book at a time.